#knowyourrivals

[knowyourrivals-blog]

KNOW // 116 DRIFTER COLLECTION

No matter where we go, we are never lost. The Summer Sixteen 'Drifter' Collection is now coming May 13th. 

Shop it Here.

[knowyourrivals-blog]

KNOW // DUDE PERFECT

Super excited to announce our partnership with Dude Perfect.  Their new show starts April 14th on CMT.  Look for new apparel and craziness soon.

[knowyourrivals-blog]

UO // SECRET SHOW PART ONE - “WHAT HAPPENED?”

On Sunday, March 13th Underoath played it’s first show since 2012, and their first show with founding member, Aaron Gillespie since 2009. In collaboration with Creative Brand Strategy House, RIVALS//GRP, and Joe D’Acunto of Brokenmold Entertainment, the band shocked fans 48 hours before the doors opened by announcing the secret show on Facebook and Instagram, noting that tickets were first come, first serve, $10 at the door.

How do you re-introduce yourself after four years of silence? You create an experience that echoes beyond the event itself. In other words, you lock yourself in a small, hot room with 400 of your closest friends and figure it out together.

Fans traveled from as far away as Mississippi and Atlanta, and waited through a wet, muggy Florida day in the hopes of getting locked in Crowbar, a 400 person capacity bar in Tampa, Florida’s Ybor City. Originated in Tampa, Underoath has played nearly every venue the city has to offer, but hadn’t played one as small as Crowbar in over ten years. After great sets from opening acts Sentries, Preson Phillips, and Brother Cephus, Underoath took the stage to chants of “Un-der-oath!” from the sold out crowd.

“We haven’t played a show this small in almost ten years,” Tim McTague said on Friday before the announcement, “but we knew there was no better introduction after such a long gap than to start small, it just made sense for us. Even just beyond an experience for the fans, it would be an experience for us.” As far as what the band and it’s fans could expect, Tim knew it would be “a total sweatbox. It’s going to be a sweaty, sloppy mess. We can’t wait to get in and just crush it with our fans.”

The hour long set was, as lead singer Spencer Chamberlain later described on Twitter, “the craziest show of my life, I think.” Witnessed live, it seemed an attempt by both the band and crowd to sonically and physically bring Crowbar down to its foundations. Drenched in sweat, beer and water by the third song, UO delivered wave after wave of crushing sound to an audience that expressed it’s relentless joy for their return by taking full advantage of Crowbar’s small size, stage diving throughout every song, and screaming along with Chamberlain to lyrics that people have had memorized for over a decade. Joe D’Acunto, promoter from Brokenmold would later say “Crowbar is the grossest I’ve ever seen it.”

Creative Brand Strategy House, RIVALS//GRP set out to help Underoath create buzz around the UO brand in their dramatic return to the stage. It was, as CCO Joel Cook described, “a way to start writing the band’s story of this tour. UO is obviously already a big brand, and they’ve sold out many cities on their Rebirth tour already, but events like this just help them further generate hype amongst their base, and create a dialogue with them. Videos from the show are already going viral amongst the fans the morning after. It’s important to have a strong start when you’re re-introducing a brand like they are. When you write the stories, you get to write the ending.”

At the end of the encore, “Everyone Looks So Good From Here,” the crowd erupted into applause, and the house lights came up and created a glisten off of the dirty concrete floor of Crowbar. Chris Dudley of Underoath would later write on Instagram, “Doing this secret show was cleansing. No barricade, loud tunes, flying bodies, friends everywhere. So thankful, thank you all. This tour is gonna be the best.” The crowd and UO, covered in each other’s sweat, and barely standing from pure exhaustion, faced each other and there wasn’t anyone that could keep from smiling.

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START TODAY // POP UP SHOP

On February 26th the Tampa based positive-vibe brand Start Today brought it’s first pop-up shop to the public at the first live show for Tampa local band, Carrollhood, at New World Brewery in Ybor City. 

The creative sand box for Oldsmar based Merchline, the merchandiser and online fulfillment provider to apparel, design and entertainment industries (think Skrillex, Dude Perfect, Underoath and Owsla amongst others), “Start Today” has been an internal mantra of Merchline for years.

Now, working alongside Creative Brand Strategy House RIVALS//GRP, Merchline has made “Start Today” an externally facing brand representative of their beliefs and strengths as a team. Joel Cook, CCO of RIVALS//GRP, said recently “we plan to use the Start Today mantra to grow this idea, and this mantra has always been built on the idea of saying yes to challenges, and believing in yourself and always ignoring your critics. We’re working in our own creative sandbox, so there’s no expectations outside of our own vision, which creates possibilities that are limited only by our ability to execute, and Merchline and RIVALS execute like no one else in the industry. It’s exciting.”

The Start Today line shown off at the Carrollhood show was made up of of super soft 50’s singles cotton tee’s, a bomber jacket, a reflective baseball jersey, and accessories like the Mizu x Start Today thermos collaboration. The most eye catching products, however, are the ones that celebrate Tampa, including the most popular product in the offering: the TPA hat, an Ebbets Field Flannel collaboration that seems to be popping up all over the Tampa Bay area, despite the fact that it was only made for sale once at the Start Today pop up.

Keep an eye out in the future for more news from Start Today, Merchline and RIVALS, and keep saying yes.

Check out more coverage here.

[knowyourrivals-blog]

START TODAY POP-SHOP SNEAK PRT 2

START TODAY MEN’S BOMBER JACKET AVAILABLE FEB 26TH HERE. 

ONLY A COUPLE OF THESE BAD BOYS WILL BE AVAILABLE. 

[knowyourrivals-blog]

KNOW // CARROLLHOOD 

CHECK EVENT DEETS HERE.

[knowyourrivals-blog]

116 X DEADBURYDEAD TEASER VIDEO

Atlanta based fashion brand 116 kicked off 2016 with an email to their subscribers, featuring a teaser for their collaboration with Dead Bury Dead. 

The video can be seen here. The fragmented 60 second piece features a man getting a tattoo of a series of bars on his tricep, concluding with the text “the wait will soon be over. 1/16.”