Tour T-shirt

[Clive]

We are thinking about making a T-shirt for this set of dates in April. However, we are unsure about the design...

Any suggestions?.... Tiny Logo? Big Picture? What picture?

[PH]

- A nice black T-shirt with a tiny golden Arena logo.
- A nice white T-shirt with a tiny silver Arena logo.
- A photo of the band in Pepper's Ghost clothes.

I will think of more later on.

-Paco

[Appelmoes??]

A black or what ever colour T-shirt, with a medium sized centre logo on the front and tourlist on the back. It's always nice to say "Yay, I was there!"

Also, I really liked the red long sleeves Arena had. It had a nice design and it was cool to see a band shirt that wasn't black. Only the downside was the size. Largest they had was L, while I need a XL at least. The one Arena shirt I do have is an XXL and that fits very nicely
(Yes, we dutchies are tall )

Or what about a hoodie? Hoodies are nice and warm when you're waiting outside a for a gig

And how about some very strong lines from lyrics? (A la nightwish) My personal favourite is "and dream until you hit the ground". A bit depressive yes, but I like it I think Clive has writen excellent lyrics and there's bound to be a dozen of good one-liners. Combine them with a single image that refers to the album it's from. For example: the Lantern Clive is holding in the cover art, would make a nice reference to PG.

[PH]

Or what about:
"The few that see the world beyond the Moviedrome must march on through the wilderness of fantasy, false images, and pride"

[Appelmoes??]

Combine with some cool sci-fi images...

[The Butterfly Man]

I'm actually a bit put-off by those standard black-with-tourdates-on-back-shirts nowadays. So try to come up with something a bit more...dare I say it...fashionable. Something that you can easily wear everyday without everybody thinking you are some dead metal freak...

Tom

[ironcow2103]

Tour dates... tour dates... tour dates... please!

Big picture on the front!

Small logo and no dates? BORING!

[Appelmoes??]

Something that you can easily wear everyday without everybody thinking you are some dead metal freak...

Hehe, I know what you mean, but personally I don't give a rats a$$ about what people think of me. I see your point though.

[PH]

I'm actually a bit put-off by those standard black-with-tourdates-on-back-shirts nowadays. So try to come up with something a bit more...dare I say it...fashional. Something that you can easily wear everyday without everybody thinking you are some dead metal freak...

I agree with Tom.

I know a metalhead and he always wears this metal T-shirt, with tourdates on back and (ugly) frontcover on front. The first thing that comes up in my mind is "Doesn't he wash this T-shirt? Or has he more than one of these?" But the second thought is always "You don't want to walk in public wearing THAT?"
I mean, it's cool to have it, and you can wear it at concerts, but you don't wear them at work, or in front of a class (I'm studying for teacher).
Something fashionable would be cool. No tourdates on back and no album cover on front. (at least not in a way that you can see the shape of a square.)

Ayreon has albumcover on front of T-shirts, but in a good way It blends with the background, you don't see the square of the cover.
Here is another example of the front of one of these shirts, with just a logo (a small picture on the upper left of the shirt), which is nice, I think. But on the back it's too much text I think.

These are samples of how it also could be done.

Tour dates... tour dates... tour dates... please!

Why tour dates? You can't see them when it's on your back, and no one else in real life will want to read it anyway. The Kino T-shirt had a nice alternative: an explaination of the word "Kino", which is nice, funny and better than tour dates.

Big picture on the front!

Yeah, but it's always the front cover... and always badly done... Try a different shape instead of that square, and maybe try using something from the inside of the booklet instead of always that front cover...

Arena could try to put the comic strips on a shirt.



Just my thoughts.


-Paco

[bluepony]

- A nice white T-shirt with a tiny silver Arena logo.

Hmmm... how about a black girlie T-shirt with a silver Arena logo? Something I could even wear in the office... 

[bluepony]

- A photo of the band in Pepper's Ghost clothes.

Also a good idea!!

[bluepony]

I also liked this suggestion someone in the room made earlier - see picture below, T-shirt design on the right hand side.

I'm sure something similar could be done with the Pepper's Ghost artwork!

[mdread666]

Not black !!

I like 'quiet' understated, plain and simple T shirts - go grey, with smallish Arena logo top left, with one of the following on front (things which true fans 'get' and mean something to us and cause others to ask questions) whatever you go with you must also print web site links (both band page and Fan club page) perhaps on the back.

Am I 'Immortal?'

Welcome To The Cage

Contagion
–noun. the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact

I am 'The Visitor'

Perhaps do the whole set - it might encourage people to buy more than one ! Whatever you do just make sure that they're available online aswell and not just at concerts, as with the poor tour dates in England (Reading or bust) not many of us UK fans will have chance to get one otherwise.

[Bupie]

Why don't you use the PH's drawing (or something alike but a bit more "finished") ? http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=150.msg14064#msg14064  I am serious about it.

You could put it on front. On rear, you could have something very classical, like the Arena logo and "Ten Years On Tour" with the dates below. Like some other roomies, I like the T-Shirt to embody particular tour and places.

For the colour, it could be grey because it's more sober than black for an every day's use.

[Clive]

Sadly we have tried 'other colour' shirts, and usually they don't sell very well.
We have put shirts on line.. and manage to sell about four a year!
The small subtle logo on the front is a big non-seller!

So.... a black T-shirt WITHOUT a large rubber square on the front....  good plan! Something more than a little logo though...
Maybe the dates on the back, but I like the idea of something else... lyrics, design, or some kind of statement...

But what should the artwork be? This isn't a Pepper's Ghost tour.....

[mdread666]

Sadly we have tried 'other colour' shirts, and usually they don't sell very well.
We have put shirts on line.. and manage to sell about four a year!
The small subtle logo on the front is a big non-seller!

So.... a black T-shirt WITHOUT a large rubber square on the front....  good plan! Something more than a little logo though...
Maybe the dates on the back, but I like the idea of something else... lyrics, design, or some kind of statement...

But what should the artwork be? This isn't a Pepper's Ghost tour.....

Guess it's going to be black then ! (shame - not too late to change your mind to grey !!)

Dates on back, with logo and statement/lyrics on front - no major artwork !

I hear what you say about the online sales - how about getting the shirts done early and making them available to us on the forum at least, before the tour - at least that way those of us who want one and can't get to Reading  will be able to get one.

[ironcow2103]

Why tour dates?

Because it is a tour t-shirt, for that tour?? If you just want a band t-shirt as a fashion/clothes item then it may as well be a generic t-shirt not a tour one... If it doesn't have dates on it could be from anytime, anywhere...

Yeah, but it's always the front cover... and always badly done... Try a different shape instead of that square, and maybe try using something from the inside of the booklet instead of always that front cover...

Arena could try to put the comic strips on a shirt.

Don't disagree with that. Maiden are quite good at having specific art-work for tours based on albums, or the country or the season. Ok Arena may not have that size budget but I agree album covers are generally uninspiring wear, unless unusual or really cool like Rainbow Rising!

[ironcow2103]

Sadly we have tried 'other colour' shirts, and usually they don't sell very well.

Twelfth Night did a variety of colours at their recent gigs. Unfortunately by the time I got there they only had black in my size, a shame as the khaki green looked really nice and I wanted that.

Don't bother with white though - yuk!

[Bupie]

But what should the artwork be? This isn't a Pepper's Ghost tour.....

Since you don't like the PH's comics idea, it could be the TYO album cover fronting and partially hiding the other albums covers scattered behind ...

[PH]

IDEAS 'TILL NOW:
- A nice black T-shirt with a tiny golden Arena logo
- A nice white T-shirt with a tiny silver Arena logo
- A photo of the band in Pepper's Ghost clothes
- Comic strips
- A black or what ever colour T-shirt, with a medium sized centre logo on the front and tourlist on the back
- Long sleeves
- A hoodie
- Some very strong lines from lyrics, combine them with a single image that refers to the album it's from
1. "And dream until you hit the ground" (The Visitor)
2. "The few that see the world beyond the Moviedrome must march on through the wilderness of fantasy, false images, and pride" (Immortal?)
3. ...
4. ...

So.... a black T-shirt WITHOUT a large rubber square on the front....  good plan! Something more than a little logo though...

What about all kinds of pictures from the booklets throughout the years.

Maybe the dates on the back, but I like the idea of something else... lyrics, design, or some kind of statement...

Yeah, we really have to get rid of this Death Metal image.

But what should the artwork be? This isn't a Pepper's Ghost tour.....

Good question. I guess it should be Arena related, so it's very difficult not to relate to an album. A picture of the members or an Arena logo are alternatives, but those are not favoured...

I'd really like artwork other than the front covers. Inner booklet artwork, like the ones of The Visitor or Immortal? or something...


-Paco

[Appelmoes??]

If you're going for a shirt with a specific line, I think you should get an image that reflects the line and/or the song it's from.

If you use (a part of the) lyrics (eg Ayreon - Dreamtime) you can see it's decorated with "the eyes of time" and "the round table", two images connected to the album.

And example for Arena could be this, or just the last part of it:

Take this moment so close to my heart
You held the white rose out
Just before we parted
Take this moment so far away in dreams
I can feel the thorns bite
But the flower died, it seems

Hold this feeling so close to my heart
You brought the passion out
Just before we parted
Hold this feeling so far away in dreams
I can feel the thorns bite
But the flower starts to bleed

As decoration a single White Rose would look very nice imo, and it will be a statement that will make people think.

As for the front, you can go for the album cover (a la Ayreon as PH mentioned) or just the Arena logo.

[PH]

Good one Appel!

-Paco

[Appelmoes??]

And Arena has lot's of good stuff like that

[PH]

"I am the painted man..."
With Noah Kemp showing this living tattoo on his hand.

-Paco

[johninblack]

So.... a black T-shirt WITHOUT a large rubber square on the front....  good plan!

Yes, agree with that.

Something more than a little logo though...

A logo and image related to what is on the back of the shirt..........

Maybe the dates on the back, but I like the idea of something else... lyrics, design, or some kind of statement...

The idea of lyrics I find particularly interesting, especially if those lyrics are linked to the image on the front of the shirt. Loads of possible designs for Arena given the superb lyrical content