A little while ago, US T-shirt designers Sex & Death got in touch with us to let us know about their rather excellent range of products, which go from leggings fashioned from the carpet of The Shining‘s Outlook hotel to an ace Morrissey-meets-Mayhem shirt – have a look at that one above. Not only have they an eye for design but they’re possessed of a heart of gold too, and are offering one lucky Quietus reader a T-shirt of their choice. To be in with a chance of winning, just send your answer to the question at the foot of the page to comps@thequietus.com, with ‘SEX’ in the subject line. The competition closes at midday on Friday 17 October. To read the Quietus Competition Terms & Conditions, click here. First, have a peruse of their range over at their website and read Sex & Death co-founder Melanie Fritzsche giving us a brief introduction to their world below:
How did Sex & Death get started?
Melanie Fritzsche: Sex & Death originated as an endeavour of my boyfriend of 8 years, Dann Miller when he was looking to release an album for his band, Weird Party. He created S&D as a label to release their albums and then started using it as a creative outlet to feature his design work as well. The first Sex & Death design was the original Morrissey Mayhem mash-up design that took on a life of its own and gained popularity by word of mouth alone. That encouraged us to take Sex and Death to the next level and make it a clothing store online. Our hope is that everyone can find a little something they like on the store – quoting the infamous Ferris Bueller, it’s clothing for "sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies & dickheads" and everyone in between.
How do you go about picking who will feature on the shirts?
MF: Since Sex & Death began as a labour of love, we wanted to keep it fun by using it as a platform to feature designs from bands, movies, people and events in pop culture that have affected or influenced us in some way. We like to pay tribute to the greats like Point Break, There Will Be Blood (baby onesie) and The Shining (T-shirts, bag and Overlook hotel carpet print leggings) as well as a lot of other awesome contributors like the composer Ennio Morricone + Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris in Strangers With Candy) just to name a few. We also enjoy doing mash-ups occasionally à la Morrissey/Mayhem, Miley Cyrus/Morbid Angel and Drake/Death. We pick each design based on who inspires us at any point in time so you never know what you might find on Sex & Death online and we hope people appreciate that element of unpredictability.
Which is your own favourite of the shirts?
MF: My personal favourite is the Axl Rose tennis shoe shirt. Not just because it’s a Guns N’ Roses tribute but it also looks really rad in person and is super comfortable. Also the Point Break Ex Presidents shirt is right up there too.
In terms of the future, have you got any designs you’d be keen to get your teeth stuck into?
MF: Future plans include Sex & Death’s first collaborative design effort with one of our favourite illustrators Phil Guy/Burrito Breath, which we look forward to featuring on the shop once completed. We hope to continue collaborating with great, like-minded individuals in the future and will aim to share these types of announcements in the shop along with any news or promos on our Instagram.
Q: Which band recorded the album Washing Machine, as featured in one of the Sex & Death designs?
A. Nirvana
B. Sonic Youth
C. The Smiths
D. Bogshed
