#bobnanna

[startariotmusic]

Our footage of @heybobnanna playing The City On Film song 'Noise Machines' is up at our YouTube and website! #bobnanna #thecityonfilm #braid #heymercedes #acoustic #guitar #starandgarter #manchester #live (at The Star and Garter)

[holkhogan-blog]

So last night I spoke to @kojisaysaloha and @heybobnanna for @startariotmusic at their show in the Star and Garter. Two of the most genuine, generous and thoughtful people you will ever meet, and great musicians on top of that. #startariot #koji #bobnanna #braid #heymercedes #backofcamera #guitar #starandgarter

[bvaustin]

#bobnanna (#braid) @red7austin @brooklynvegan day show #SXSW

[stereoze]

Braid! Que venha o novo! #braid #bobnanna Waiting for the new @braidofficial

[wmcfest]

Bob Nanna is starting his day by making a treasure map. It’s a typical beginning to a work week at Threadless, where Nanna helms the social marketing reigns of one of the world’s largest t-shirt design companies.

Founded in 2000 as a small Chicago upstart, Threadless sources artwork by web submission and calls on visitors to vote for winning designs. Moving beyond the model of a typical t-shirt company, Threadless has garnered attention for creating a community of makers and collaborators and giving a launch pad to thousands of up-and-coming independent artists. On any given day, open calls for designs include the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tegan and Sara, and the Simpsons.

Dedicated to a thriving creative culture, Threadless organizes ongoing events such as their annual Pitchfork Pre-Party, their warehouse manager encourages crowdsourced mixtape submissions to be played over their speakers, and they’ve hosted Family that included a BYOO station – that stands for Bring Your Own Object for screen printing.

Besides handling the everyday digital roles at Threadless, Nanna is a man of many hats himself. Best known for his work with emo legends Braid, the band recently put out a punchy, high energy split with Balance and Composure and are working on completing their next full-length to be released later this year. When he’s not playing with Braid, Nanna is also involved with the bands Jack and Ace and Lifted Bells, DJs regularly in Chicago, and just helped start a songwriting project, Downwrite.

We talked to Nanna about a typical day at Threadless, how his musical background plays a role in the Threadless community, and recording the new Braid album. See Braid headline Weapons of Mass Creation Fest Saturday, August 17 at 11 p.m. on the Artists in Residence stage.

Visit Bob Nanna’s official website to keep up with his current projects and visit Threadless on the web to learn more about the company.

“I just feel like I always need to be putting new things out there. I feel more fulfilled as a person if I’m constantly making things.” – Bob Nanna

  What’s a typical day like for you at Threadless?

Today we’re prepping for a sale that’s going to happen next week. I’m on the marketing team, but more the social marketing team, so when we come up with the ideas for what sort of angle we’re going to use, we think of goofy videos or thematics, or funny photos we can do and also social promotions – share this, retweet this. We’re in the middle of coming up with next week’s theme, basically things to make the Threadless community active during that week.

My job isn’t as much getting people to buy, but getting people to be excited about Threadless and excited to be on the site. What we’re doing today is in line with this adventure theme we have for the sale so we’re making an adventure map. Every day it stops at a different place and for that day you would want to score a bunch of Threadless designs and be entered to win something. We’re going to have a Photoshop challenge. Just now we were thinking of names for the stops, sort of goofy, pun type stuff.

I also coordinate the Twitter and Facebook accounts, Tumblr, and email marketing. On any given day, you’re doing about 20 different things for 20 different departments.

Threadless has made it a point to go beyond being a t-shirt company, infusing the personalities of its workers and creating a community. How does music play a role at Threadless?

It totally goes hand-in-hand. A good number of people who work here are in bands, so there’s that constant music happening in the office and outside of the office. We’ve done a lot of band related design challenges. We have bands come in– we just had Caveman and Lucius play. We’re going to have a couple of the Riot Fest bands come in and play.

If it wasn’t for music, I wouldn’t have gotten this job. It’s probably the case for a lot of people here. Any kind of artistic or creative endeavor the employees take part in — whether it’s for Threadless or outside of Threadless — they’re very, very supportive of here.

Any kind of artistic or creative endeavor the employees take part in, whether it’s for Threadless or outside of Threadless, they’re very, very supportive of here.

  You came to Threadless in 2005, when it was still very new. Can you talk about the culture of coming to work for this company that was very much a do-it-yourself type upstart, and also one that works very closely with artists, designers, and plenty of people whose work is tied to the music scene?

It was incredible. When I started, I was just looking for a temp job because I was home for the holidays and a friend I had met on tour told me they were hiring where he works. At the time there were maybe 25 people working at Threadless, most of them in the warehouse, which is where they needed temps to pack holiday orders.

When I came in, it was quite literally, instantly — that day — where I left and I thought, wow, this is a place I could work. Look at how well this all works; how they’re being successful at selling these t-shirts with art of them that didn’t have any branding, it’s just straight-up artwork.

This was so laid back, there was music blasting, everyone was very welcoming, it was fun. There was a dude doing a podcast, there were people filming stuff. I left thinking, is this real? This place exists? It’s very much in line with the D.I.Y. ethic that’s been ingrained in me over the years. So once the temp timeframe was over, they hired a bunch of us and they asked if I wanted to do it. My answer was yes, absolutely.

There was a dude doing a podcast, there were people filming stuff. I left thinking, is this real? It’s very much in line with the D.I.Y. ethic that’s been ingrained in me over the years.

  You’re working day-to-day in this community that’s always trying to branch out, try new things, and have a lot of fun. On the other hand, you’re constantly working on new personal projects. Has it always been in your nature to constantly stay this busy and try new things?

Before Threadless, probably even before I started in bands, I always liked to have a bunch of projects going. I just feel like I always need to be putting new things out there. It’s not necessarily for other peoples’ sake, it’s more for me. I feel more fulfilled as a person if I’m constantly making things, organizing things, putting together cool projects that make me excited that I can finish, complete, and document. I’ve just always done that.

In terms of being here at Threadless, they want us to be out and making stuff, and doing our own things. Our warehouse manager started his own brewery. There are constantly things like that going on.

In a recent interview you said Braid’s new music will be “upbeat, youthful, energetic” and that’s certainly true for your recent split with Balance and Composure. Is there anything you can tell us about how recording is going and if audiences will hear any new music in your upcoming live shows?

It’s going well. Right now we have about eight songs that are maybe three-quarters of the way there. It’s hard for us to practice that often because we all live in different cities. Probably not for Cleveland, but we do have some shows coming up in October and November where we will be throwing in some new material.

[brye757-blog]

Hey Mercedes - Live at Rutgers, Camden NJ 2001 - I was at this show. I also saw them the night before in Philly at the TLA. Not sure who I went with.