Dundas/Hamilton band The Dirty Nil’s Luke Bentham got in touch a few weeks ago about making a shirt. Here’s the results!!
Using dyed fabric was the one down side but anyways….we started on a design and ordered some nice Japanese cotton.
Luke talked about a lightning bolt and I got out my Manuel Cuevas book to check out this suit, made for REM’s Mike Mills. He told me about going to Manuel’s shop in Nashville, meeting the Master himself, and trying on some of the State Jackets that are in the book too.
We also looked at the skull on an early Manuel, and the pinnacle, Gram Parsons’ poppy suit, made by Manuel while he was still working at Nudie’s in Hollywood.
Manuel, still working at 83, has done so many iconic looks, from The Man in Black, to Dwight Yoakum’s piped boleros and ripped skinny jeans, and years of collaborations with his friend, westernwear and old time country music champion Marty Stuart.
Somehow (LOL) The MC5 came up and the white panther, symbol of the alt-left movement in the late 60s.
This is the Cornely A5 chainstitch embroidery machine that I got in Detroit, which is of course the MC5’s home town.
Most of the embroidery is done with natural organic cotton thread.
After a few late nights, Luke and Parkside came to pick it up. Next thing, he’s winning awards and hanging out with Kiefer Sutherland.
Kiefer’s father Donald grew up in the town I’m from, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Not far from where Nudie suit pioneer Hank Snow was from.
Kick out the jams!
