The music industry has sometimes been facetiously referred to as "the T-shirt business" — a funny and self-deprecating reminder that artists' main source of income often doesn't come from their art itself, but rather from the shirts they sell at shows.
With that in mind, we asked some Canadian bands to share their favourite band tees (and other merch items). They came back with everything from tour souvenirs to a real-life meeting with a Beatle.
Naya Ali
Snoop Dogg T-shirt
Photo courtesy of the artist
Montreal rapper Naya Ali embraces the unique tone of her husky yet pop-friendly flow — and she cites Snoop Dogg as the one who inspired her to embrace her own distinctiveness. "As one of the first rappers to pioneer a distinctive vocal tone in a time where gangsta rap was hard-hitting, he influenced the culture with his natural charisma and smooth, laid-back delivery," she tells Exclaim! about her shirt. "He definitely taught me that I can show charisma without doing the most and be just as, if not more, impactful." Her new single for Bonsound, "Life," sounds nothing like Snoop, but channels his spirit with its own distinctive character.
Benja
Clairo T-shirt
Photo: Eva Essam
Benja's chiming, wobbly guitar masterwork can be found all over the bedroom pop tunes his makes under his own name — as well as on Jonah Yano's new album, as Benja has been playing in Yano's live band. That gig resulted in the Toronto tunesmith playing with Yano while opening for Clairo on tour in 2022, when he got this shirt. "It was one of most fun things I've ever done! I look at the dates on the back, and memories from each city come back," Benja tells Exclaim! "Also, my girlfriend cropped the shirt for me when I got back home and I love the way it fits. Lots of love in one lil shirt!"
Contrived's Michael MacNeil
Nirvana T-shirt
Photo courtesy of the artist
Aughts indie rockers Contrived returned this fall with the raw, rocking Addicted to Sadness, their first album in 16 years. The band's Michael MacNeil's favourite band tee throws back to an even earlier time: the grunge boom of the early '90s. "I found this at a thrift store on the south shore of Nova Scotia during the summer of 2020, shortly after things re-opened," the Haligonian says. "I convinced myself it was vintage and would have been made for a crew member back in the day because of its extremely simple and clinical front design. It's almost certainly not." The bleach stains, which come from MacNeil's habit of "free pouring the ol' Javex into every wash," are appropriate for a band whose first album was called Bleach.
Mike Evin
Mordechai Mendoza T-shirt
Photo courtesy of the artist
Who is Mordechai Mendoza? If you're currently asking that question, piano pop songwriter Mike Evin's T-shirt is having the desired effect. "Every time I wear it, people always ask me who Mordechai Mendoza is, so it's doing its job," Evin says. "In case you're wondering, Mordechai Mendoza is the stage name of my pal Adam Beer-Colacino's solo project." Hopefully Beer-Colacino is returning the favour and spreading the word about Evin's witty, bittersweet new album Something Stirs When You Sing.
knitting
Dead Soft T-shirt, DIIV T-shirt and socks, Doffing T-shirt, Regularfantasy's Rendezvous T-shirt
Photos courtesy of the artist
The members of Montreal alt-rock combo knitting are deeply entrenched in their local music scene — and their favourite band tees reflect their many friends and collaborators. Vocalist Mischa Dempsey got a DIIV shirt and socks while on a COVID-shortened tour playing with Chastity in 2020; bassist Piper Curtis treasures this shirt from "forever fave and absolute besties" Doffing; guitarist Sarah Harris dons a tee from from electroacoustic music school buddies Regularfantasy's Rendezvous; drummer Andy Mulcair celebrates fellow alt-rockers Dead Soft, who "broke the batter head on my kick drum once in Vancouver and gave me $50 to replace it." All those connections come together on knitting's loud yet tender new album, Some Kind of Heaven.
Afternoon Bike Ride's Lia Kuri
Robert Robert hoodie
Photo courtesy of the artist
Afternoon Bike Ride vocalist Lia Kuri is about to release her debut album as a solo electronic artist, Motherland, on October 25. It's only appropriate, then, that her favourite music merch item pays tribe to the original "motherland" of them all: Pangaea, the huge landmass than predates our current continental makeup."I'm obsessed with the merch from my pal Robert Robert's album Bienvenue Au Pays," Kuri says. "I think a hoodie with Pangaea is genius, and I always get compliments whenever I wear it."
Tess Parks
Paul McCartney T-shirt
Photo courtesy of the artist
Many of us have owned a Beatles shirt at one time or another — but how many of us can claim to have met an actual Beatle while wearing it? "I found this Paul McCartney tour shirt at Sonic Boom with my friend David in 2009," Tess Parks tells Exclaim! "Later that year, we shook hands with him outside of the Four Seasons and I was wearing the shirt! I have seen it as a good-luck charm ever since." She clearly had luck on her side while crafting the lush, psych-tinged pop rock arrangements of her moody new album, Pomegranate.
Kylie V
Del Water Gap sweatshirt
Photo courtesy of the artist
Kylie V's aching folk and indie rock is unflinchingly earnest, as heard on the upcoming Crash Test Plane (due out November 15) — but when it comes to band tees, the Vancouver singer-songwriter is "a big fan of somewhat silly merch." That's why they love this "horse with bowl cut" sweatshirt from dreamy pop artist Del Water Gap. "I don't fully know the lore behind it, but I'm pretty sure it's just a little creature he drew and made his mascot," Kylie V says. "I love this sweatshirt so much. My best friend Nolan and I bought matching ones at the Del Water Gap show in Vancouver last year, and I wear mine all the time."