How cool is this? Someone, who isn't me, has designed Hosey t-shirts and is currently selling them through Zazzle.
On the front is an excellent rendition of the moniker, and underneath are ultra-cute little symbols that relate to outer space and rocketry. On the back is the timeless Hosey sub-line, "The Way the Future Was..." (which I actually stole from sci-fi author Frederik Pohl). I love the whole damn shirt. Whoever designed this really got inside of my head.
Now, keep in mind that Zazzle is based out of New Zealand and it's pretty expensive to have something shipped from there. So I suppose buying a cheap-ish--though styling!--shirt from that far away to ship to The States is a little silly. For example: the design you see at the top of the page costs $62!!! Nevertheless, what's cool about Zazzle is that you, as the customer, are allowed to pick the type of shirt or jacket you want and change the colors as you please. In this manner you can get the design in white with whatever colors you want for the text for as low $29. Not too bad, but still a little out of my price range.
Maybe I could design some Hosey t-shirts and sell them to make some money so I can buy this... wait. That's just idiotic.
Oh, and for the record, the "Bootleg" mention in the title of this post is a joke. I suppose the shirts are in fact bootleg, since we didn't have anything to do with making them and didn't endorse this, but rest assured that Hosey is absolutely flattered that someone went this far on their own. The best thing about being in a totally DIY and self-reliant band with no handlers or label to deal with is that I can legally do this: I, Patrik Phalen, officially and heartily endorse this endeavor. Whoever designed this has my, and Hughes', total blessing. If you can make a buck at it, more power to you. Also: Awesome Shirt, Great Job!
Hell, isn't it crazy that in today's world, where we, Hosey, in an attempt to be as Fugazi-like as possible decided against merchandise, that a fan can just take matters into their own hands? I know that most bands don't like this type of bootlegging, but I suppose that's because they sell their own merchandise and this would be competition. I HATE selling stuff, and we don't do it, so there is no competition. This is simply demand, however small, being met. Free market, baby! If someone else wants to take the job of t-shirt design and sale and do it for us, great. Keep the money. I'm just glad there are t-shirts for the people who want them.