Armor Updates and Fall Tours

I have been working on my jacket again (finally- the Dead patch almost did me in but I have decided I can work on it again) and applied my first iron on patch the other day. It’s the Arne Babb patch I got with my copy of Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries.

This one.

Every time I apply a new patch I learn something new. This time? Iron ons SUCK. Seriously. I don’t think I’ll ever iron on another. The heat from the iron made the patch distort a little (you can see that the edges are a little bowed), which upset me a little, but I was able to fix that somewhat by sewing it into place. If you want to keep the edges from curling, you need to sew them down anyway, so I’m not sure what the point is of ironing them on.

The final product, after sewing for reinforcements. Those buttons might not all stay there, but they are there for now.

Either way, Arne is now on my jacket, but from now on I think I’ll just sew on patches, even if they are iron ons. The adhesive is kind of nice for keeping it in one place, but my experience with the heat makes me want to not risk distorting another one.

Speaking of armor, I also got my new Watain hoodie yesterday! It’s this one.

It’s not on Wolf Wear’s website anymore, so I might have snagged one of the last few.

It has WOLVES on it. It got some sticky stuff on it during transit from the packaging, but that will come off when I wash it, I bet (which I will have to, seeing as how I will be wagging it everywhere).

You can see some of the sticky stuff near the (stage) left pocket.

Blackletter is the bestletter.

I mentioned earlier that I felt that Wolf Wear was having some trouble getting their stuff out due to the sheer amount of people who had placed orders for the new Watain DVD, and it did take me a while to get my hoodie. However, I emailed them about a week and a half ago to see if they could give me an estimate on when it was coming and heard back from them fairly quickly and the girl who emailed me was very kind and apologetic about the delay on shipping. I didn’t mind so much- I knew they were backed up and considering the heat wave that’s hit the continental United States, it won’t be hoodie weather for a while yet- but it is awesome to finally have it in my hands. Considering that a Funeral Mist shirt is now in transit to me (it’s much too large for me to wear, but it’s going to become art anyway), my armor is about to get upgraded. I’m going to use the front of the shirt to make a completely awesome Funeral Mist back patch that is more fitting to me even than the one I have now.

In other news, the concerts are lining up for the fall! So many bands are touring that I’m interested in seeing, so here is a preview of shows you’ll be hearing about from me in the coming months.

July 18- Agalloch (Omaha, NE)

July 26- Nachtmystium (Des Moines, IA)

August 31- False (Minneapolis, MN)

Sept. 2- Korpiklaani/Tyr/Moonsorrow (St. Paul, MN)

Sept. 4- Abigail Williams (Des Moines, IA)

Oct. 5- Morbid Angel/Dark Funeral (St. Paul, MN)

Oct. 19- Septicflesh/Krisiun/Melechesh/Ex Deo/Inquisition (St. Paul, MN)

The Abigail Williams date I am unlikely to make, seeing as it’s so close to the Great Pagan Beer Fest of 2012 (Korpiklaani/Tyr/Moonsorrow), but I put it there just in case. I’m with my friend Jamie- I’m more excited to see what the band does after Abigail Williams is put to rest, but it would be nice to see their last tour. And yes, folks, you did read that right, INQUISITION IS TOURING. The other bands they are playing with will be cool too, Melechesh especially (there’s a feature on them in the works somewhere), but I’m more excited for Inquisition than Morbid Angel and Dark Funeral combined. Also, the fact that they tour in the same month allows me to forgive Dark Funeral for cancelling the show in February that Inquisition was supposed to open for.

Also, Obituary has announced a tour (though I have not heard dates yet), which is kind of awesome since they never tour anymore. And for you kids in Europe- you are super lucky. Marduk is about to tour Europe alongside Immolation, who are my favorite death metal band (and who are also really nice guys).

I will try to get this updated again Thursday, but I can’t guarantee it won’t be a little late this week. Between making the 6 hour round trip drive to Omaha on Wednesday for Agalloch and moving, I may find myself a bit behind. Really looking forward to Agalloch, though- I would love to chat with them about the paper I wrote this past semester and their new EP, Faustian Echoes. As a Renaissance drama scholar, I have a particular interest in the Faust legend because of its connections to Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus (plus, I hear one of them is also working on a PhD in English).

More as soon as I can get it up here (I will also be updating the distros page to report on my experience with Wolf Wear and Noevdia).

Later,

Hagalaz