New band shirt design - feedback wanted

[facefirst]

You're gonna pay out the ass for those shirts. That will have to be done as a belt print and then the other part will have to be screened on. I hope you're buying thousands of these because the per unit price is gonna be really high.

From a critical perspective, they look like outdated Affliction/Tapout wannabe shirts. I'm not trying to be rude, this just looks like a badly laid out version of something from 6-7 years ago.

I'll tell you a pet peeve of mine when it comes to distressed type. It's when it's blatantly obvious someone just used a font. When the same letters have the exact same distressing it just looks lazy.

[K-Bizzle]

I appreciate the honesty and was hoping you'd chime in.

I sent the shop I use an email and found out their max size is 13x17.

Honestly I agree with pretty much everything you're saying on the font approach but I don't really have the skill yet to make a better distressed font from scratch.
Maybe I just need to wood shed this shit and do something worth a damn instead of making excuses on that f(r)ont.

Do you have any suggestions on what I could do with that explosive risk symbol that wouldn't be so "6-7 years ago?"
I'm definitely open to ideas but this is pretty close to what was in my head originally and I'm having trouble thinking of a different angle.
Not looking for free design work here (I know you do great work), just looking for maybe some sort of example or something that I can try to go for myself and maybe end up with something better.

[Lloyd Blankfein]

Maybe have the font's color could be just the explosion sign you want to use. So essentially, you're cutting scraps from the original explosion sign to reveal the words light the fuse.

[Noizemaker]

I kinda like both the shirts in the op, except I would just use a solid black background behind the lettering. I also prefer the graphics to take up the majority of the shirt. And two sided shirts are awesome too, if that's an option for you.

[facefirst]

I appreciate the honesty and was hoping you'd chime in.

I sent the shop I use an email and found out their max size is 13x17.

Honestly I agree with pretty much everything you're saying on the font approach but I don't really have the skill yet to make a better distressed font from scratch.
Maybe I just need to wood shed this shit and do something worth a damn instead of making excuses on that f(r)ont.

Do you have any suggestions on what I could do with that explosive risk symbol that wouldn't be so "6-7 years ago?"
I'm definitely open to ideas but this is pretty close to what was in my head originally and I'm having trouble thinking of a different angle.
Not looking for free design work here (I know you do great work), just looking for maybe some sort of example or something that I can try to go for myself and maybe end up with something better.

When I have some time I'll get back to you. The original symbol is cool. I just think you're over thinking the whole thing. An amazing design doesn't have to be huge and complicated (and expensive) to be something worthwhile.

[K-Bizzle]

Well I've got a different idea I'm gonna work with tonight using the parameters I've got.

Also going to switch it up to one color for the sake of saving $$$.