“It just sounded metal to me,” laughs Pattwaste as he describes the inspiration for his streetwear brand After Death Audio. He’s keeping true to his roots, making sure that he continues building on his early inspirations from the local scene. It was metal and the artwork surrounding it that first inspired him as a middle schooler, and it’s still central to his aesthetics.

After Death is a print-focused brand, creating tactile objects that you can touch and feel. “Print has its own charm,” he explains. “It creates more value than a digital design alone.” There are two zines, multiple posters, tees, and more. Everything is raw and stripped back with rough textures, bold fonts, and minimal colors. But just as the metal scene has evolved, so has After Death. It’s no longer just angry death metal logos, it now draws on futuristic Japanese-style fonts, anti-art blackwork tattoos, cartoons, and glitchy effects.

While metal was Pattwaste’s first passion, he was also interested in streetwear and skateboarding, hanging out at the local DIY park in his hometown of Korat. As he got older he started going to shows in different provinces and got into rap, electronic music, and hardcore. His childhood room is covered with posters that he would print from MySpace and he went to his first mosh pit at 16 years old. It had him hooked immediately. “It’s just so much energy!” His first design was for a local deathcore band named This Burial Process when he was 18. Now 30, he still contributes to the culture by creating flyers and designs for local bands and shows through After Death. “I’ll always support the scene.”

When Pattwaste started working as a designer here at Blaq Lyte in 2018, it was a chance to explore the other cultures that he’s been interested in. “It was challenging, but it was something that I definitely appreciated being able to do,” he says. “It allowed me to grow as a designer.” You can see his work every week, as he’s frequently the one behind our club’s flyers. Although they’re more sleek and techy than his personal work, you can still feel the immediacy and energy that he developed in the metal world. It’ll be a part of him long after he dies.