Two Years of Memes and Merch

Two years ago, in the silence of a distinct lack of choirs and everything that goes with that, I started "In quires and places where they meme" - because not only were we not able to sing together, we weren't able to laugh together either.

And, frankly, that was rubbish. 

I started it because I was bored. We all were. I carried it on because a) I enjoyed poking loving fun at the things we all missed and b) apparently so did you. 

And then, on the back of the modest growing following, I decided to start selling merch. There was (is) no business plan, no finely-honed structure to maximise profit and rinse you for every penny. It's one person with a love of design and a ridiculously narrow frame of reference creating niche products that I want to wear and, apparently, so do you. Which is nice.

And that, in a weird way, is what this is about. Common ground, camaraderie. Beers and - I hate this word - banter. 

The feedback from you all is great to hear - please do send more. It tells me (and others) that we're out there, the choral nerds, choir geeks, all doing our thing. 

Recently I was able to touch base (not bass, steady) with some singers from a choir visiting from the other side of the world and I directed them to the nearby pub. There were, of course, already local lay clerks there. And, despite never having met, despite living in very different parts of the world, we all got on. Over a cold beer, naturally. 

Music is international; it's multilingual. Omnilingual, if that's a word. What I love about producing these clothes designs is that we can more easily identify our people.

"Is that the freaking chord from the last verse of O come all ye faithful?!"

Or

"Cute cartoon dog...hang on, Herbert Howls?! I love it!"

I still have a full-time job (guess what: I sing too) but the memes and the merch keep me sane. 

Two years down, and still going strong. There's always going to be new memes, more ridiculous political developments, more music to mashup into hideous unwanted combinations. If you keep sharing and buying my stuff, I'll keep making it. 

Here's to the next two years!