The Merch Legacy of Ceremony

Can you measure the loss?

I saw Ceremony for the first time in 2006. They were touring behind the Kersed EP. I was so impressed with their performance that I bought the 7” and a t-shirt, both of which I still have. Not many bands from that era remain, and the ones that do have either reunited or taken lengthy breaks. Not Ceremony. They’ve released six LPs, three EPs, and a bunch of singles. Their musical legacy speaks for itself. I’m here to talk about their merch legacy.

From the get go, Ceremony has put out incredible merch. Ceremony’s most famous shirt, perhaps, is the one I bought in 2006. I’ve always called it their “roses shirt.” I don’t know how the graphic was made or who made it. It looks like an old wood carving. The band name is cleaved in half and printed in distressed type. The shirt doesn’t immediately scan as punk or hardcore. In fact, the roses look romantic, beautiful. It’s jarring when you consider the hateful almost-powerviolence the band was playing at the time. Speaking with Vice in 2018, singer Ross Farrar said:

“We named the band Ceremony after this really beautiful song by New Order, but then we were playing this really fast, aggressive music. We wanted that divide. That was really, really important to us. We had the roses design, and we had certain elements that we wanted to be softer, but then we wanted to have this very caustic music to go on top of it. As far as making art, that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to have that schism.”

Roses are perhaps the most important image in the Ceremony lexicon. The band returns to them again and again. Roses symbolize love, passion, and yearning, but as Poison reminds us, “every rose has its thorn.” Love and pain–or love and violence–go hand in hand, and that is a central theme in Ceremony’s lyrics. Farrar sings, “I’m a burning building / you’re a loveless friend,” and, “People you loved / places you saw / portions are gone.”

Let’s stay in the mid-to-late aughts. These two early Ceremony shirts are still for sale in the Deathwish store. They’re very much products of their time. Pushead-inspired graphics, a black/white/tan palette you don’t see too much anymore, and “scratchy” typography. They look like Converge shirts, in other words. Not my favorite merch from Ceremony, but they were about to issue some classics.

Like this. Imagine walking anywhere in America wearing this thing. People have such strong feelings about flag burning, but if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that America has lost its way. It lost its way a long time ago. Flags should burn in this godforsaken country. But I digress.

Ceremony has other merch designed to shock and antagonize people. When Jerry Falwell Sr. died, Ceremony memorialized him with this gem:

Ceremony’s got a playful side. Their biggest “hit” might very well be “Into the Wayside Part I/Sick.” In it, Farrar claims to be "sick of Black Flag/sick of Cro-Mags.” I understand the lyric to be a critique of hardcore’s constant looking-back mentality and the artistic bankruptcy in making new music that merely replicates an old sound. Ceremony released a pair of shirts that support my interpretation.

If you’ve ever been to a punk show, these graphics should look familiar to you. By slapping the Ceremony name on top, the band takes some ownership of these ubiquitous–and some would say–tired shirts. That they issued these around the time they moved beyond their fast hardcore roots is telling. Their fourth album, Zoo, is a significant departure, both sonically and visually.

Here’s another shirt that teases the idea of “killing your idols,” so to speak. John was the “punkest” of the four Beatles, but he was also a problematic mess. If you’re going to eliminate a Beatle, might as well be him. Anybody but Ringo, I say.

In 2015, Ceremony dropped The L-Shaped Man. In 2019, they released In the Spirit World Now. Both albums dare to ask the question, “What if Ceremony made a post-punk record?” I didn’t necessarily like these records at first. They grew on me. From the start, however, I appreciated them. I want every band to change, to develop and grow. Sonically, as well as visually. Let’s look at the merch.

If you’re some normal person walking down the street minding your own biz, you might glance over and think this is a Duran Duran sweatshirt. It looks a lot like the Rio cover, painted by Patrick Nagel. The L-Shaped Man and In the Spirit World Now do sound more like Duran Duran than, say, Still Nothing Moves You, but come on. This is another instance of Ceremony messing with our expectations. I’m also reminded of the paintings that hung on the walls of beauty parlors during the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Ceremony’s new merch really smokes. I love this longsleeve, for example – the way the graphic marries current events (Covid-19, the murder of George Floyd) to Ceremony’s lyric book (“Sick” and “Twenty Four Hour Fever Watch”). Another piece of subversive American merch from one of America’s greatest and most durable bands.

In the Spirit World Now’s terrific cover, painted by Greg Ito, lends itself to some undeniable merch. I’m partial to the white tee, as I often am these days. Imagine tie-dying this thing using mellow pinks and blues. I might have to try it.

Ceremony should never break up. They must keep going! I want to hear what kind of music they make in the year 2025. Hell, I want to hear what they sound like thirty years from now. And I eagerly anticipate the visual experience, too: the album covers, the music videos, and of course, the merch.