Rock Band Inspires Running/Exercise Group with Unique Visual Style

[Editor’s Note: Today we have a guest entry from reader Tony McCosham, who’s going to tell us about a very cool project. Enjoy. — Paul]

By Tony McCosham

For a while now I’ve been meaning to tell Paul and his readers about a uniform-adjacent running/exercise group inspired by the Cincinnati rock band the National, called I Think I’m Hittin’ a Wall (ITIHAW). The running group was started in the UK a little over four years ago by a guy named Brett Shelton. He was inspired to bring together folks who enjoyed the National and exercise,  especially running. It’s a virtual group where members primarily connect via Instagram and Facebook. The group’s name is taken from a line in the National song “Where Is Her Head.”

From the start, Brett created a strong visual identity. First, there is the ITIHAW logo, which has evolved over the years but is principally based on the graphics for the National’s upsate New York recording studio.

In addition to being featured on ITIHAW’s social media, the logo has also shown up on hats, shirts, and stickers, which ITIHAW members enjoy wearing and sharing in group posts. I even got the logo from Brett to use for group bib boards (to hold running bibs in place), as seen here:

The shirt in the last photo of that slideshow was designed by an ITIHAW member named James De Villiers, who originally designed the image of a zombie Matt Berninger (the National’s singer) from a line in the band’s song “Conversation 16.”

Additionally, Brett’s enthusiasm for the National has extended to an appreciation of all things related to Ohio and Cincinnati. He’s made several pieces of memorabilia for fictitious Ohio sports teams inspired by the band. This includes the Ohio State Bees, inspired by the band’s song “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” which includes the line “I was carried to Ohio by a swarm of bees”:

[It’s not clear whether Brett was also drawing inspiration from the real-life Cincinnati Stingers. — Paul]

Brett also made a Bengals-esque hat for the fictitious Cincinnati Berningers, inspired by a time Berninger posted a photo of himself dressed as Tigger.

Since starting ITIHAW, Brett been able to connect with most members of the band and other adjacent artists and friends, often conducting interviews that he records and then posts for the ITIHAW group. This led to a design collaboration with Ben Lanz, a multi-instrumentalist in the band who also releases work as a solo artist. Ben is really into cycling, so he and Brett collaborated on a cycling hat as well as some cycling-related stickers, which were released in conjunction with one of Ben’s solo albums:

Here’s a zine that talks about how that project evolved. It was released by Ben’s label in collaboration with ITIHAW.

Ben also wrote an ITIHAW-inspired song, called “I’ll Keep Running,” and had Brett create the song’s video using crowdsourced footage from ITIHAW members, many of whom are wearing the ITIHAW logo on their workout gear:

I think one of the great things about ITIHAW is the supportive, positive community it creates, putting an emphasis on personal wellness, both physical and mental, all with a unique visual style and set to great music!

———

Paul here. I’m not a runner, and I’ve never really gotten into the National, but I love this project. Big thanks to Tony for sharing it with us, and all best to him and the rest of ITIHAW!