Calling all Metalheads... Battle jacket advice please!

Ladies and Gentlemen, metalheads and rockers, and all alternative music listeners, I require your advice on the matter of my battle jacket.

I have a jacket that I used to wear, which is many moons older than me. It used to bear the marks of the bands I love, but of late, and by that I mean over the last five years, it has become apparent that this jacket no longer stands up to the job of containing my mighty (read voluminous) frame. Indeed, being within the garment is somewhat like becoming a sausage for the duration of its being worn. Also, the damn thing looks better on my ten year old son, than it does on me. I feel therefore that it is time to hand that jacket over to my son, that it may bear the marks of HIS passions instead.

I have recently purchased a much more ample jacket to put my patches on, and modify to my specifications. I have already gotten a start on figuring out the beginnings of my patch layout on the new jacket, as shown.



And the back...



If these images display upside down, by the way, there is nothing I can do about it, what so ever, so I will have to just make my apologies for that and move on with the day!

I have not got a massive amount of patches, simply because I am distinctly lazy when it comes to purchasing them. This will be changing this year at Bloodstock festival, where I intend to acquire many, MANY patches. However, my old jacket featured studs as well. They were brassy in tone, and placed on the jacket before I got a hold of it. As cool as the layout was, I would have preferred chrome tones on the studs, and preferably skull shaped studs as well.

However, I cannot for the life of me find a place that sells the sort of split pin backed skull studs that I am looking for. This therefore, is a call out to all who might know of a place where I could purchase said studs, in significant volume. I am thinking at least fifty or so to start with. Please, my brothers and sisters in steel, share with me the arcane knowledges you possess on this matter!

a reply to: TrueBrit

If you want to really stick it to the man,you could go full corporate and try something like these from the dreaded Amazon:

www.amazon.co.uk...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1432474892&sr=8-4&keywords=skull+studs

www.amazon.co.uk...=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1432475065&sr=8-8&keywords=skull+studs

They work like rivets,but there are loads of different types of designs of skulls.
Rock on Dude!

a reply to: TrueBrit

I want pics of the 'retired' jacket please

My daughter acquired my old leather. Looks good on her

not a metal head
just Old Punk Rocker...

Your base is way off.
Black photographers vest
Does not come off hard
or ready for battle...

Your base
should be of leather


Above is a close facsimile
of what we would create & wear
back in the 80's...

looks like something ready for battle ....No?

a reply to: TrueBrit

You can try here...

www.idreamcraft.com...

www.the-beadshop.co.uk... -10pk-p12604

May not have what your looking for, but they may be able to send you in the right direction.

Love the Pantera (RIP Dimebag) and Metallica patches. Seen them both many times.

a reply to: spoonbender

Above is a close facsimile

That jacket would make Rob Halford jealous.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Cool patches.
Do you know if they still make the heavy metal magazines? If so, they might have a website in the back pages where the ads are.

I'm redoing my cut for bloodstock this year too lol. my old denim is rotten so gonna use the old lewis leather i last wore in 1990. been on a diet so it does up at a pinch again. gotta get some leathe lace to trim the arm holes off though, dont look right with the remnants of the sleave hem atm

a reply to: TrueBrit

Ahhh how sweet!

That said, I am with Spoonbender on the topic.. if your going to wear a jacket, it should be leather. Otherwise you look like you might be going camping..and it just looses some of that "bad"ness... (although as you age you might not care about that so much!)

okay.. that is all... be proud of your son! (and give him a kiss from me!)

And always remember, if you are going to drink alcohol and get into the mach pit in the heat, please remember to eat before you go, and drink plenty of water!

a reply to: TrueBrit

It could use a Machine head or a Fear Factory badge-but that's my opinion.

Ebay is a godsend for finding such things.

I always went for suede myself, leather is too stiff and heavy and makes you sweat. LOL

Good luck with your new vest True!

No advice to give, but it looks like a jacket that phil demmel would wear. If you like machine head you could go with something machine head inspired.

yeah. leather.

and a leather vest is fine, doesn't need to be a leather jacket. A "bikers cut" can look incredibly battle ready. And goes over another jacket nicely.

but if you wanna go hard, leather is how you do it.

a reply to: TrueBrit

If it ain't denim or leather it ain't "metal". Sorry, but that jacket looks like something you'd go hiking in.

Just get a new jacket and transfer the badges, studs avalable on ebay.

Then kick it round the garden, drive over it, throw up on it, pour beer over it, some marker pen doodles and a few cigarette burns and you're good to go.

Rock on!

wish i still had some of my early 80's stuff, quite often they gave away patches with the albums...oh boy would i love to get back my saxon/motorhead stuff i just glued to the wall and let it go when i decided to leave home etc

a reply to: nerbot

Seriously? Drive over it?

You do know why that style was actually worn by most musicians right?

It was because they were starving artists in those early days.. and if they got a rip in their jeans, they could neither afford a patch nor a new pair of jeans, and mostly their jeans and other items of clothing were hand-me-downs or otherwise already used when they were acquired - therefore ripped much easier just with regular use such as washing and working..

then one fine day, since everyone's favorite musicians were wearing ripped jeans and such, it became a fad or a fashion.

If you want the "look" then don't buy new to begin with go to the thrift store, save yourself some hard-earned cash, and look right doing so.. without having to drive over your clothing and burn them!

My goodness! I picked up my husbands full length duster (which was what he wanted) off of eBay for 27 dollars.. no driving over it necessary, and saved a ton of money!

Well... Interesting responses so far, thanks to everyone!

Here's a picture of my son pulling a daft face while wearing his new jacket!



With regard to leather or denim, my main problem with those as a base for a battle jacket is this. Denim and leather are BOTH too damned warm for my tastes, and rarely come as standard with as many pockets as I would like. Therefore, I am going to modify this hiking vest to absolute buggery. To my mind, there are not many things in the world that epitomise heavy metal thinking more than a jacket that you can fit a six pack of beers into comfortably, and this thing copes with that very nicely. It's going to be perfect for festival. I know traditionally a battle jacket ought to be made of denim and leather, but you know what? Snip happens!

Once this thing is covered in patches and studs, it's going to rock regardless of its material base! Plus, let's face it, I have never done ANYTHING the normal way in my life, and the last place I would want to start would be in assembling something designed to illustrate my love of heavy metal, the most berserk, least normal, most mental music that has ever been created!

Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, and especially to those who provided some specific information as to places to purchase customisation items for this project!

a reply to: TrueBrit

Oh he is adorable! Kids at that age they are so free, they don't care about anything but enjoying life - those are the best days!

As far as having pockets and all, yes I can perfectly understand that desire - and the rebellion of it!

a reply to: TrueBrit

I must agree with spoonbender right now looks like a fishing vest; maybe when your done with it...
In any case you can get that style of spike at Tandy Leather;

www.tandyleather.com...

Put "spikes" in their search & they will pop right up.
I put a row of those spikes on each knucle of a pair of fingerless gloves, looks pretty wicked.