Live or Die

Live or die was an idea that’s been floating around since the summer of 1992 when my older brother gave me a hand me down Metallica shirt that had a pirate skull drawn by Pushead. That skull was usually displayed on Zorlac skateboards, and at the time my brother was into BMX and stuff so I was also exposed to cool BMX logos like Bully, Hammer, and Bad Boy. I was 12 years old, and I thought that was pretty cool so I started drawing my own little skull and crossbone idea. It was in high schools when I started really thinking about the design and wanted to do heavy metal bands called Carnage and I used that skull for that and that never happened so I thought maybe do a T shirt design inspired by all 80’s and 90’s skate, bmx, and metal world. But I felt it’d be just too much of a rip off because it looks like someone else’s artwork So that just kind of stayed as a doodle for quite some time until I saw a shirt new Metallica shirt Atlas Rise, and I thought it was Pushead but it wasn’t it was another artist so it got me thinking that it’s OK to make our art inspired by your influences. So when I started Merch of Art I thought I could put it on T shirts with a slogan, something that everyone can identify with, your journey in life, and the struggles we all face as life is hitting hard and kicking us in the teeth.

I was never really big on flags, sides and stuff with everyone hating on each other, this flag versus this flag, and I just never felt like I belonged to any of it. This logo is my flag of who I am what I identify with and I wanted to share with that the world, to connect to you, and everyone else that can identify with this statement. Then maybe you could connect with someone else, and we all can connect to each other in our struggles, failures and victories, then hopefully maybe one day we could be at one with ourselves And we can work together for a better future, until all are one.