Home made "merch"

suss · In the Long Grass

Home made "merch"

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Didn't exactly make anything - but did once carve Boomtown Rats on my arm with a blunt piece of glass found in school playground. Thought it would quickly fade, but lasted 2 weeks and had to wear long-sleeved clothes for a fortnight (despite weather being somewhat warm) - as I was terrified my parents would find out! Just seemed a good idea at the time ...........

Have grown out of that sort of behaviour now, I hasten to add

I guess it wouldn't have been such a problem if I had just shortened it to Rats.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

For a start this is a very inventive question.

I went to a fairly conservative school in the Irish countryside in the late seventies and I was a bit shy so didn't get a chance to "express myself" in a dressy fashion.

However was known to write Boomtown Rats on various desks and copybooks. Always remember writing a French essay on the subject of meeting the Boomtown Rats- we had to write about winning some brilliant prize and what we'd do!

The artwork for the Looking After Number One single or maybe 12" single featured a Rats armband- which you had to cut out and wear. Also the single Like Clockwork had a cut out wrist watch- though bribery would get you banned from the charts but evidently the Rats got away with it!

Never joined the Rats fan club- always remember the address was Seymour Place London. I'd imagine you would get a couple of a4 pages of badly printed "news" but those were innocent times.

Always wonder about that kid on the Hammersmith Odeon video '78 doing the rat outside the venue- the kid in the pyjamas. Wonder is he still a fan or how he looks back on his "performance"! I suppose the fairly ubiquitous wearing of pyjamas was the most common diy homage a fan could come up with. Glad the Rats didn't go for the spiky hair and pins look.

Finally I think the first album cover, or maybe back of the first album would make a good t shirt in one were to get a t shirt made up.

suss · In the Long Grass

noelindublin wrote:
However was known to write Boomtown Rats on various desks and copybooks. Always remember writing a French essay on the subject of meeting the Boomtown Rats- we had to write about winning some brilliant prize and what we'd do!

Noel,

That's reminded me I went to the trouble of making a Boomtown Rats stencil from an A4 sheet of plastic (in the style/font of the Looking After No 1 cover) and spray painting various school folders and also my Adidas sports bag.

Another one I'd overlooked was getting my mum to make me pyjamas in the fabric of coat that Bob wore on Mondays cover (the black/grey/white check). Must have preceded the mirror incident I'm guessing smile

Wasn't brave enough to wear them anywhere except in the house though, which with hindsight I'm very grateful for.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

suss wrote:
Also got a fairly stern parental lecture for 'creating' a Diamond Smiles mirror using black marker to effect the crack and red marker to write 'Cheers'. My argument that I didn't actually break their precious mirror or use lipstick didn't really work.

Parents, eh? They just don't understand creative genius do they? They should have just been grateful you didn't try to re-enact Mondays!

Mind you, sometimes when telling my two off, I get flashbacks of bad stuff I've done - so I guess it all comes back to haunt you

noelindublin · Loudmouth

suss wrote:
noelindublin wrote:
However was known to write Boomtown Rats on various desks and copybooks. Always remember writing a French essay on the subject of meeting the Boomtown Rats- we had to write about winning some brilliant prize and what we'd do!

Noel,
That's reminded me I went to the trouble of making a Boomtown Rats stencil from an A4 sheet of plastic (in the style/font of the Looking After No 1 cover) and spray painting various school folders and also my Adidas sports bag.
Another one I'd overlooked was getting my mum to make me pyjamas in the fabric of coat that Bob wore on Mondays cover (the black/grey/white check). Must have preceded the mirror incident I'm guessing
Wasn't brave enough to wear them anywhere except in the house though, which with hindsight I'm very grateful for.
While on the subject of merchandise, homemade or otherwise I have just checked all the Rats/ Bob Geldof material on Ebay UK. This is something I do very infrequently so it sometimes amazes me the amount of interesting stuff available.
A quick roll call includes such diverse items as various Rats button/metal badges, long forgotten front covers of old seventies music mags incl Jackie, Disco 45 [ for all those important song words!] various posters including concert posters, all sorts of vinyl including such exotic delights as Sweedish and Dutch pressings,Rats mugs, sheet music, music press ads for various singles and albums[ One is from Boots promoting Mondo Bongo, never knew Boots sold records in the early eighties- yes Mondo Bongo is good medicine!
There are also special magazine style promos just about the Rats, a few ads for Gerry Cott promoting various guitars, a t shirt featuring the lookin' After No 1 single as well as other t shirts, and one guy selling quote, a job lot of Boomtown Rats singles!
For sheer nostalgia and fun its worth checking ebay, ploughing through the , well I got up to about 12 pages. Some of the interesting Rats stuff comes up under Bob Geldof . Who could be without a Turkish cassette copy of Bobs first solo album?
Lots of rare photos of the band amungst all the various magazines and old NME, Sounds , Record Mirror etc.

suss · In the Long Grass

You're not alone - Was only looking at ebay a couple of days ago so most of that list very familiar.

There are handy links from BTR's Boomtown Rats site to ebay for Rats or Geldof.

Luckily (?) I've got loads of hoarded similar stuff in the loft otherwise I'd have no doubt been suckered into buying posters/badges etc for old time's sake.

Kept a couple of t-shirts (not the home made one!) and I find it truly amazing they ever fitted. Must be damp in our loft - must have shrunk hmm

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I'd never have been creative enough to do this. Might have had the ideas but the actual items would have been unrecognisable as anything, let alone Rats home made merch!! biggrin

suss · In the Long Grass

noelindublin wrote:

Never joined the Rats fan club- always remember the address was Seymour Place London. I'd imagine you would get a couple of a4 pages of badly printed "news" but those were innocent times.

Me neither, but must be someone reading this who was a member.

What did fan club membership provide if so??

noelindublin · Loudmouth

suss wrote:
noelindublin wrote:

Never joined the Rats fan club- always remember the address was Seymour Place London. I'd imagine you would get a couple of a4 pages of badly printed "news" but those were innocent times.

Me neither, but must be someone reading this who was a member.
What did fan club membership provide if so??

Haven't heard it but the fan club did release a flexi single [ie too mean to pay for proper vinly] version of Silent Night in December 1981 backed with messages or greetings from the band members.

I'M guessing, by things likely to be contained therein include loads of photos, interviews, quizzes, unbiased reviews of new Rats records, centre spreads of Bob Geldof, the Bob Geldof column, Gary Roberts motor bike maintenance tips, Johnnie Fingers piano lessons by post, Gerry Cott's tips on how to smoke while playing the guitar with shades. Perhaps Paula's fashion tips as well!

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Lisa wrote:
Didn't exactly make anything - but did once carve Boomtown Rats on my arm with a blunt piece of glass found in school playground. Thought it would quickly fade, but lasted 2 weeks and had to wear long-sleeved clothes for a fortnight (despite weather being somewhat warm) - as I was terrified my parents would find out! Just seemed a good idea at the time ...........

I knew we had some nutty stalkers around here, but this is fcuking scary!

My contribution to home made merchandise was to cut off the foot of a dissected rat from a biology class, fry it in wax to preserve it (fcuk knows why), and to replace the plastic shark tooth I used to wear on a chain.

But after Lisa's post, I feel like i'm a total lightweight!

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

ArrGee wrote:
Lisa wrote:
Didn't exactly make anything - but did once carve Boomtown Rats on my arm with a blunt piece of glass found in school playground. Thought it would quickly fade, but lasted 2 weeks and had to wear long-sleeved clothes for a fortnight (despite weather being somewhat warm) - as I was terrified my parents would find out! Just seemed a good idea at the time ...........

I knew we had some nutty stalkers around here, but this is fcuking scary!
My contribution to home made merchandise was to cut off the foot of a dissected rat from a biology class, fry it in wax to preserve it (fcuk knows why), and to replace the plastic shark tooth I used to wear on a chain.
But after Lisa's post, I feel like i'm a total lightweight!

I' m not nutty or a stalker - just a bit misguided sometimes maybe ...I was only 13 in my defence! Just go and listen to some chill out music to take your mind of it anyway - maybe Gerry Cott, or How to Compose, or V Deep! That's sure to relax you And it's far more weird to fry a rat's foot actually

do the rat · The Elephant's Graveyard

I was a member of the rats fan club in about 1982 and remember getting several pages of A4 printed paper folded in half.

They had photos and interviews and stuff like that but looked very cheaply done.

I can`t remember much more than that, but it was a long time ago(don`t remember getting any free gifts).

Unfortunately all the fan club stuff is long gone but would be great to find some on ebay(some hope !!!).

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
Lisa wrote:
Didn't exactly make anything - but did once carve Boomtown Rats on my arm with a blunt piece of glass found in school playground. Thought it would quickly fade, but lasted 2 weeks and had to wear long-sleeved clothes for a fortnight (despite weather being somewhat warm) - as I was terrified my parents would find out! Just seemed a good idea at the time ...........

I knew we had some nutty stalkers around here, but this is fcuking scary!
My contribution to home made merchandise was to cut off the foot of a dissected rat from a biology class, fry it in wax to preserve it (fcuk knows why), and to replace the plastic shark tooth I used to wear on a chain.
But after Lisa's post, I feel like i'm a total lightweight!

Lisa, in a way, might have been preempting Richey Edwards from the Manics who famously carved the letters 4 Real onto his forearm [with a razor admittedly] when Steve Lamacq questioned the bona fides on the early Manics music.

Plastic shark tooth on a chain sounds like real alpha male type behaviour!

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
Plastic shark tooth on a chain sounds like real alpha male type behaviour!
Mmm, hardly. Not really sure I could ever be described as an alpha male. More of an omega male if truth be known.

http://www.omegamale.org/

Reminder to self, don't post when pissed on a Friday night. Sorry Lisa, didn't meant to offend. The nutty stalkers I was refering to are the likes of Jules and the others with Geldof in the avatars. They know I think that of them

Still have to admit it is scary a 13 year old doing that. I wouldn't even consider a tattoo nor a piercing. The old safety pin in the mouth would be as close as I'd get.

Almost did a Charlie George/Dave Allen once. Fortunately I didn't cut through the bone with the hedge trimmer (merely scraped it!), and the flesh and skin did eventually all grow back.

-- Edited by ArrGee on Wednesday 18th of May 2011 07:58:17 PM

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

ArrGee wrote:
Reminder to self, don't post when pissed on a Friday night. Sorry Lisa, didn't meant to offend. The nutty stalkers I was refering to are the likes of Jules and the others with Geldof in the avatars. They know I think that of them
Still have to admit it is scary a 13 year old doing that. I wouldn't even consider a tattoo nor a piercing. The old safety pin in the mouth would be as close as I'd get.

No offence taken - well not too much anyway! Ha, can tell you're scared now It was my one and only act of rebellion and I was only doing it cos a friend was as well - sadly I have always been very easily led But have been very boring ever since with no tattoos and only my ears pierced - so far ....

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

biggrin lol stalker wars going on here?

Self confessed stalker, but nothing nutty or scary to confess I'm afraid. yawn