BETTER THE DEVILS YOU KNOW

“You can’t always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes. Well, you might find you get what you need.” Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones.

My brother and me are completely different. Growing up my brother was always the best at sports, captain of the football and rugby teams, was always a leader amongst his friends and later in his building firm that he grew from the ground up. A real alpha male, not the ones they ping around today, a solid, family first, sports on weekends, build a shed, knock a wall down, plumb in the dishwasher, eat a crow, drink a beer, spare nails in his pockets, has a favourite drill brand, five different types of dust in his hair, laughs when people electrocute themselves, carry a hammer under his hat, Oil of Ulay shy away from his hands, solid dude. Me, well, I was more artsy, listened to weird music, skateboarded to the shops, stage dived for a living, regretful tattoos, never had a shed and if the dishwasher stopped working, had to buy a new one, get laughed at when I electrocute myself. The one thing we bonded over was Ice Hockey, it had everything for us, skating, goon culture, wooden sticks, loud music, fist fights, sick jerseys, hot dogs, cool logos. From a young age we would play street hockey, it had just been made famous by ‘Wayne’s World’ the film and rollerblading still had a higher cool rating than unicorns. Streets had less cars in, playstation hadn’t yet completely addled the youths brains. So we’d set up jumpers for goalposts, all the kids in the street with hockey sticks, Mighty Ducks Vrs San Jose Sharks and play till the street lights came on. My brother would go on to playing rec hockey, I took my rollerblades and would slide on curbs with them. But you get it, we were different, except for a love of hockey.

It became wholly obvious that a large part of my life would be pursuing the love of streetwear culture. I was either designing fly posters or t-shirt graphics and that was my jam. As soon as I got a few tee designs under my belt, the Holy Grail was always gonna be a hockey shirt. I’ve tried all the major sporting silhouettes, Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Motocross and have always arrived back at Ice Hockey. To take in a shipment of my own designed Ice Hockey Jerseys, break open the seal on the boxes, that moment is when my inner geek explodes, thats highlight material for me. I’ve designed a bunch, never been fully satisfied, but I think I’m in pursuit of the greatest hockey jersey, I hope I never reach that accolade, but always come close.

We have a local hockey team called ‘Cardiff Devils’ they are the most decorated team in Welsh sports history, maybe not the most supported but definitely punch above their weight.  Tickets are like gold dust as the arena only has a 3000 capacity. If me and my brother are out at the same night, odds are that it is at the rink watching the Cardiff Devils. Over time you get to know the players and the managing director. I’d sometimes have convos with the later, Todd about the business and whats going on, he’s a really approachable guy, good friends with my fiancé and does yoga with my brother. I caught the scent that they were rebranding and looking to change the jerseys. Most people who know me, know that I’m not a pushy guy, I’ll always work when asked but never really force an angle. But this was too good an opportunity, that night I came home and burnt the midnight oil. Local designer ‘Iby’ had literally just done a shirt for Cardiff City and was working on one for the national team, NYC graffiti artist ‘Haze’ had just done a shirt for Manchester City. Streetwear was going from using the sports silhouettes to have them main beam thrust on them. If any team was spiritually made for my design it was the ‘Cardiff Devils’ and if I had a chance to squeeze through any door, this was it. So I greased myself up and ran for the opening. Over the space of a few days I’d made a full presentation book, from jerseys, to stadium jackets, to full streetwear range. Talked about problems, solutions, marketing, releases and further opportunities, packaged it up with patches, samples, stickers. I’d never done anything like this before, but I knew it was good. Personally placed it on Todds desk.

Crickets, tumbleweed, radio silence, not a peep.

Eventually a small text to say that everything was already sewn up, the designers were the sponsors and the shop was in-house so no outside design is needed.

Deflated, dream over.

To be honest it was all good, I really enjoyed the process, loved being in the headspace of designing a full range, Concrete Junglists is a revolving door of designs and not full ranges. If I’m honest I know I will get a full opportunity again to design for the Devils, maybe not under this administration, but one day I will see a jersey of my making on the ice. I’m a massive believer in timing and right now is maybe not the time. Goes without saying, still love the team, massive respect for Todd (As an approachable owner he’s the Goat, as an owner that provides bang for your buck whilst making sure he gets the buck he’s the Goat).

My brother still plays rec hockey, both ice and roller. A month after me putting the presentation to the Devils, I got a call from my brothers roller hockey coach, he asked “Can we use Concrete Junglists for the roller hockey team?” I said “In what way, I’m not sure I can offer much in sponsorship money”, Ross was like “No, can we change the name of the team from Honey Badgers, to the Concrete Junglists, you can have carte blanche on the jerseys and designs, we just think it would be cool”. Me “Fuck Yeah!!!”. It’s crazy how it works out, you don’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need. To design the Devils tops would have been a lot of jumping through hoops, getting 3/4 people to agree on designs, multiple changes, loads of man hours. Concrete Junglists now has its own team, they are made up of mostly friends and my brother, the shirts look amazing, I’m always asked if they will ever go on sale. If I had to decide what shirt I would have on my wall, The Devils Home Jersey designed by me or my brothers Concrete Junglists Jersey, I know what one would take pride of place every day #44 SHAW Concrete Junglists.