Chemical People

In the summer of 1989 I found myself in Ft Worth, Texas visiting my former high school band mates (the band was Evel Knievel Rice if you’re dying to know). Being young dudes, we wanted to see a show while we were all in town and we had the good fortune of swinging by the Axis to witness the Chemical People. It’s especially noteworthy in that it was the first exposure I had to the band, AND a pre-fame Vanilla Ice and his crew also showed up at the end of the night for some impromptu rapping. Seriously, it’s on YouTube, look it up. While Vanilla Ice didn’t impress me much, the Chems totally stole my heart. Upon returning from my summer trip I drew up some art for the Chems and mailed it off to the post office box on the back of one of their numerous singles I had snatched up after that show. Dave Naz wrote back saying thanks for the art and that they might use it on a sticker or something. I was stoked and to me this was an invitation to draw something else for the band. The next piece I sent and didn’t hear anything back for a while. I was a bit concerned that they didn’t like it or it maybe got lost in the mail. A few months passed and a big box arrived at my freshman year dorm from Dave. It was Chemical People tour shirts for Canada with the Hard-Ons, with MY ART!!! Dave apparently loved the art and decided to print shirts and send me a bunch. I was floored! This was the start of a very long friendship with the band and Dave in particular that still exists to this day.

Recently I was listening to the semi newly released Chems “Demos and Live” album that Hey Suburbia put out and was transported back to a time when the Chems were active and I was drawing like a mad man for them. It just made sense for me to try my hand at creating a Sharpie piece based on Jim Kazanjian’s original gas mask logo. I had always wanted to do my version and I guess it just took 36 years to finally do it. Anyway after drawing it I mocked up a shirt version just for the fun of it, and surprisingly Charles at Bifocal suggested we do a shirt of it. So here we are, the first “new” Chems shirt I have drawn in over 3 decades!  -Chris Shary

LIMITED TO 300. Printed on Comfort Colors Heavy Cotton Tees. Ladies tees printed in Bella Canvas “Favorite Tees”. Ladies’ sizes run very small so check the size chart on those.