My friends in the band Dead Rock West recently asked me to design a T-shirt for them. They have a new record coming out on July 19th called "It's Everly Time!" (it's an album of Everly Brothers covers). I love how Cindy and Frank honored the songs by staying mostly trew to them, but they also added in their own signature harmonies. I also love how the production is all sunny, glamorous, vintage California yet with a modern polish. Fantastic record.
Usually I give anywhere from one to four sketch ideas to start, and I gave Cindy four sketches to choose from. She loved two of them, and I was able to quickly produce one of the designs in time for them to sell at their April 30th show at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles.
The popular Dead Rock West baseball tee
The Hotel Cafe only holds about 150 people, so it was an intimate show. Over the years I've been to hundreds of live shows, and I know that sometimes at a very small show the band might only sell a couple of T-shirts, or even none at all, so my expectations weren't too high. I was just glad to get one of their designs to them in time for the gig.
Cindy called me the next day, saying the shirts were a success:
Transcript: "Your shirts are such a hit, I've been having a barrage of emails all day of 'Where can I get those sent to me?'...To the point where if I even send them...they'll just be sold out! I've never had this happen before with a T-shirt. (laffs) It's amazing. They're really awesome and they were just a superb hit. I just thought I'd tell you that...thanks to you the merch was a swimming success."
When I called Cindy back and talked to her, I asked how many people called or emailed or commented on Facebook about the shirts. Five? Ten? She told me she must have heard from 30 people. I think she's exaggerating, though she swears she's not, so I'll take it.
They've already re-ordered the baseball tee design, after a single show. It's a win for me, a win for the band, and a win for their fans. I love it.