badge news, band merchandise info, competitions and more from Awesome Merchandise

16 May 2012

Hello all,

Just a quick one about the Metric Exhibition taking place in Leeds next month. If you like your art, then check out the detials below. You can follow them on Twitter here, Facebook here and the website is also here. That's my quickest blog ever!

Let us know if we can help you promote something awesome!

Jhon x

Website, Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter.

METRIC EXHIBITION

A Celebration of Original Art, Illustration, Print and Design by pioneering British Artists.

Opening Event- Sunday 3rd June: 13.00-23.00
Closing Party- Thursday 5th July 19.00-23.00
Dock Street Market, 28 Dock Street, Leeds, United Kingdom LS10 1JF

Artists Showing:

3 Digits/ Benjamino/ Phill Blake (Philth)/ Noah Brown/ Goo Burr/ Cage One/ C-Bloxx/ Curse273/
Freddie Denton/ Dia57/ Inkie/ JayPee/ Klone/ Kosy/ Garry Milne/ Drew Millward/ Moenipulation/
Pogger/ Pyklops/ Rootz/ Jay Sharples/ Starvin Artist/ Stub Subism/ Sune/ Tank Petrol/ Tasha Whittle (TXLW)/

The Exhibit gathers together 26 pioneering U.K Street and Graffiti Artists, Illustrators, Designers and
Printmakers for a month long show at the Dock St Market Artspace in Leeds. From Banksy cohort
and Bristol legend Inkie to Leeds' own Inky Supervillain Drew Millward the collected works truly represent
the pioneers in contemporary U.K creativity.

Live Art, Live Print, Live Music:

There will be Live Art spaces available for visitors to create in and on and Live Screen printing courtesy of:
www.spincyclecomplete.co.uk

Live Music will be provided by the incredible HomeCut (First Word Records), Love of the Brave (ATA)
and Mr. Scruff favourites the Vinyl Miners

Extra Fresh Food will be available all day from the Dock Street Deli and a wide selection of real/ international
ales and teapot cocktails will be available all day.
Children welcome (daytime), affordable parking is nearby and the venue is located 5 minutes walk from
Leeds Central Train and Bus Stations.

For more on this please visit- www.bestjoinedup.com

Ink & Paper 2012.

14 May 2012

Hello all,

How are you? Did you have a good weekend? I sure hope so. I had a hectic one! Went to a gig, band practice, did my radio show and still had time for a few drinks. Success! On Saturday afternoon, I also had the absolute pleasure of going to our nation's capital city (London in England) and attending the Ink & Paper event. A brief synopsis of the event is - a whole bunch of talented artists display their gig poster work in The Ragfactory just off Brick Lane with the event being organised by the UKPA.

If I'm honest, before I started working for Awesome Merch I didn't know much about the world of art. Sure I knew a bit and could appreciate awesome art but didn't know much about the ethos and the people behind it. On Saturday I got to meet the legendary Drew Millward, Bobby Telegramme, Graham Pilling (Army of Cats) and Luke Drozd. All four of them took part in our Poster Roast series earlier in the year. I have to say all four of them were amazingly friendly and keen to talk to me about the world of art and what the event was about. It's obviously a way to promote their awesome art skills to the people of London but there was a cool sense of community and camaradarie and appreciation of other people's work.

The cool thing about working for Awesome is that I get to go to things like this and meet the rockstars of the art world. I really wanted to buy loads of posters and send the bill to HQ but I don't they would've appreciated it. Or maybe they would have! Hopefully something like this will happen in London next year but Screenadelica is happening in Liverpool this weekend for all you art and music fans! I now must also give a massive shout out to Sean Mort. Sean works for AM but also is a very talented artist. His work is minimalist (not basic - he'll beat you up) and he's also a top chap. He kept me entertained the whole time I was there. One of the highlights of the day was Sean having a conversation with two girls, which started with him trying to sell them his work and ended up with how much he hated Adele and advice on which famous pizza place they shouldn't eat at.

So to sum this all up. I know a lot of people who follow us are knowledgeable about the world of art and the skilled people behinf it. If you're not, then please take a few minutes to click on all the links in this blog and get yourself educated! Please enjoy the Instagram photos below. If you know of any awesome events that Awesome Merch should be at, then let me know. Have an awesome week!

Jhon x

Website, Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter.

Conversation nectar.

Beer

Found it!

Sign

Sean Mort next to his art.

Sean Mort

Bobby Telegramme's piece of wall.

art

The people of London peruse the art whilst artists enjoy a chinwag.

event

Meet the Awesome Staff Part 3.

11 May 2012

Hello!

Welcome to part three of the now popular mini series - 'Meet the Staff.' We've been getting hounded by TV bigwigs (and executives with smaller hairpieces) as well as Hollywood to turn this blog into a film. We're just waiting to see if the dude who played Thor in Avengers is available to be cast as Dan, and then we can put ink to paper. If you've missed part 1 or part 2, then click on the links. You'll need to read part 1 to find out about the soup and chips saga. As always, tweet us hard and Facebook us happy about this blog. Hashtag is #soupandchips :)

Have an awesome weekend!

Jhon x

Website, Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter.

What's your name? David Martin

What's your role at AM? Wide format and heat press printer.

What do you do outside of AM? Watch football, support Sunderland FC and listen to music.

Favourite band atm? Bon Iver.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Prawn Cocktail.

Favourite city and why? I really like York as it has amazing bars & buildings. I'm going to Rome soon, thanks to Sean Mort promoting its wonders to me!

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Neither. The Apprentice.

Have you ever had soup and chips? No! Maybe in the future, it sounds good!

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? The atmosphere and the people, everyone that works here is cool.

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? Custom shaped vinyl stickers.

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? The laughs.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? No.

Dave

What's your name? Mark Mallan (Mal).

What's your role at AM? Production assistant.

What do you do outside of AM? I'm a lifeguard, gym instructor, personal trainer and I like sports and films.

Favourite band atm? Pantera and Talking Heads.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Cheese & Onion - no question.

Favourite city and why? Barcelona - because of its culture.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Diagnosis Murder - I'm a Dick Van Dyke fan.

Have you ever had soup and chips? No but I've been tempted since starting work here.

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? The atmosphere and the people. It's fun!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? 38mm badges because they're the most fun to make.

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? The beer because the laughs will follow.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? Always listen to Paul..

Mal

What's your name? Kat Lee.

What's your role at AM? Production.

What do you do outside of AM? I'm a student at Leeds Uni and I do promo work for Club Moustache.

Favourite band atm? Muse, Subtract, and David Guetta.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Salt & Vinegar.

Favourite city and why? New York - went there when I was travelling.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Don't like either - I like New Girl. Stupid american stuff rules!

Have you ever had soup and chips? No but it might be quite nice!

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? Structured work and the people are amazing!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? The custom moustaches we made for the Moustache club night were great but I love the keyrings!

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? Beer with that comes the laughs (said whilst laughing).

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? Nope!

Kat

What's your name? Phil Wood

What's your role at AM? Padprinter - I'm in charge of it!

What do you do outside of AM? I used to play in bands but play guitar, games - nothing too exciting! Looking for a new hobby.

Favourite band atm? Thrice for the past 10 years! Converge and Cellos currently.

Favourite flavour of crisps? I'm a crisp fiend - Sea Salt and Black Pepper Kettle Chips!

Favourite city and why? New York or Breckenridge - BR is chilled but NY is incredible. You can do anything you wanna do!

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Diagnosis Murder definitely!

Have you ever had soup and chips? This is such an Awesome Merch theme.. probably when iwas student and couldn't cook!

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? Chilled, listen to whatever music I want, the people are cool and the work is good!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? Brown card heavyweight prints.

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? The beer then laughs! Whiskey? Might be a bit much.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? No. I shy away from any attention or limelight. I think I might become a hermit.

Phil

Winstagram - Awesome Photo Comp alert!

8 May 2012

Hello everyone,

How are you? I'm gonna keep this nice and succinct today. I promise. No waffle. The only thing I'm gonna tell you is that I've been speaking to Luke Hodson over the weeked and we at Awesome Merch have a lot in store for you. New product launches, new website stuff and a much improved system - so our already awesome customer service will be improved hundredfold. I for one am excited! Anyway, let's get on with this comp! At AM, we like to embrace all Social Media sites. Well not My Space anymore as it sucks but at the moment Instagram* can do wrong! So we're gonna do a little comp on it.

All you have to do is follow us @awesomemerch on Instagram, take an AWESOME photo on Instagram, tag us @awesomemerch in the caption, use the hashtag #awesomephotocomp and if you tweet - then link it into Twitter as it will come up in our feed. There are no guidelines but justify to us why you think the photo is awesome. It can be a picture of your drunk uncle, a cloud that looks like John Lennon and or even a lovely sandwich you've just made. Just justify it to us why it's AWESOME. Please note that no pictures of cats will be accepted. There's already way too many on Instagram.

The prize will be £150 to spend on whatever you want on the Awesome Merch website! The winner will be chosen on Friday 18th of May. How does that sound? We'll even put the best ones up on our shiny new Pinterest page. That's it folks - good luck and get entering! Can you do better than my entry below? Enter as many times as you like!

Jhon x

Website, Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter.

*This comp is in no way affiliated with Instagram other than we're using it as awesome pictorial platform. If you don't have it, don't worry - just go and get it.

Here's my awesome photo. Unfortunately I'm disqualified for getting a cat in the picture.

awesome comp photo

Meet the Awesome Staff Part 2.

4 May 2012

Hello!

Welcome to part two of - 'Meet the Awesome Staff.' Part one was such a success that HQ has been bombarded with marriage requests, flowers and Dan has even been asked to do some sort of naughty calendar. No comment. If you missed it, then just click this link and have yourself a read. It'll also explain the soup and chips question but we basically have our very own savoury Willy Wonka at HQ called Paul who invents culinary catastrophes. This week's blog really shows off some of our very talented staff! More staff next week. If you've liked this or wanna comment then tweet us @awesomemerch with the #soupandchips tag.

Enjoy and have an awesome weekend!

Jhon x

Website, Facebook, Tumblr & Twitter.

What's your name? Sam Jarvis

What's your role at AM? Graphics and Print Manager

What do you do outside of AM? A bit of graphic design here and there but my main hobby is 3d art. It's a very technical form a graphics, check out some of my 3D renders.

Favourite band atm? Mogwai.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Canadian Ham.

Favourite city and why? Vancouver City. Because I went once when I was 10 as a lot of my family live there.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Diagnosis Murder all the way.

Have you ever had soup and chips? Not in the same bowl.

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? Getting to print all the fantastic and creative designs we receive every day.

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? Business Cards!!!

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? Beer.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? My website - www.sjdd.co.uk :)

sam

What's your name? Sean Mort

What's your role at AM? Production team and staff jester.

What do you do outside of AM? Graphic designer.

Favourite band atm? The Decembrists

Favourite flavour of crisps? With a sandwich - Cheese and Onion, without a sandwich - Salt & Vinegar.

Favourite city and why? Rome because of the history. I have been there every year for 8 years.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Homes under the Hammer.

Have you ever had soup and chips? I haven't but I'm going to this week.

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? The people by far. So many different people work here and I've got lots in common with them all!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? The badge packs.

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? Laughs.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? My design website which is right here - www.seanmort.co.uk

sean

What's your name? Kristyna Baczynski

What's your role at AM? Production team - making it quick, making it good!

What do you do outside of AM? I draw pictures and make comics. I'm an image merchant! A penslinger!

Favourite band atm? Talking Heads and Trembling Bells.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Sour cream & chive.

Favourite city and why? Berlin.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? Diagnosis Murder - Dr Sloan all the way. Even though they both have awesome moustaches ;)

Have you ever had soup and chips? I haven't but it is in my top ten list of things to do before I die.

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? The people are amazing. They're funny,cool and I get on with them amazingly! They make me laugh!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? Posters & T-shirts.

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? Laughs don't give you a hangover.. although really they go hand in hand.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? My pictures and comics on my website - www.kristyna.co.uk

kristyna

What's your name? Kirsty

What's your role at AM? Production supervisor / dispatch coordinator.

What do you do outside of AM? I'm learning to snowboard and I'm a big fan of ironing.

Favourite band atm? The Story So Far, David Guetta & Beyonce.

Favourite flavour of crisps? Skips.

Favourite city and why? Sydney because I just like it.

Diagnosis Murder or Murder She Wrote? I haven't seen either of them!

Have you ever had soup and chips? No, I'd never eat any of Paul's food inventions.

What's your favourite thing about working for Awesome Merch? The freedom to use your initiative and the people are nice. We can also listen to whatever music we want!

What's your favourite Awesome Merchandise product? Mirrors - they come in very handy!

Would you rather have a barrel of beer or a barrel of laughs? Laughs.

Finally, is there anything awesome you wanna promote about yourself? I've got blonde hair.

Kirsty