Do you have a favourite band T-Shirt? What shirts in your collection hold fond memories and an interesting back story? Tell us about your most cherished shirts and send in a photo for everyone to admire.

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Metallica ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ T-Shirt (1993)

Metallica were the first heavy metal band that I got into at the age of 14. The day I discovered Metallica, I never looked back. They were the beginning of a very long journey into rock and heavy metal music that resulted in me basing my entire working career thus far within music and the music industry. The T-Shirt that I decided to write about is the first band T-Shirt that I ever owned. The T-Shirt holds so many exciting and dear memories that it is a pleasure to put it online with a bit of a back-story.

So where did it come from? Well, I remember walking into town from school as often as possible on lunch breaks and after school to visit the record stores; Our Price, HMV and Andy’s Records who all held a decent range of music and band T-Shirts at the time. This Metallica ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ T-Shirt with the awesome Pus Head artwork was the T-Shirt that had me fixated. It was simply a must have item for me at the time so I relentlessly pestered my mum week after week to buy it for me. After a few weeks of constant badgering, she eventually bought me the shirt! I was so chuffed with it! Wearing the T-Shirt and showing an allegiance to the band made me feel part of something, and it was exciting.

I’m sure most people of my age (32) will remember that back in the day, when you bought a music T-Shirt you were pretty much never able to get a range of sizes. Usually all you could obtain would be a size large or extra large. Manufactures and rights holders didn’t seem to think that there was much of a market in the smaller sizes so kids and people of a slight build usually ended up wearing dress style T-Shirts. I was one of those people. The shirt is an extra large and I was a scrawny 14-year-old kid! Manufactures gained a much better understanding of the market over the past 10 years or so, finally printing and supplying small and medium sizes, so now anyone of any age or build can get kitted out in their fave bands merch and not look as ridiculous as me, my brother and some of our mates did.

So, fast-forward 10 years. I had been through school, college and university. I had picked up on a huge number of new bands and music styles as well as hugely expanding my T-Shirt collection. After university I ended up working at a UK based extreme metal record label where I worked for 8 years before moving on from there to start my own company last September. That company is Eyesore Merch and this is our blog. We are an online music and entertainment retailer selling all manner of indie, rock and metal T-Shirts, hoodies and merchandise as well as loads of film, TV and comic style items.

Its weird to think that from discovering rock and metal music, then buying that first Metallica T-Shirt all those years ago that the passion would eventually lead me into the music industry and then on to start my own company where I actually sell music merch. Funnily enough we don’t actually stock the ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ T-Shirt right now but I know that it is still being printed to this day and is still available to buy. A cool, classic T-Shirt design will stand the test of time. I will definitely be tracking it down through a supplier very soon so that I can include it within our full Metallica range, which can be found in our store here: http://eyesoremerch.com/band-tshirts/m/metallica-tshirts. I think it makes total sense to take this full circle and start selling the T-Shirt that lead me to this point in the first place.

* Side note: Not sure what my mum actually did when washing the shirt one time as it now has a weird striped pattern. You can see it more pronounced on the sleeves. Something happened during one wash and it never went away. I was a bit gutted but pretended that it was a limited edition.

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