1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

took the wrong bus on a high school field trip and sat with some dudes I didn’t know. we hit it off and continued to hang after that trip and they were into bands like pantera and rollins and stuff. couple of them were into some hardcore bands and they’d go to shows here and there. eventually i went with them to a sam black church/black train jack show and I thought it was the best thing ever. the next week we went and saw madball at club babyhead and that got me totally hooked. after that i went to as many shows as i could get to.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

bought em all at gigs. i’ve never been much of an online purchaser of shirts. i’m also selling a lot of shirts for tom z and eric from verse, who knows where they got theirs.

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

i actually told this story in one of the AF auctions I have up now, i’ll cut and paste: agnostic front jersey from 1996. this was bought on the reunion tour in 96 at the mid east in boston. also on the bill were 454 big block and 25 ta life. this was one of the scariest shows I ever attended. the pit during AF that day was ruled by Minus, former singer of merauder. no lie, he was moshing in nothing but a pair of tighty whiteys. he was murdering people. life WAS pain for a lot of dudes that night. also during the set, boston mike (rip) was perched on a railing just staring at the pit with a look on his face that words cannot describe. he then started jumping up and down on the railing in anticipation of a mosh part, bending the railing, and proceeded to leap from the railing and clear out at least 45 dudes from the pit. the rest of the set was him and minus just controlling the pit while AF ripped through an awesome set. after the set I bought this jersey from AF and a hatebreed under the knife demo from rick ta life.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

Well, I started in the scene just like alot of people … I met some kids in Syracuse in 1988/89 who were doing shows and being punk in general (in a positive, political way), and I just really gravitated towards them. They are still friends today, and still involved in punk and hardcore, and still doing positive, political things (Niels Hobbs, Noah Cunningham, DJ Rose, Karl Buechner). We were luck to have found each other, in a sense, since it was those people and others who keep things going so long in Syracuse.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

The t-shirts came when bands would come to Syracuse to play. We were just lucky, I think, that alot of bands came through Syracuse from NYC and Boston and Philly and DC … I also made a point to treat bands well when they were there – to pay them what they deserved, to give them a place to stay, food to eat, all that. So, I think that bands were grateful and I started getting shirts from bands as a “thank you”.

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

The best story that’s shirt related is … well, I think that the big show in Syracuse in October of 93 was one of the biggest shows I had done up to that time, and I remember getting so many shirts that day – Outspoken, Earth Crisis, Bloodlet, Chokehold, Framework, plus a few more i can’t remember right now. Plus, that was a show when kids actually flew to Syracuse from Europe just to see a show, which totally blew me away. A couple of those guys are still some of my best friends now – Tom Kyo from Denmark, Inti Carboni from Rome. Another big show that I remember getting amazing shirts from was when Sick of It All, H2O, Civ and Black Train Jack played. NYC all over the place. That was an amazing show.

One more thing … DJ and Guav started Cabal, and then invited me to join them, which turned out to be an amazing and too-short-lived experience. We printed some amazing shirts (some of which are on my Ebay auction), and I can remember printing some of those great EC and other band’s shirts up in our little closet with our four color printer and little flash dryer, washing out the screens in the bathtub in the room next to us, which we were renting from our friend Dave who ran Sunspot skate shop. Dave now does the websites for Trustkill and other labels.

…

There you have it. Good dude. NBD.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

In 1994, my stepbrother took me to my first hardcore show which was a few local bands playing at the Living Room in Providence, RI. At that point I had only gone to metal concerts, lolopalooza, and other “grunge” shows so this was a whole new thing for me. The next week I saw a flyer for Sheer Terror, Life of Agony, Lockdown and Smudge at Club Babyhead (r.i.p.) and took it upon myself to go. Holy John Christ…it was one of the scariest things I have ever seen and between dodging all the huge beasts that were destroying the place and getting my first black eye I was hooked. Any show that was at Babyhead or the Living Room I went to, any flyer I saw for a hardcore show in the tri state area I would take the train to. It was love at first sight.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

I always would buy shirts and any other merch of bands that I saw, starting at my first show (damn I still wish I had that Times Expired shirt) and running up until the last show I went to (Edge Day 10/17/09). But what really got my t shirt collection going was when I started being a roadie for bands and working at Stillborn Recs in 2002. All the bands I toured with, I got a shirt from. All the bands that played on the shows I got a shirt from. All the bands on the label the band I was out with was on, I got a shirt from. When I sold the bulk of my shirt collection in 2005 I had over 450 shirts, some of which I had never worn.

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

I’d say its the Earth Crisis basketball jersey. I bought it at the old Lupos in Providence. The show was Downset, ExC, VOD and StillSuit, (we didnt have Bane on our show like you guys in MA did) with no barrier! It was to this day one of the best shows I ever went to. I rolled up with a group of friends and from first band to last the place was insane…3 mosh pits, non stop stage dives and some of the biggest pile-ons this side of a Converge show at the Space! I bought the jersey at the end of the show and I wore it constantly because seriously…its an Earth Crisis basketball jersey!! I liked it so much I didn’t mind when my friend bought me the same one a few months later for my birthday at a ExC show in CT.

Word! And you know we LOVE basketball jerseys.

My name is Jeremy Smith and I am 35 years old, Straight Edge and pretty boring for the most part. I think my new moniker is that I’m funny, but not “fun.”

I used to play in Halfmast, Plagued with Rage, No Reason, The Control and Dead Hearts, to name a few. Currently I am in a new band called REASON (straight edge) and our demo should be online in a week or two.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

Well, growing up, I was a metal dude who liked some punk, like the Pistols and Ramones. But mostly I listened to Maiden and Priest and Sabbath and stuff. Around 1988 I got into thrash metal, then crossover and death metal, then Hardcore and Straight Edge. By 1991 I was going to Hardcore shows on the regular in Buffalo.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

All the shirts I’m selling were purchased in the past 7 years or so. In 2001, I started putting on a lot of weight and clicked up from a xl to a xxl (at some point in the late 90′s I was wearing a large however, especially my judge schism shirt that I traded many moons ago) and how it works is, if I like a band, I want a shirt or maybe a couple, from said band. Also, I learned that not too many bands or labels make xxl shirts on the regular or in large numbers, so I was constantly on the look out online for xxl’s sometimes buying them, even when I really couldn’t afford to. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier this year and have completely changed how I view exercise and nutrition and have lost 60 pounds to date, so it’s goodbye size xxl!

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

Honestly, it’s with the Danzig sweatshirt. It’s not even a direct memory with the hoodie (my ex-wife bought it for me) it’s just a Danzig memory. My friend Joe was doing merch for Danzig one tour and I thought that was fucking awesome, cuz I wanted to inside scoop on how ‘ole Glenn lives his life. So I asked Joe: “what’s Glenn like?” and he replied, “All he does is talk about tits, or himself!” so I’m standing there thinking “wow, that sounds A LOT like me!” Then later that same night I was right up front during Danzig’s set and he puts his foot up on a monitor… and there’s a rip in the crotch of his stage jeans. Well, the ‘zig man was freeballing that night, cuz his left ball was poking out the hole! I didn’t know if I should laugh, or cry! I pretty sure I did both!

I don’t know about you, but I like a great, positive story like this. Up the PMA — Notice how he played in a band called No Reason and is NOW in a band called REASON.  Now that’s pos! Good luck with those auctions, Jeremy.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

It all started for me when The Clash “Combat Rock” came out. I knew that I’d never be the same again. Living in nowhere Kansas, I had never been exposed to punk. For the first year (1983), I listened to U2, Berlin, Missing Persons thinking that this was punk, then I stumbled across a college radio station that played punk and hardcore. When I heard that first hardcore song I knew that “this is what I’ve been looking for.”

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

Mostly going to shows and hitting record stores. I was too impatient for mail order, plus I always enjoyed the thrill of a good find!

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

Way too many!!! Probably the Black Flag “Loose Nut” shirt. That was my first show and my first time to ever meet other punk kids. I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Great first show. Just imagine. All his gear is mind blowing. He’s got a little bit of everything. But if the 80′s aren’t your thing:

In a few weeks I’ll be selling all of my shirts from the ’90′s. Thanks for the interest!

You know we’ll be watching!

I had a chance to ask nicktp a few questions about his collection. We’re not going to tell you who he is. If you really wanted to know, you would have guessed already or figured it out on your on. We’ll keep his identity close to the vest, because as he put it:

When i did my last round of shirts, kids would figure out who i was, somehow tracked down where i lived, and were asking to come by on friday night and hang out, listen to records, order pizza, and have me tell them stories of the old days. That kind of freaked me out.

Check it.

1. How did you get started in the punk/ hardcore scene?

I got into the music scene when i was real young. if i rigged up my crap radio just right, i could get reception from a college radio station that would play punk/hardcore stuff at night. i would tape the shows, then make my own mixed tapes from those tapes of the stuff i liked. I think i was like 10 when i did all this. Eventually I got into skateboarding and with that whole scene came the tie in with punk music and i got much easier access to new music.

2. How did you amass all these amazing tees?

All these shirts came from either being at shows, or from mail ordering stuff. The wishingwell shirts were all mail ordered. I got like 4 shirts, 3 records and a bunch of stickers. I traded the Youth of Today shirt in like 1991 for some awful CD. I wish i still had that one. The smorgasbord shirt i also mail ordered…but in my letter i wrote with my check (cause that’s what you did back then…mailed checks…in the mail!) that i was going to a show in CT at the anthrax. The guy who did the zine showed up with my shirts and records in hand…and went around the show asking if anyone knew me..until he found me. I sold that shirt to a guy years ago, he moved to germany. years later, some girl i dated pulled it out. Turns out it was her brother i sold it to and she brought it back after she went to see him…so she gave it back to me. now its on ebay. sad thing is, the shirts i kept are only a small portion of the shirts i had. so many ended their life being used by my dad to wax his car.

3. What’s the strongest memory attached to one of these shirts (like a great show, or a funny merch table discussion)?

I think i answered this one above. The UC shirt, one time some big dude in my high school came up and asked me, quite seriously, if it was a “gay” shirt. He thought the skinhead was grabbing another mans unit. In actuality, its the microphone. but, pretty funny nonetheless.

There you have it. Go support this dude. Plenty of provenance here. Plus each auction has a little detail on where he got the tee. You can’t beat that with a stick.

For the first go, I ended up picking ebay seller hows_your_edge with 19 auctions currently listed. Why? Well, that should be self explanatory. I’m not saying I’m a heat seller, but this topic has to start somewhere. Lets face it, we can only go up from here.

There you have it. Seller Spotlight #1. Now go bid!