Steve Lamacq's guide to band t-shirt etiquette

By Paul Stokes

6 Music’s Wear Your Band T-Shirt To Work Day returns for its tenth year on Friday (10 November) and as is now traditional we’re letting your clothing pick the music we play.

Simply post a picture of you in your favourite band t-shirt on social media, tag us in along with a song choice, the reason you're wearing your shirt, plus the hashtag #TSHIRTDAY and we might feature your request on air.

Not only will fabric-based curation rule all day, but a series of special guests will be joining Steve Lamacq during the week to discuss all things t-shirt related.

So to get you ready for T Shirt Day #10, Lammo – the godfather of gig garments, who first came-up with T-Shirt Day back in 2007 – has provided us with this handy, 6-step band T-Shirt etiquette guide to help you cut a dash this Friday... and at every concert you go to in future.

Steve Lamacq: Yeah, it’s ok. I’m constantly impressed by people who turn up to a gig, go to the merch stand, buy a t-shirt and then go to the toilets and change into it. I’ve seen that quite a few times. People come out of the loos looking so proud: ‘look at me I’m the first person to wear the t-shirt... apart from him over there.’

I think it’s fine to wear an act’s t-shirt to their gig. Basically you can say without having to talk to people ‘I was at this particular gig.’ It’s just a nice way of saying ‘I’m a proper fan’ and I think that’s fine.

It’s why people like to turn-up in the old shirts, particularly for acts who have been around for a while. I keep seeing examples of people who have kept quite precious t-shirts going for years. They are now quite tatty but they really want to wear it one more time. Things like that are conversation starters – so the t-shirt can be an ice breaker – as it's a way of saying to other people at the gig, 'I’m a bit like you'.

Steve Lamacq: Ooh... Well, you can but you will get found out at some point because someone will always ask you about it. If it’s a particularly good shirt design wise then I’ll say yes, but it has to be really good.

I guess also t-shirts might get handed down between generations like vinyl. I think that’s interesting. I like the idea of t-shirts staying in the family and becoming vintage. Then of course you can wear it because you’re not saying you are cool, you’re saying your mum or dad is cool.

Steve Lamacq: I’m pretty much against taking a t-shirt and trying to turn it into something else. We have to have a level playing field here, it’s all about the t-shirt and the act it represents. I think spending money to pimp up your t-shirt is cheating.

Steve Lamacq: When you have to breathe in to wear it, it’s probably time to give up. But apart from that I think you can wear t-shirts as long as you want. I still sometimes wear my 'Modern Life is Rubbish' Blur t-shirt and it's got a couple of holes in it. It just feels really good wearing it.

The wearing of the shirt is part of your story as a music fan and wearing an old one says 'I love this band, I love this shirt and I’m still into it.' I think it would be worse to buy a t-shirt and never wear it. The right t-shirt is a statement of who you are.

Steve Lamacq: That’s a good question. It’s a bit like when my dad said to me ‘do you need all those records?’ And of course you do! It’s just the same with t-shirts.

Too many t-shirts is when you’re throwing out important household items to make room for them, although I think my other half would say when you’ve got an extra, extra cupboard just for your t-shirts it’s too much.

I’ve managed to get it down to just one cupboard for t-shirts now. How many are in there? I don’t know… I used to say I wouldn’t be happy until I had one for every day of the year but I might have actually reached that point.

Steve Lamacq: Pick one that’s got a good story. One that means the most to you. One that explains a bit about yourself as a fan of music. Something that has a bit of you in it.

These t-shirts, in a way, are like postcards from our youths, they tell us something about ourselves when we bought them and our relationship with the music and how much we’ve changed – and how we haven’t.

You're still that person who bought that old shirt, that's why you're digging it for T-Shirt Day. Part of the enjoyment of it all is putting yourself back in the time and mindset of when you first got the shirt.

Remember it counts as a request to the station. So if you wear a particular act's t-shirt, post a pic on social media, request a song and we’ll try to play it on 6 Music on the day.

So I would also say, bear in mind what the popular shirts will be – Pop Will Eat Itself and Faith No More always do well – and if you’ve got something a little different that's good. It will make it easier for us to put a whole day’s radio together! [laughs]

Also, I’m thinking we've got to the point where festival shirts are now admissible. So provided you actually went to the festival in question and you want to nominate one act’s set, tell us why it was so good at the time and we’ll have a root around in the archive to see what we can find.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBC6Music, or on Instagram @bbc6music – then send us your band t-shirt pics up to Friday 10 November.