We are currently working on all of our Summer and Fall/Winter tees so sorry for the long wait. We will give you peaks periodically at what we have coming and a little insight as to what drives our designs. We figure since you are the crew you should know why we do what we do. One of the tees that will be out first is Fear The Masses.

The masses can control or destroy anything if they come together. At one time the masses came to this country and almost completely wiped out a population. Now we are on our way to destroying another one which is our selves. Enrique and I were discussing politics between the U.S. and Venezuela and how things have changed over the years. Now we are all too lazy to take to the streets when something happens that we don’t like. We just stand around and watch. This shirt is in no way meant to be offensive to Native Americans as the picture depicts a chief’s skull, more a reminder that there is strength in numbers. If you remember from you history books, Custer was overwhelmed by Sitting Bull and his men in the battle of Little Big Horn. When Native Americans were being pushed further and further off of their land, Sitting Bull said “Forget that!” He mounted his troops and fought back. He and his men won that battle but eventually Native Americans were out numbered.

Back in the 70′s if something happened that the people disagreed with they would quickly take to the streets. They rolled so deep they had to be heard.

This still happens in Europe. For the most part the government there is afraid of the people not vice versa. If the  government does something the people disagree with, the people will take to the streets in protest and let the higher ups know that they won’t stand for it.

If you have heard anything about what is going on in Greece you know they just had a bail out of their own. When the government told the people that wages would need to be cut, the people said “Nuh-uh”.

What would happen if we all stood together? We may all disagree on many topics but we can’t forget the power that we have when we do agree on something. What if no one went to a BP. What if we as people said we aren’t going to just sit around and be controlled by officials that are elected by corporations. We are stronger than we know. But instead we have become spectators.

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If you live in a democratic nation, don’t just sit around and watch if you don’t like something. You ARE the masses. Get UP!

Ok I’ll get off of my soap box now.

I grew up listening to every type of music under the sun (other then country). My cousins introduced me to Metal in the 80′s and then Rap in the 90′s. My parents were into reggae and Irish folk music. There is really not much I won’t listen to (other then country). Over the weekend we lost an old legend. Ronnie James Dio passed away after a battle with stomach cancer. For those of you who are not familiar, Dio was the lead singer of the band DIO, Black Sabbath (post Ozzy) and a few other bands. He  has also been credited with making famous the “horns” which has become synonymous with metal as a genre.

I can remember my older cousins wearing old faded Dio T-shirts and pins with graphics that looked like they came straight from a Dungeons & Dragons book. I started actually listening to Dio’s lyrics later in high school. Man that guy had one hell of an imagination. People in the 70′s and 80′s thought that he was satanic and that his logo spelled Devil upside down. Turns out that the dude was just weird and into fantasy books.

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Whether you liked the guy or not, you gotta appreciate his contributions to Music. Turns out he wasn’t all that bad after all.

RIP DIO.

This weekend the Banksy movie “Exit Through The Gift Shop” opens here in Milwaukee (we get everything last). If you arent familiar, the film is about a french filmmaker,  Thierry Guetta, who attempts to make a documentary about the legendary Banksy. While filming the documentary, the camera is turned around on Guetta and captures his transformation from tag along to artist. As Banksy’s new sidekick, he adopts the moniker “Mr. Brainwash” and begins producing his own works. MBW even goes as far as selling his works to art collectors and being commissioned to design the cover of a Madonna album.

He recently had a show in NY where he used broken records as the medium to recreate images of music icons.

You can see the Banksy influence in his works. Still pretty damn dope.

Now the question is who exactly is MBW? Is he an up and coming filmmaker turned artist? Or is he an elaborate creation of Banksy, who is sitting back somewhere laughing at the artworld. Either way I am stoked about this film.

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Normally I listen to rap, screamo, or any other type of music that your parents would hate. Lately though, thanks to Pandora,  I have been expanding my horizons. We like to keep an open mind to everything (except country) so I will randomly add a station of a band that I have heard of here or there. If you have any suggestions send them my way.  I put the randomizer on and caught The XX a while back. Great for listening to when you have a hangover.

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Venezuela is a huge catholic country. The first week of April is Semana Santa (Holy Week or Easter) so severyone gets usually a 4 day weekend. I took my 4 day weekend to enjoy the beach and  take some videos of the Graffiti scene in Caracas. Writers and highways have a special connection. The bigger, the more exposed, the better. Doing a piece on the freeway is always a great feeling… Well I leave you a short vid of some of the freeways here in Caracas. I will try to get better angles and shots next time. Stay tuned cause there are many more to come!

Last night at about 8:30pm while I was making a salad for dinner I heard three gun shots, then all of the sudden three more. As usual I did not pay any attention to it since in my neighborhood that’s something usual. As I walked into the living room with my delicious salad ready to chow down I heard an ambulance siren… I was like hmmm… Intrigued, I looked over the balcony of my apartment and see lots of people crowded around in the corner. Curious, I went down and I asked what had happened? A middle age man tells me that a guy was eating a shawarma (Arabian taco) on the corner and two guys on a bike roled by and shot him point blank then rode away. It was unfinished business!!!

And to think I had just walked past the shawarma stand just 5 minutes ago…

Mean while in Caracas… It´s April 18th, Caracas Independence Day so we take the day off to come and see the New Millenium.. This is the new Millenium Shopping Center in the suburbs of Caracas. The place is an open air design… The architecture is amazing.

The shopping center is directed towards a younger crowd. Right next to the shopping center there is a plaza where you can come skate or just chill…

The place is chill and you can even say hi to your local policeman while doing a kickflip or a tailwhip…

This is the entrance of the Millenium… Do I need to say more?

I woke up to an email this morning saying HAPPY FOUR TWENTY!!! Love, Mom. Today marks the hippie holiday that is celebrated across the country by doing… well nothing really. We joked that not much would be accomplished today, other than a lot of laughing, eating, and watching T.V. Complex has a nice little quote machine from our favorite 420 inspired flicks. Check it out…

Today also is a great day for debate. As the economy begins to recover, most of  us alive today will remember these times and what it was like to wonder what to do when our government is broke. One option that presents itself is legalization of cannabis. I always joke that if it were legal and alcohol were illegal, there would be more slow speed crashes with the drivers stopping to apologize instead of speeding off into the night.

To this day cannabis has never been linked to any deaths. 0. None. Actually, it has had the exact opposite effect, leading it to be legalized for medicinal use in 14 states. As for Alcahol, 1 in 25 deaths is attributed to its use. Now don’t get me wrong, hailing from Milwaukee, I am not anti-booze. Hell, we even name our sports teams after alcahol. But due to a stigma that is as old or older than most of the politicians that continue to inforce it, the debate on whether or not to legalize the shrubbery continues. Kinda makes you laugh doesn’t it?

It’s that time of year. The birds are out, its 70 one week and then 30 the next, people are wearing sandals with socks… In Wisconsin we call that Spring! It’s also time for the FM Semi-annual sale. This only happens twice a year so don’t sleep. If you hibernate through this one you’ll be waiting until part 2 of 2 which doesn’t happen again until the leaves change colors!

Online Only. Just click on the shop button on the right over there.

Enrique and I have been blending cultural lines for years. We have always submerged ourselves in as many different cultures as possible. We take elements from each culture and sub-culture we come in contact with and pour it into FM.

That being said, there are some things that should not be blended.

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Nice.

Click here to see more blended crap.