The two young dudes who started the Los Angeles clothing brand Vow, Christopher and Jorge, describe what they create as “equal parts occult,
cynical and abrasive.” I would describe it as part clothing brand, part DIY project, like finding a dope vintage tee and silkscreening some of your art on it for a friend. These guys put love and wit into their creations, with their tongue-in-cheek hand-printed graphics and hand-distressed tees, lovingly washed many times so that you don’t have to. I think my favorite piece is their vegan leather grocery tote, a collabo they did with Little Moons. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but Santa Monica banned plastic bags from grocery stores last year, so I have been dutifully carrying around my reusable bags everywhere. Although this tote really is too awesome to be used for storing food in. You can pick up any of their tees or totes in their webstore HERE. After the jump, check out a selection of their offerings as well as images from their SS12 lookbook.

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I really dig the way that the internet has made the world a smaller place. Also, it has allowed creative beings from around the universe to do what they do and have a way to reach humans that are willing to buy their wares. I must admit that I’m addicted to surfing the net, and I totally get stuck in the tumblr world sometimes. One day, digging around the tumblr solar system, I ran into this killer DIY Crusty Punk webstore called Sunshine Ward Distro. What makes this site rad is that they have made to order mugs by bands like Axgrinder, Shitlicker, Discharge, Amebix and Antisect plus some killer tees. I can’t forget to mention they have Revenge back patches too. Webstores like Sunshine Ward Distro get me excited because you can tell that all of the things that they create are done with mad passion. Check out a full gallery of what you can find when you make your way over to the Ward…it must be said, their prices are right!

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Back in the day, the one thing that punks and metal heads could not leave home without was their leather jacket, and now, it’s the almighty vest. I know that for me, making my vest was almost a mediative process; it mellows me out to carefully stud and sew patches on my own garment. Creating a DIY piece of clothing is something that has brought my wife and I closer – she has told me many times that the fact that I love to sew is one of the reasons she knew I was the one! I get such a huge kick out of other people’s vests, because many times they are an extension of the wearer’s personality. These garments are also things that make you a part of an underground tribe of like-minded humans. So today, CVLT Nation would like to celebrate the vest by making No Gods-No Shirts-Just Vest our tumblr of the week. This tumblr is cool on so many levels, one thing is the fact that it gives the creators of some kick-ass vests a forum to share their work and at the same to have a sense of humor! I must say, it’s pretty rad because I know there are some CVLT Nation readers representing! So after the jump, bow to the altar of No Gods-No Shirts-Just Vest and check out a gallery we put together.

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I know Daniel of xDUDEOFDEATHX illustration now for nearly seven years. As I found out by doing this interview: The very first shirt design he did was for a shirt promoting my first fanzine, which I find pretty amazing. In this fanzine was also an interview with his band Evenworse, then still playing fast Thrashcore in the vein of DS-13. So the circle closes once again: In this interview for CVLT Nation we focused on Daniel’s work as an illustrator – as you can easily see by the pictures, he definetely has his own, very recognizable style. Here’s what he has to say:

CVLT Nation: Daniel, how old have you been when you started to do artworks and what made you do so initially? What were the important or most memorable steps of your career (if you’d call it that way) as an artist?

Daniel Ehrlich: Phew… good question. I think I really started this whole artwork thing around the age of 20. Before that I just drew stuff for friends or at school. I think I did the first shirt design for your very first fanzine, Final Expression. I wouldn’t say that there were some overly important steps. I think the most memorable step was the huge process for the Destroyer | Borderlines lp for Goldust. 

Let’s talk about your influences: Which artists left an impact on your way of working and how?

I love every single artist who still sticks to pen and paper. Mike Bukowski definetely had a huuuge impact on me, he is still one of the best. He brought the “thick outline” thing. I’d say that also John Dyer Baizley, Godmachine, Dan Mumford or Belanger are incredible, I am soooo far from having their skills. In Germany: Florian Schommer (also singer in AYS). He ripps. Also Unas and Killerartworx, nice dudes and incredibly talented.
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I can’t front, my fascination with crust pants started in 1983, because I had older heads around me who had killer pants. While living in San Francisco during the 80′s, I started expressing myself with a needle & thread, but I really made my raddest pair in the early 2000′s. While living in Seattle, I began a pair of pants that took over my life; I would spend hours sewing on patches. During this time, I realized something: that I felt a tremdeous calming effect with every patch that I finished, and even now it’s great way for me to relax. When I see someone rocking a pair, I don’t care what country I’m in, I still get excited and I can’t help but stare. I have mega amounts of respect for people who take the time create a killer crust pants, because I know that they are a labor of blackened love. I also find it really interesting the way that every pair tells a different story, but they also connect the wearer to a worldwide tribe. The spirit of D.I.Y is totally alive, and has been passed down from punks to punks. Today CVLT Nation has put together a gallery of crust pants images that spans a least three decades, maybe even longer! So after the jump, check how humans have taken what’s around and created wearable art!

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One of our most popular posts of this year was my first Fuck Yeah Punk Jackets post, so here is a part 2 for you. Sean CVLT Nation has been obsessed with them since he was a young punk, and to this day he wears his punk jackets and vests with pride. These DIY staples will always have a place in our wardrobes, and they are a feat to be respected in others. Anyone who has cried, bled and sweated all over one of these knows that they take months if not years to perfect, and are priceless. After the jump, check out a collection of fine specimens of the punk jacket variety…

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The man himself doesn’t need an introduction nor does his persona. I choose to focus on his despotic fascination for homemade costumes and “clothing” that he chooses to adorn himself with on stage for Mayhem, Void Ov Voices and Sunn O))). At one gig going as far to make himself up as a tree, explaining that Sunn O))) music was for the plants. Some of his appearances have nonetheless been deemed controversial or lame, but opinions are irrelevant because it is not made with the intentions to impress. Some of his masks were designed by Nader Sadek, who i also plan to write about. Various others designs that have come across were the German Hitler outfit, broken mirror man, the death priest (over 70 years old and made by nuns) and the mummy…

Atilla states about the purpose of the visual aesthetics “I like to challenge the audience, so the worst thing for me is going on stage with something that has been seen a million times before, like corpse paint. Actually, the first time I wore corpse paint was in 1987 with my band Tormentor. Alien Sex Fiend were using white make-up, so I started to wear a white base and put black make-up on top, around the eyes and the mouth. It was cool then”

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One of the raddest things about being a punk kid in the 80′s was the fanzine culture. D.I.Y was not a word for us but an lifestyle. Out of this culture grew the cottage industry of fanzines & from this, the independent publishing houses that produced them. Back then these fanzines were our internet – they actually connected the East Coast punks to the West Coast punks. My first love was my local, Flipside, & my second favorite was NoCal’s Maximum Rock & Roll (they brought the global perspective to fanzines with their global scene reports). Today, CVLT Nation is featuring two epic zines from the 80′s: the punk zine Urban Decay & the metal zine Brain Damage. Both of these have some awesome interviews from bands of the day, plus some killer art. Get your fanzine download on after the jump!

URBAN DECAY

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A while back, I did a post on the metal battle jacket, or kutte, and it’s proved to be one of our most popular, so here’s a part two. Again, I searched T-shirt Slayer for some of their finest examples of what is a staple of the metal wardrobe, after long hair and a band tee. Anyone whose ever tried to make one of these knows how painstaking the process is, from the placement of the patches and studs to the actual stitching and studding. These works of art can sometimes take months or years to fully complete, and others are in a constant state of progression. I have so much respect for the effort and artistry that has gone into these vests, regardless of how I may feel about the bands they are repping, or the flowery sheet or shag carpet that makes up the background of the photo, I can’t fault their dedication or talent when it comes to making a killer piece of clothing. After the jump, check out a mega epic gallery of battle jackets…

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Cultivation of surrounding primitive cultures, evolution through self education, and complete spiritual ties to the flesh; these are all things that Marc Riedmann, better known as Little Swastika, manifests. He came into his own at a young age, and from starting out on a swiss army knife, I think it’s safe to say he’s certainly come a long way in his arts of the flesh and otherwise, as today he is viewed as a prodigy amongst the body-mod culture. While he has evolved into 21st century tattooing techniques, he still maintains a love for reverting to traditional means of tattooing. The DIY approach has really been all that he’s known, and the “‘build something new and then have a go at it’ approach is something,” he says, “I find deeply fascinating…” This do-it-yourself, street lifestyle he grew up knowing reflects in his work and seems to be responsible for his entire aesthetic; an aesthetic which comprises ornate and detailed imagery with raw, sketchy lines and technique.

Tattooing and body modification can be viewed as mere extensions upon the soul, and our means of merging the material with the spiritual. In some cultures, the swastika represents creation, which alone is the sole reason we are the beings we are. If we do not create, we cannot destroy, and if we cannot or will not destroy, we refuse to fully live.

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