TALKING LOUD
10 KERRANG!words:Jennyfer J. Walker“I
didn’t realise how important merch
was when we first started State
Champs, I just thought it was cool.
Merch is how bands make their money.
No-one’s selling millions of copies of their
albums these days, so I don’t think a lot of
fans realise that when bands go on tour,
the best way you can support them is by
going up to that merch table and buying
a T-shirt. When you buy merch you’re a
walking billboard for your favourite band,
so it really helps.
“I went to school to study graphic design,
so I started out designing our own merch, and
doing little logos and making stickers. Then as
we started recording albums, I found out how
big branding and symbolism was. The biggest
example was when we found our globe logo- that was just something that seemed an
easy thing to draw, and that we could put on
any piece of clothing and it would sell really
well. Plus, it correlated with an emoji on the
keyboard, so it could be plastered all over and
it just became our thing.
“We’re always trying to think outside the box
by using all different types of garments and not
just doing the typical black shirt with a logo on
it. We try things that normal bands wouldn’t
do, like making flip-flops and PopSockets
(laughs). We’ve also made Tech Decks before –
like the little finger skateboards.
“Sometimes merch comes from a little idea,
like a little one-liner. For example: we wanted
a guy holding a golden heart to illustrate
our song Mine Is Gold, then an artist we hit
up came back and said, ‘What about a little
cherub baby flying in the air holding a heart?’
and I was like, ‘That’s so much cooler!’ And
that became one of our biggest sellers on the
last album cycle.
“You see a lot of bands that overdo
merch, where they almost start to be
portrayed as a clothing company than a
band – and maybe some people will think
that about us – but I’m just so passionate
about design and clothing. It’s great to
be able to take that, and my passion for
being in the band and music, and put them
together. Never do I want it to be this thing
that we’re hiding the fact we have bad songs
with good merch (laughs). Merch is just an
expression of the songs and the work we’ve
put in, plus an extra way to support that.” K!STATE CHAMPS’ LATEST ALBUM LIVING
PROOF IS OUT NOW VIA PURE NOISE“WE TRY
THINGS THAT
NORMAL BANDS
WOULDN’T DO...”
DEREK DISCANIOWith records not making as
much money, STATE CHAMPS
frontman DEREK DISCANIO
explains how crucial it is for
bands to continue to make a
living through merch...
MERCH CAN
KEEP BANDS ON
THE ROAD