What a joke. You can get a Gildan shirt at Michael's for $3 and easily find a hi-res image of any of these graphics and print onto iron-on transfer sheets, and basically get the same quality, if not better, that what Nordstrom wants $40 for.
Way to support the artists!!!
I'm not saying to do that, or that I would. I'm just making the point that with regards to the product people are describing above, it seems like that is more or less the quality of what they received - not what I would expect from a department store charging $40 for a t-shirt, when Ames Bros. sells screen printed T's direct from their site for 25% less. I imagine the artists are getting a very small percentage from these particular sales, if anything. Nordstrom is the one making all the profit, and based on the fact that the the description on their site indicates that these are 'Imported', I doubt they're "official" merchandise. Does Ames Bros. even use Hanes?!
No...these shirts look like bootleg garbage. And I DO support the artists. 90% of my t-shirt wardrobe consists of shirts I purchased direct from 10C, Ames Bros., concerts, or other direct artist sales.
Pretty sure Nordstrom doesn't sell bootleg tee shirts. Not exactly a flea market type atmosphere over there.
1996: Randall's Island 2 1998: East Rutherford | MSG 1 & 2 2000: Cincinnati | Columbus | Jones Beach 1, 2, & 3 | Boston 1 | Camden 1 & 2 2003: Philadelphia | Uniondale | MSG 1 & 2 | Holmdel 2005: Atlantic City 1 2006: Camden 1 | East Rutherford 1 & 2 2008: Camden 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Newark (EV) 2009: Philadelphia 1, 2 & 4 2010: Newark | MSG 1 & 2 2011: Toronto 1 2013: Wrigley Field | Brooklyn 2 | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore 2015: Central Park 2016: Philadelphia 1 & 2 | MSG 1 & 2 | Fenway Park 2 | MSG (TOTD) 2017: Brooklyn (RnR HOF) 2020: MSG | Asbury Park2021: Asbury Park 2022: MSG | Camden | Nashville 2024: MSG 1 & 2 (#50) | Philadelphia 1 & 2 | Baltimore
The shirt basically has a slab of vinyl pasted on it with the Donkey Kong Poster image. Total sweat-fest on a hot day. No thanks. Wearing my PJ Cinncy 10/1/14 Orange Bengals Shirt right now. Nice lightweight shirt with a deco you don't feel at all.
I got this shirt and think it's comfortable. It's way overpriced for sure, but it's my favorite show ever and I'll never own the poster, so I'm happy with the purchase.
Same here / love the shirt and also my favorite show of the 35 I've seen. That said, the vinyl decal is thick but I still wear it with pride!!
The shirt basically has a slab of vinyl pasted on it with the Donkey Kong Poster image. Total sweat-fest on a hot day. No thanks. Wearing my PJ Cinncy 10/1/14 Orange Bengals Shirt right now. Nice lightweight shirt with a deco you don't feel at all.
I got this shirt and think it's comfortable. It's way overpriced for sure, but it's my favorite show ever and I'll never own the poster, so I'm happy with the purchase.
Same here / love the shirt and also my favorite show of the 35 I've seen. That said, the vinyl decal is thick but I still wear it with pride!!
Glad to hear most like the shirt. I guess I am pretty picky about the transfer on a shirt. I don't want to feel the image on the front or back of the shirt when I am wearing it. I have rejected other cool PJ shirts in the past for that reason. Still a great image. I just wish they did the shirt another way.
Ames Bros x Pearl Jam for
Pop-In@Nordstrom x Hanes: A Q&A on Designing Hundreds of Concert
Posters and T-Shirts for Seattle’s Longest-Lasting Grunge Band
When it comes to a design aesthetic, it’s hard to imagine what Pearl
Jam, Skype and a Seattle-based pizza chain might have in common. But
these seemingly disparate entities all share the same potent,
just-under-the-radar resource: Ames Bros, a small graphic design firm manned by two pretty unpretentious guys—Coby Schultz and Barry Ament.
The artistic duo has accomplished something a lot of design houses
struggle with—a seamless, cohesive style that melds two brains into one.
Or at least makes it look that way. Coby and Barry met back in art
school at Montana State in the early ’90s, and both moved to Seattle
after graduation for career opportunities in illustration. But Ames Bros
as it’s known now might never have existed had it not been for Pearl
Jam wanting a series of cool screen-printed show posters. Barry’s
brother, Jeff Ament (yes, the same one who plays bass in Pearl Jam),
hatched the poster project in 1995 and soon Coby joined Barry to kick
out a constant stream of one-of-a-kind designs. And voilà, Ames Bros was born.
Nowadays, Coby and Barry cater to a wide range of clientele—from
Skype and Pagliacci Pizza to Metallica and the NFL. They even do pro
bono work for Food Lifeline and SMooCH (Seattle Musicians for Children’s
Hospital). But their 22-year-long relationship with Pearl Jam is still
going strong—as an extensive, ever-growing archive of posters and
T-shirts can attest. (For a limited time, you can get your hands on four
previously out-of-print designs at our Pop-In@Nordstrom x Hanes T-shirt shop.)
We recently caught up with Coby in his Seattle studio to find out
more about Ames Bros and their long-haul collaboration with Pearl Jam.
Nordstrom: Can you speak to the creative process between you
and Barry? The overall aesthetic appears pretty seamless, and it doesn’t
necessarily feel like there are two separate brains at work.
Coby Schultz: Yeah, I think we’re really similar, especially in our
senses of humor, and maybe even our idea banks. You know, it’s probably
got to do with the way we grew up, where we grew up, what affected us.
I’m sure we’ve got it written down somewhere, just every little thing
coming from outside of Montana on a farm or living in the country. There
are no billboards, there’s no advertising, really, other than what is
brought in from the outside—so magazines, cereal, candy, anything you’d
see on TV, all had a pretty big impact. And, it all kind of stuck. I
think, today, kids can watch the same movie five times a day, every day
if they want, whereas we got to see Star Wars once. In the
’70s, when we were kids, it was just a lot different, so maybe you just
really soaked it in more. I don’t know, but those things stuck for us.
And we incorporate humor into a lot of what we do. Even though there’s
so much seriousness out there, we kind of find a combination of both,
and then sometimes there’s no humor at all. It just really depends on
what we’re trying to do and who it’s for.
Do you feel like sometimes you know Pearl Jam better than
they know themselves in terms of how to represent their brand? After
working with them for this long?
Yeah, probably not. I would say no; that’s just impossible. I think,
at times, we’ve had to make do—you know, just because everybody was so
busy, we had to invent, come up with things. And how do we do that
without talking to somebody directly? So, we do just try to channel what
they would like and their personalities, and maybe there’s some things
that we know too much about, but I think that it always was translated
properly. It’s never anything inappropriate (that I know of).
And we’re very similar. Barry’s brother [Jeff] grew up in Montana
too. We all have a real common sensibility. They’re all sensible guys,
and human, and we understand them. Like, we’re not gonna put naked
ladies on a poster, you know, not because they don’t want us to, but,
also, we wouldn’t want ourselves to. There’s just these common
sensibilities that we have.
Is that a rule across the board for you guys? No naked ladies?
No, I just think it’s unnecessary. I think we like to be as creative
as we can be and as random as we can possibly be, which I think you
sometimes look at the stuff and go, “What the hell is that?” But there’s
always an explanation. At the time, there’s a good one, even if it
might escape us now.
So how many posters/collateral do you think you’ve created for Pearl Jam over the years?
We need to make an accurate count, but it’s in the mid-hundreds.
There’s a lot. I mean, as far as how many posters we do annually, just
in general, we do a lot of posters. We get hired to do posters all the
time, which is great but it’s a ton of work. But posters are just part
of what we do. We do a ton of other stuff too. We have T-shirts, which
we’ve been doing probably 15 years now….
And pizza boxes.
Pizza boxes. Yeah, Pagliacci! It’s been fun working with those guys.
The cool part about what we do is the ability to be creative on anything
and turn that into something fun. Pagliacci’s a good example of that.
Right now we’re working with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange,
which is [the organization that oversees] the individual ability for
everybody to get insurance.
Do you guys choose some of these projects because they’re close to your heart then?
Yeah, some of the things for sure. The Washington Health Benefit
Exchange is one where they came to us and said, “Hey, here, we want you
guys to work with us. We need to reach these people.” And after they
talked to us for a while, it totally made sense. The audience is the
same people we do a lot of work for, and it’s people that think they’re
all good, don’t need insurance until something bad happens.
And then we also raise money for Food Lifeline.
We created a program where we make a new T-shirt every season, and then
every time somebody buys a shirt, profits go to Food Lifeline. So, it’s
kind of a sustainable mini store. We’re about to go into season five on
that this year. And we’ve got Pearl Jam involved, so we’ll do a version
that’s got Pearl Jam on it, and everybody’s super happy, and that’s
been a really cool thing locally.
Let’s delve a little bit more into the designs you chose for the Ames Bros x Pearl Jam shirts for Pop-In.
Well, how do you take an entire history of stuff and then boil it
down to what we felt was the most iconic, for whatever reason? And there
are so many things that come into play, like they played an extra hour
that night. Somebody else joined them. It’s just so random that you
never know until after the show, or you did something that really struck
the hearts of somebody and becomes a lot more interesting and
collectible than the other stuff. But, with hindsight, we’re able to go
back and choose which ones. These are some of the things that we were
most proud of and felt like they could translate to a T-shirt without
being just a big square or rectangle slapped on a shirt.
We said to Pearl Jam, “Hey, here’s what we think [for
Pop-In@Nordstrom]. What do you guys think?” And we let them in 100% on
everything that was going on. We were able to agree on the different
shirts and designs. You know, it’s fun to see them because most of these
are gone, long gone. If you see one on eBay, that’s where you can get
it yourself. The designs that we showed are an opportunity for somebody
to get something in a different form.
1996: Seattle, WA. 1997: Oakland, CA - (Rolling Stones) 1998: Portland, OR. & Seattle, WA. 2009: Portland, OR. 2011: East Troy, WI. 1 & 2 - PJ20 & Portland, OR. - Ed Solo 2012: Dallas, TX. - Ed Solo 2013: Dallas, TX. Oklahoma City, OK. & Portland, OR. 2014: Tulsa, OK 2015: Seattle WA. - Mad Season 2016: Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Miami, FL. & Chicago, IL - Wrigley 1 2017: Dana Point - Ohana Fest - Ed Solo
2018: Seattle WA. 1 & 2 - Safeco
2021: Dana Point - Ohana Fest 1st Weekend & Night 1 & 2 - Ed Solo, 2022: Louisville, St Louis
Comments
another way.
Wetlands 91
CBGB 91
Roseland 91
and many, many more
Ames Bros x Pearl Jam for Pop-In@Nordstrom x Hanes: A Q&A on Designing Hundreds of Concert Posters and T-Shirts for Seattle’s Longest-Lasting Grunge Band
When it comes to a design aesthetic, it’s hard to imagine what Pearl Jam, Skype and a Seattle-based pizza chain might have in common. But these seemingly disparate entities all share the same potent, just-under-the-radar resource: Ames Bros, a small graphic design firm manned by two pretty unpretentious guys—Coby Schultz and Barry Ament.
The artistic duo has accomplished something a lot of design houses struggle with—a seamless, cohesive style that melds two brains into one. Or at least makes it look that way. Coby and Barry met back in art school at Montana State in the early ’90s, and both moved to Seattle after graduation for career opportunities in illustration. But Ames Bros as it’s known now might never have existed had it not been for Pearl Jam wanting a series of cool screen-printed show posters. Barry’s brother, Jeff Ament (yes, the same one who plays bass in Pearl Jam), hatched the poster project in 1995 and soon Coby joined Barry to kick out a constant stream of one-of-a-kind designs. And voilà, Ames Bros was born.
Nowadays, Coby and Barry cater to a wide range of clientele—from Skype and Pagliacci Pizza to Metallica and the NFL. They even do pro bono work for Food Lifeline and SMooCH (Seattle Musicians for Children’s Hospital). But their 22-year-long relationship with Pearl Jam is still going strong—as an extensive, ever-growing archive of posters and T-shirts can attest. (For a limited time, you can get your hands on four previously out-of-print designs at our Pop-In@Nordstrom x Hanes T-shirt shop.)
We recently caught up with Coby in his Seattle studio to find out more about Ames Bros and their long-haul collaboration with Pearl Jam.
Nordstrom: Can you speak to the creative process between you and Barry? The overall aesthetic appears pretty seamless, and it doesn’t necessarily feel like there are two separate brains at work.
Coby Schultz: Yeah, I think we’re really similar, especially in our senses of humor, and maybe even our idea banks. You know, it’s probably got to do with the way we grew up, where we grew up, what affected us. I’m sure we’ve got it written down somewhere, just every little thing coming from outside of Montana on a farm or living in the country. There are no billboards, there’s no advertising, really, other than what is brought in from the outside—so magazines, cereal, candy, anything you’d see on TV, all had a pretty big impact. And, it all kind of stuck. I think, today, kids can watch the same movie five times a day, every day if they want, whereas we got to see Star Wars once. In the ’70s, when we were kids, it was just a lot different, so maybe you just really soaked it in more. I don’t know, but those things stuck for us. And we incorporate humor into a lot of what we do. Even though there’s so much seriousness out there, we kind of find a combination of both, and then sometimes there’s no humor at all. It just really depends on what we’re trying to do and who it’s for.
Do you feel like sometimes you know Pearl Jam better than they know themselves in terms of how to represent their brand? After working with them for this long?
Yeah, probably not. I would say no; that’s just impossible. I think, at times, we’ve had to make do—you know, just because everybody was so busy, we had to invent, come up with things. And how do we do that without talking to somebody directly? So, we do just try to channel what they would like and their personalities, and maybe there’s some things that we know too much about, but I think that it always was translated properly. It’s never anything inappropriate (that I know of).
And we’re very similar. Barry’s brother [Jeff] grew up in Montana too. We all have a real common sensibility. They’re all sensible guys, and human, and we understand them. Like, we’re not gonna put naked ladies on a poster, you know, not because they don’t want us to, but, also, we wouldn’t want ourselves to. There’s just these common sensibilities that we have.
Is that a rule across the board for you guys? No naked ladies?
No, I just think it’s unnecessary. I think we like to be as creative as we can be and as random as we can possibly be, which I think you sometimes look at the stuff and go, “What the hell is that?” But there’s always an explanation. At the time, there’s a good one, even if it might escape us now.
So how many posters/collateral do you think you’ve created for Pearl Jam over the years?
We need to make an accurate count, but it’s in the mid-hundreds. There’s a lot. I mean, as far as how many posters we do annually, just in general, we do a lot of posters. We get hired to do posters all the time, which is great but it’s a ton of work. But posters are just part of what we do. We do a ton of other stuff too. We have T-shirts, which we’ve been doing probably 15 years now….
And pizza boxes.
Pizza boxes. Yeah, Pagliacci! It’s been fun working with those guys. The cool part about what we do is the ability to be creative on anything and turn that into something fun. Pagliacci’s a good example of that. Right now we’re working with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which is [the organization that oversees] the individual ability for everybody to get insurance.
Do you guys choose some of these projects because they’re close to your heart then?
Yeah, some of the things for sure. The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is one where they came to us and said, “Hey, here, we want you guys to work with us. We need to reach these people.” And after they talked to us for a while, it totally made sense. The audience is the same people we do a lot of work for, and it’s people that think they’re all good, don’t need insurance until something bad happens.
And then we also raise money for Food Lifeline. We created a program where we make a new T-shirt every season, and then every time somebody buys a shirt, profits go to Food Lifeline. So, it’s kind of a sustainable mini store. We’re about to go into season five on that this year. And we’ve got Pearl Jam involved, so we’ll do a version that’s got Pearl Jam on it, and everybody’s super happy, and that’s been a really cool thing locally.
Let’s delve a little bit more into the designs you chose for the Ames Bros x Pearl Jam shirts for Pop-In.
Well, how do you take an entire history of stuff and then boil it down to what we felt was the most iconic, for whatever reason? And there are so many things that come into play, like they played an extra hour that night. Somebody else joined them. It’s just so random that you never know until after the show, or you did something that really struck the hearts of somebody and becomes a lot more interesting and collectible than the other stuff. But, with hindsight, we’re able to go back and choose which ones. These are some of the things that we were most proud of and felt like they could translate to a T-shirt without being just a big square or rectangle slapped on a shirt.
We said to Pearl Jam, “Hey, here’s what we think [for Pop-In@Nordstrom]. What do you guys think?” And we let them in 100% on everything that was going on. We were able to agree on the different shirts and designs. You know, it’s fun to see them because most of these are gone, long gone. If you see one on eBay, that’s where you can get it yourself. The designs that we showed are an opportunity for somebody to get something in a different form.
Shop: Pop-In@Nordstrom x Hanes
http://shop.nordstrom.com/sr?origin=keywordsearch&keyword=pearl+jam
1997: Oakland, CA - (Rolling Stones)
1998: Portland, OR. & Seattle, WA.
2009: Portland, OR.
2011: East Troy, WI. 1 & 2 - PJ20 & Portland, OR. - Ed Solo
2012: Dallas, TX. - Ed Solo
2013: Dallas, TX. Oklahoma City, OK. & Portland, OR.
2014: Tulsa, OK
2015: Seattle WA. - Mad Season
2016: Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Miami, FL. & Chicago, IL - Wrigley 1
2017: Dana Point - Ohana Fest - Ed Solo
2022: Louisville, St Louis
Thanks for the heads up!