Dean and Chris of Sworn us Under have been endorsed with us since 2010…here is a little more about the band:

Heavy Metal Band “SWORN US UNDER” is a fresh sound of Metal Riffs and Daunting Vocals with a taste of Headbanging Grooves and a touch of Lead Playing Finesse from Guitar Duo Dean Mestas and Chris Gordon. Sharing the Syncopated and often times Melodic, ear-friendly experience are: Mark Walker on Drums, Lala Burchard on Bass Guitar and Dante Dominion on Vocals. Though the band has only been together for 2 years, they have earned a following in their native Grand Junction, Colorado sharing the stage with big name acts OTEP, Cephalic Carnage and From Sword to Sunrise. The band has gained local awareness in part thanks to an appearance in local Tattoo Artist’s Paul Roberts and Dave Bacon of Tattmandu Tattoo Shop’s T.V. Commercial. After several Live sold out shows the owners of the Tattoo Shop approached Sworn Us Under with their interest in working with the band on the Commercial. The band now enjoys permanent sponsorships with Tattmandu and a Local, Hip-Trendy Clothing Store TRENDS.
Along, with the T.V. appearances and numerous Live Shows, the band gets regular airplay from local Alternative Radio Station 91.3 KMSA. The band is the #1 Metal Band pick for the local station whenever it puts on a Live Show at local venues.
With a hard working attitude and dedication to their craft, Sworn Us Under are ready to explode their Unique Metal Sound on to the Masses!!

Visit them at www.myspace.com/swornusunder

This week’s Pick of the Week design is a cool Americana logo for The M-80′s, done on our white pearl guitar pick material. Here is some info about the band, submitted by bassist/vocalist Michael Weidenbach: “The M-80s have been one of Clayton’s endorsed bands for a while now, but like many bands, we’ve been putting off ordering the custom guitar picks we really wanted. We finally submitted the order, and now we can’t wait for the delivery to arrive! We’re a 1980s-era tribute band from the Birmingham, Alabama area, and we play the rock & pop hits from the ’80s…the golden age of MTV.  We cover the popular styles & artists from the era, like The Cars and The Knack up through Madonna and The Go-Gos, all the way to Poison and Bon Jovi.  Authentic arrangements, tight harmonies, a surefire song list, high energy performances, and a sense of fun are what set us apart from your average rock band.  Especially the fun part…you just can’t take yourself too seriously when you play this stuff.” Band members include: Danielle Hardaman – Vocals; Michael Weidenbach – Bass, Vocals; Mike Tucker – Guitar, Vocals; Glenn Freeman – Keys, Guitar, Vocals; and Steve Lucas – Drums. Their website is:    www.M-80s.com and you can also find them on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/80srock

The Shiny Darks have been endorsed with us since 2010, here is a little bit about their band:

It’s rock-n-roll with a kick to the face and a pat on the back. It’s true that “happy” and “positive” aren’t normally associated with aggressive music, but there’s more to The Shiny Darks than meets the eye. The thrillsome threesome from Houston, TX has managed to create a sound like no other- one that can start a pit and keep you smiling all at once. Epitomized in their newly released EP “Stab at Love”, The Shiny Darks’ transcend traditional punk, kick it up a notch, and slam it back down with some good ol’ rock-n-roll fun.
To create the magic, the Houston-based band took to the outskirts of the nation and found their resting place in Radiostar Studios (Weed, CA). It was there, through the eyes and ears of the great Sylvia Massy (Tool, Powerman 5000, Johnny Cash) and veteran studio/session musician turned producer Cameron McKenzie, “Stab at Love” came alive.
“Recording in Weed, CA with The Shiny Darks was definitely in my top five experiences of all time.” says Cameron. “Everyone there had nowhere to go but straight into rock history.”
“Recording The Shiny Darks could be the highlight of my career.” says Sylvia. “These guys live and breathe true rock-n-roll, dredged from the depths of dirty thoughts and high-school rejection. Bite marks bleed with the song ‘Stab’. Paul’s vocals and bass wrap around you like a warm strait-jacket. Gem’s drums drill into your temples like a lobotomy. Quenton’s guitars wake you up like a slap in the face. No kissy-kissy music here…”
“Stab at Love”, the first single off of the titular EP, explores loving and losing with the honesty of being freshly wounded. A heart that was, as the song pines, left “beating on the floor” now picked up and proudly displayed on the wounded’s sleeve.
“These songs are lyrically very personal to us. But everybody can relate. Love and loss in ‘Stab’ and ‘Photographs’, the desire for the ‘greener pasture’ and its ultimate disappointment in ‘Kennedy’, and surviving tough times in ‘Holiday’.” says Quenton Rockwell.
“Human nature is driven by two basic emotions: love and fear” says Paul Mendez. “These songs delve into the love side of things…mostly surviving the pain of it. We wrote about it and, to a degree, celebrate survival.”
Though “Stab at Love” boasts the flavors of rejection, pain, and agonizing heartache, the underlying theme which can all but be avoided is hope. The same could be said of each band member. Three very distinct personalities that are each tinged with optimism. “We want people to know that these times don’t last forever” says Gem Mendez (Paul’s baby sister). “There’s something else right around the corner. We wish for our music to touch those that have endured such pain and have fun with it, enough to take a peek at what good things are to come.”

www.theshinydarks.com

Hey Clayton fans! Have you ever gotten custom guitar picks from us, but wanted to do something creative to help show them off? Check out Pimp My Pick at https://www.facebook.com/PimpMyPick. Pimp My Pick is a company that “will turn bass and guitar picks into necklaces that can forever be worn and displayed for all to see!” You can send them your favorite band or guitarist’s guitar/bass pick and they will transform it into rock art you can wear. “People will stop you in the street to comment on your rockin pick!”
They provide the service of wire wrapping your pick and attaching it to a comfortable leather necklace. The wire wrapping will securely hold your pick WITHOUT requiring any damage to the pick (example: making a hole through the pick). Keep in mind that the company does not provide the actual picks, so the best way to Pimp Your Pick is to create and order some custom picks from Clayton, Inc., at www.claytoncustom.com, and then get your necklaces made!

This week at Steve Clayton, Inc., we had a really nice design submitted by a customer for guitar picks for his wedding. We wanted to write a blog about it, simply because the art is really cool! As you can see, the artwork includes a guitar, flames, roses, and the date of the wedding. The colors go really nicely together, and look awesome on our white delrin guitar pick material. The other side of the pick has the same design, but with the name of the happy couple instead of the date. Custom guitar picks can make a unique addition to any wedding. They are already pretty popular, but we want even more people to know about this option! This is why we have created a new website: customweddingpicks.com. This site is designed specifically to help out customers that are interested in custom wedding picks. We are always looking for more ideas to add to the site too! If you have photos of your custom picks from your wedding, or a cool wedding pick design like the one shown here, or have any questions about wedding picks, please write to us at weddingpicks@steveclayton.com. To start designing your picks, visit claytoncustom.com!

This week’s Pick of the Week is an awesome, high-detail design submitted by the band MESSER. Here is some info about them from their Reverbnation site:

“MESSER started writing late July 2009. With only a handful of shows since then, the Dallas, Texas, group has raised the attention of industry and fans alike by the lightning fast rise of popularity, both locally and nationally. Although some bands prefer not to be compared to anyone, MESSER finds that fans of Soundgarden’s candor, Velvet Revolver’s swagger and the grind of Motley Crue’s music are taking notice. Their music can be described as a nod to the 90’s, with their roots firmly planted in the present, while still honing their original sound for 2011 and beyond. Together Javier Contreras – Guitar/Vocals, Dereak – Lead vocals, Kenn Youngar – Drums, and Maddox – Bass/Vocals, provide somewhat of a local super group assault on the senses.” Find out more about MESSER at reverbnation.com/messer. The pick shown is a red delrin pick, in a .50mm gauge, rounded triangle shape. Design your own custom picks today at www.claytoncustom.com!

During the past week, we have had the opportunity to make custom guitar picks to promote an awesome cause. We are excited about this organization, and we are so glad that they chose us to help support them! The Save the Ta-tas® Foundation and ta-tas® Brand was created by clothing designer Julia Fikse as a way to fight breast cancer using laughter and fun as a way to fight a serious disease. Her playful line of t-shirts and accessories include messages such as “save the ta-tas” and “friends don’t let friends lose ta-tas.”  Her messages of hope and humor have reached thousands of victims and survivors of breast cancer and have helped them to fight the disease with both strength and courage. ta-tas® Brand, which was started in 2004, donates 5% of gross sales year around to fight cancer. This is a unique, high and very risky commitment. They realize that women and families need support NOW so they also have an annual scholarship contest, support the Revlon Run Walk for Women and donate product year-round to independent fundraisers so others can raise funds for their favorite cancer charity. For more information, please visit www.savethetatas.com. The Save the Ta-tas picks were created, appropriately, on our pink delrin picks. To design your own custom guitar picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

We have had some customers submit some really cool pick art recently, and we wanted to show off these designs! All of them are very colorful, and they were created using various types of artwork. The pick on the far left was made using a cartoon image, on our white delrin picks. The center pick has a painting on it, which appears 3D on our white pearl picks. The pick on the far right uses a nice photo of northern lights to create a unique look. For full color art such as the designs shown here, we offer three different white pick materials that can support these types of designs. This image is a great way to compare how the three types of white picks (white delrin, white pearl, and acetal) are different from each other. Also, we have two picks in this image (the  two outside picks) that demonstrate use of the full bleed option. Choosing full bleed for your custom picks means that the design will go all the way to the edge of the pick and not have a border. Create your own custom pick design today at www.claytoncustom.com!

This week’s Pick of the Week is for Manifest Destiny, a band made up of longtime fans of The Dictators who never got a chance to see them live due to the geographic (and perhaps cultural) isolation of Fresno, CA. Comprised of local longtime musicians, Manifest Destiny (www.manifestdestinyrocks.com) is a musical tribute to The Dictators which aims to save rock and roll, or have the most fun failing in the attempt. Their genre definition is Rock, Rock & Roll, Proto-Punk, Post-Glam Rock, The Missing Link. Band members include Marvelous Jonny Manbeef (vocals), Zinck (guitar), Essé (drums), Squink (bass), Ross The Boss Too (guitar). They have an upcoming show too, on May 14th! Check them out on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manifest-Destiny-A-Tribute-to-The-Dictators/135507956517828. Their custom pick artwork, which is highly detailed and colorful, was printed on our acetal pick material. Design your own custom guitar picks today at www.claytoncustom.com!

Frank Thebaldguy has been endorsed with us since 2010, he plays guitar in the band The Kid Henry. “The Kid Henry is a 5-piece rock band, featuring classically-trained vocalist Alexandra Lombardi, guitarists Dana Dentini and Frank Thebaldguy, Eammonn Dignam on bass, and Vincent Giordano on drums. The Kid Henry formed in 2008 and has been a fixture in the resurgent Long Island music scene ever since. The individuals that make up The Kid Henry bring their eclectic musical tastes and styles with them to create a distinct sound that is unique but very accessible. The Kid Henry pays homage to their influences, while creating a style of their own.” For more visit their facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itsthekidhenry