Amphetamine Reptile Records

My first exposure to Thomas Hazelmyer’s Amphetamine Reptile imprint was the Cow’s “Daddy Has a Tail” Cassette. A friend of mine brought it in and asked me to play “Bum In The Alley” on my weekly radio show.  This lead to me exploring their “Dope-Guns” compilations… I was hooked. AmRep had/has an approach that’s both artful and dangerous. They were hip, crude, smart, and seemed somehow exclusive even when they started getting popular. I didn’t know Thomas was a visual artist until I started taking notice of his hand carved and printed Melvins releases a few years ago. I love what this dude pulls off with an x-acto knife, a slab of linoleum, ink and some paper. In 2019, I finally reached out to him about working with us on a shirt for The Locust. The band was notoriously hard to please when it comes to the art they use and I thought Tom might be able to get it right. A few days later he sent over a finished print…No conceptual thoughts, No sketches. Accompanying the art was a brief message: “This is my one and only attempt”.  I sent it to the band and they all loved it… No changes, no pushback, no dissenting opinions. I’m proud to being working with Mr. Hazelmyer on these tees and I can’t wait to wear this crudely beautiful, smart, super limited Amphetamine Reptile t-shirt. Enjoy!!! -Charles Cardello