For many bands, touring in and of itself isn't an inherently profitable venture.
Newer bands might have trouble securing guarantees, and lackluster show attendance usually equals low pay. Sometimes merchandise sales can mean the difference between a tank of gas to the next town and being stranded in Moline, Ill.
But some bands branch out from the usual mundane band merch such as T-shirts, buttons and recordings, offering more eclectic, band-themed novelty items.
The Melvins have sold jarred fetuses, canned meat and two-headed dolls.
The Locust has featured bars of soap with a free battery inside for an electrically thorough cleaning. Parody band Tenacious D even sells an official "Tenacious D Cum Rag."
Sweet Basil McJagger plays piano for the Austin, Tex., band the Derailers.
McJagger said that unique merch is important to a band's financial success.
"Bands print up cigarette rolling papers or panties," he said. "These guys don't make their living necessarily on the shows as much as they do the merch.
"Some of the bands, they have their own buses, their own records that they self-release, all funded by merchandise."
The Derailers once sold combs, complete with a barber etiquette guide.
"(The band) was kind of a greaser look for a while. It was consistent with that theme," McJagger said.
And for the next album, they're considering shrunken head merchandise to accompany the shrunken Derailers heads in the album art.
TJ Chrastil plays in local prog-rock band Fireside Innocence. Chrastil said his band sells cigarette lighters emblazoned with the band name, a tribute to the name's origin.
"One of the members in the band - started a TV on fire in the basement of the pawn shop we used to work at and got put in jail for arson for a few days," Chrastil said. "We thought it'd be fitting to have lighters as part of the merchandise."
Charlie Ludwig is the store manager of the Homer's Music and Gifts at 60th and O streets. He said bands often package weird promotional items with the release of a new CD.
Some of the more unique he recalled was a jar of honey with Luscious Jackson's "Electric Honey" album, cake mix for a Mudhoney CD, and a square of sod with the Jayhawks' "Tomorrow the Green Grass."
"It gives (bands) a unique little thing, and it gets them in touch with their listener," Ludwig said.
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