Blood Command Guitarist Yngve Andersen Shares His Favorite Metal T-Shirts

A metalhead’s t-shirt collection contains some of their most prized possessions. Sweaty, stained and torn, our shirts are chronicles of our lives, physical markers of a past time and place that we pridefully put on our bodies every day. They have a clear pecking order: there are those shirts you wear only when all the best ones are in the laundry, there are the absolute favorites you wear once every couple of weeks, and there are all the shirts in between, each with their own clear rank. To a metalhead, T-shirts are EVERYTHING.

Blood Command guitarist Yngve Andersen is the latest to share his most prized threads for our series My Metal T-Shirt Collection! The Norwegian punk n’ roll crew’s new EP, Return Of The Arsonist, impressed the hell out of us with its mix of punk energy, rock swagger, metal attitude and knack for unshakeable melodies. Stream it below (and order here) while you browse through 15 of Yngve’s favorite metal t-shirts. 

Tragedy

One of my two Tragedy shirts. This is one of the greatest bands in hardcore if you ask me. We played a show in our hometown with these guys almost ten years ago at a venue called Garage. Vengeance and their self-titled album are their best records.

The Locust

I once had a red Plague Soundscapes shirt but our drummer managed to lose it when he borrowed it for five years. The Locust save lives… I have shown this band to grunge kids playing in grunge bands and they instantly started a hardcore band right after. No joke. The Locust have been a big inspiration for Blood Command when it comes to wacky song titles and short, fast songs. One day we’ll make a 7″ containing 17 songs in five minutes.

Daughters

First heard this band in a field in the Netherlands in the summer of 2004. I was on tour with my then band Jeroan Drive and our Dutch tour mates in Go Revolution Go. They wanted to educate us and played “Fur Beach” from their 2003 record Canada Songs. I’ve been in love ever since. Funeral Beach is an homage to that title. The shirt is from their latest record, You Wont Get What You Want, which is the best album of the decade and I’m seeing them this summer. Woohoo!

Refused

Biggest inspiration for Blood Command ever, I would say. Refused shouldn’t need a introduction. Such legends! The Shape Of Punk To Come is one of my top three records of all time.

Some Girls

We have ripped off this band a thousand times. If you listen to Blood Command’s “Double T n´Tokyo” and Some Girls’ “You´ll Be Happier With Lower Standards” you´ll get what I mean. Some Girls are just one of the legend Justin Pearson’s many thousand awesome bands.

Dr. Dre

This is not metal, but Dr. Dre’s 2001 album is one of the best albums ever.

Drive Like Jehu

This is where it all started for me when it comes to sharp guitars and odd songwriting. How can San Diego house so many of the greatest?

Beastie Boys

Needs no introduction. Beastie Boys kick ass!

The Hot Snakes

The Hot Snakes came back 14 years after their last studio record with a hammer of an album that sounded like they’d been in the rehearsal room the entire time. They’ve got that guitar sound; I would do so much to get that.

Comeback Kid

Did a European tour leg with these legends in Comeback Kid on their Symptoms & Cures run. Great guys, great band, great everything.

Swami

Sawmi is the legendary San Diego label housing Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Rocket From The Crypt, Dan Sartain and everything John Reis-related. Swami was one of two reasons I started my own label, Loyal Blood Records (the other reason being a different San Diego label, Three One G).

Immortal

By far the best metal band from Bergen, Norway and by far the band with the coolest shirts of any Norwegian metal band. Both new Abbath and new Immortal sound badass.

Stryper

I am from a very spiritual-leaning home and Stryper were one of my first introductions to ’80s heavy metal. This may be hard to take for your cute little battle vests, but Stryper eat Iron Maiden, Kiss, Wasp and Motley Crue for breakfast.

Lana Del Rey

Bought this one when we played at the same festival in 2014. Everyone else was doing it. Don’t judge.

Yelawolf

Met a guy in 2010 at a festival we were playing with Blood Command. He introduced himself and asked if I would come check him out later when he was playing. That guy turned out to be Yelawolf and I’ve been a fan ever since.