Side A:
Side B:
June 30, 2024
Band Tees are the underrated art form. Sure, Target makes a fuck ton of money off the Prince estate each year, but who’s talking about these things for the medium they really are?
I know all art fades. But no one does it better than a band tee. That shit cracks, stretches, tears, deteriorates, and loses its sleeves through the years. But, a lot like us, they persist.
Our bodies. Our names. Our identities. Our memories. Our meaning. This can all change over time, but—as if by black magic—your favorite Ramones tee still has those eagle talons holding a fucking baseball bat.
That’s the beauty of this issue—how we, and our art, change over time. But also how we don’t change. Or, maybe, how we just become more of ourselves the more mornings we continue to put on a shirt in the face of this too-shitty world.
So, this is what we’re celebrating. You and your emo phase, your transition, your emo permanence, whatever the hell it is underneath that black tee. We’re cheering for you.
“I'm Only Happy When It Rains Mellon Collie Supervixens (with song titles from the eponymous album Garbage)” by the great Adrian Dallas Frandle takes us to the ether and, hell yeah, into the garbage in the prettiest of ways that only Adrian can do.
“Understanding in a Car Crash” by Adam Shaw tracks our place in space and time and how our bodies interact (head bang) with that continuum.
“Rocket Queen” by Guns N’ Roses by arwyn leads us to the back of Hot Topic, and then some, with a raw portrait of gender dis/eu-phoria that hit me right in the tear ducts.
“Somebody Put Something in My Drink” by Mileva Anastasiadou captures the grimy magic of the early Punk Rock scene, as well as the quick dissolution of that magic, and how that might have something to say about moving through the decades ourselves.
“Black Me Out” by Caleb Weinhardt riffs off this sick Against Me! shirt for a surreal ride to finding your most real self, packed with haunting prose and a rhythm that sticks with you long after reading.
“That's What You Get for Gettin' Outta Bed” by Lauren Lavin delivers a gorgeous portrayal of music, our hometowns, and the liminal spaces between the two—we’re just here for the ride.
Huge thanks to Kirsti for letting me read and say Yes to some truly kickass writing. What began as a joke on Twitter is now this digital shirt drawer full of beautiful words.
Long live the band tee! Eternal hails to M7.
Caleb Bethea
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