Hello again! I’m back to break up the monotony of CD artwork/packaging with my band apparel. It’s not as diverse band-wise as I remembered, and it turns out I’ve only really bothered to buy (or, at least keep) apparel merch from four bands: Yellowcard, Brand New, mewithoutYou, and Manchester Orchestra. In a way this makes sense, as they represent favorite bands of mine at different junctures within my lifetime.

Disclaimer: I did not, nor would I ever have the desire to, iron or even dry all this stuff just to make a blog post, so please excuse the massive wrinkle epidemic as well as any dog/cat hairs that appear. They know not what they do.  If you missed the previous installments in this series, you can check out Vol. 1 and Vol.2 by clicking the links.

Yellowcard

Of the bands in this post, Yellowcard was my first love. Nothing makes me feel more ready for summer than sporting a shirt featuring this band’s name or logo, although sometimes I do feel a little self-conscious being a 30-something dude wearing stuff promoting a pop-punk band that peaked 20 years ago. But, as they say, you gotta do you.

Ocean Avenue era T-shirt. Can’t remember when I bought this but I’m fairly sure it was long after OA was released.

One of my favorite band shirts ever. I love the black and white artwork mixed with the orange in the band’s name. I got this as part of a Southern Air bundle that came a few days before the album was supposed to be released, and I remember being so excited. I wore this shirt the day my wife and I started officially “going out”, so it’s also got a ton of sentimental value.

Well, the 1997-2017 thing didn’t age well with their recent reunion, but still a nice design.

Ordered this off the band’s website about two months before Southern Air came out. I like that it’s just the band name and logo, feels universal and not tied to any specific era of YC.

Paper Walls, represent! That variation of the YC logo (the Moon “X”) has always been my favorite.

Brand New

As you can probably deduce by the amount of wrinkles, I did indeed have to dig most of these out of boxes in my closet. I don’t these often anymore, but at one time this was a flourishing collection. I could have opted to exclude them from this post, but seeing how large the collection is, I figured I might as well share.

Classic Deja T-shirt from circa 2003-2004. This one’s actually in surprisingly great condition.

Alternate Deja T. Always loved the blue variation.

Classic TDAG album artwork tee. Another one that I never really wore that often so it still looks nice.

One of my favorites, from the Daisy era. Bought this at a Hot Topic while I was in college and wore the shit out of it. It’s creepy and very cool.

Another Daisy era shirt that I don’t specifically remember buying, but the design is awesome.

Got this as a bundle with the CD back when Science Fiction was surprise dropped on a random day back in August 2017.

Just like the band, some of their shirt designs are pretty cryptic. Was never quite sure what to think of this, but it felt like a peaceful image and I enjoy the bright green colors.

Laser eyes. Again, not sure what this means, if anything. Maybe someone can translate the letters at the bottom for me.

I like this shirt because it’s straightforward. As a general rule of thumb, I think I like shirts/hoodies that promote a band rather than a specific album/era. No idea why.

Another cryptic design, this one reads “Know Gods Just Work / Brand New Four One Eight” and depicts a faceless figure standing in from of a cross with a crown of thorns.

Sort of ambiguous with the SOS 666, I’ve heard this described as both “save us Satan” and “deliver us from evil”.

Hand of Doom. Surprisingly, this is the only Brand New hoodie I own.

mewithoutYou

Like their amazing CD artwork/packaging, mwY has some damn cool shirt designs. It’s a shame I didn’t get anything of theirs until Pale Horses and [Untitled], because by then some of their best old stuff was sold out, never to be restocked.

Pale horse songs of a slow decline…

“Now’s as dreadful a time as any to begin”

“Were you not forged in grief?”

Manchester Orchestra

Perhaps my new favorite band, Manchester Orchestra has some pretty rockin’ merch. I didn’t start collecting their stuff until late either, around 2017 when I became obsessed with A Black Mile to the Surface. The two hoodies here are some of my favorite clothing items I own.

Not sure what this is, but it’s a beautiful shirt. Love the “under the stars” imagery.

I ordered this in the red/yellow variant because I have way too many black/gray shirts.

This reminds me of Mae’s (e)vening EP more than it does Manchester Orchestra.

My all-time favorite album, so I had to commemorate it with a hoodie.

Got this one somewhat recently, after the release of 2021’s gorgeous The Million Masks of God. It’s a cool color scheme as I hardly own any clothing with pink – I think that and the light blue laying against the black looks amazing. I also love that it’s full-zip.

The back of the same hoodie.