As most up-and-coming and well-established bands know, merchandise is a great way to get your name and logo out there. But with so many choices for printing companies and available merchandise, it can be a tad overwhelming for any newbie, and even seasoned musicians, looking to fill their merchandise table with garments for the apparel-hungry fans.

Bassist for the central Alberta band Thunder in Paradise, Bryce Thurston, is no exception.

“We could not find anywhere locally to get all our merch done on time, correctly, and at a decent price. So I ended up printing our own band t-shirts in my basement,” Thurston says. “We were touring a bit at the time, and when bands started asking where we got our merch, I said that I did it myself.”

Thurston learned a lot during those first six months, so when the orders started flowing in, “we expanded from our one station one colour press to a four colour four station press.”

Armed with a business plan and the name Showdown Merchandising, the first client order was taken on March 5, 2005. Since then, Showdown, which is based in Sylvan Lake, Alta., has evolved into a full on custom screen printing shop that works closely with small bands and companies across Canada.

Bryce Thurston, Owner

“We currently offer Screen Printing, Graphic Design, Embroidery, Buttons, and Decals,” Thurston notes.

But it wasn’t smooth sailing from the very first public order, according to Thurston, Showdown’s owner, who is now assisted by graphics designer Tyrell Thibeault and Tyler Zachow, in charge of screen printing.

“We were faced with the challenge of this trade itself. Learning how to screen print and create a lasting product was extremely difficult. We spent months of trial and error and we did it all by ourselves with no help from other shops. To this day, we are still learning how to do things better, and it’s pretty cool to see how far we have come.”

But those challenges, “were, without a doubt, worth it. We had many late nights, but it was exciting and it really drove us to create an awesome product that we were proud of. I can say I am honestly more excited about coming to work at this company than I’ve ever been.”

And the move to automatic presses and their very own shop has kept that excitement up, especially as their client base keeps growing.

“Our client base is from Vancouver Island all the way to Nova Scotia. We ship every day to bands all across Canada. Most orders are coming from Alberta, as well as a growing number of Sylvan Lake orders – now that everyone knows we are here.”

Tyler Zachow, Screen Printing

On average, the three young entrepreneurs fill anywhere from 60 to 80 orders a month, excluding all the small decal and button orders. Roughly 75 per cent of their clients are in rock or heavy metal bands, and all three of their distributors have told them that they don’t sell more black t-shirts to any other screen printer in Canada.

“With that being said, it’s pretty obvious that the bands out there are printing your run-of-the-mill metal shirt,” Thurston laughs. “These black t-shirts typically include a front and back print anywhere from one to three colors in the logos.”

But, “since we offer screen printing and not pad printing we pretty much offer any kind of apparel. So if it’s something you wear, we can print it for you,” Thurston says, adding, “clients can supply their graphics and we make them print-ready. We try to keep costs down for customers by not charging anything for graphics if they are pretty much print-ready. We also have Tyrell, our graphics man, who designs custom graphics for clients.”

Showdown’s specialty, it should be noted, is over-sized printing, one of the reasons Thurston cites for getting into the print business in the first place.

“There aren’t too many places in Alberta working close with smaller bands on over-sized screen printed items. We also offer discharge printing – burns the fabric – softy inks – can’t feel the print – foil printing, and metallic inks.”

Tyrell Thibeault, Graphics Designer

And with easy online ordering – and majorly quick responses to any questions the potential client might have – makes it all convenient, especially for Alberta artists. The turnaround time is just five to seven business days, whether you print 25 or 25,000 shirts, although they do rush orders for a fee, and can ship anywhere you are. That’s right, so when you’re conquering the power metal circuit in Newfoundland and you sell out of merch, they can get more to you.

They also opened their doors at the shop in Sylvan Lake, so you can walk in and order, pick up your goods, or just drop in and say “hi” to the boys between those Edmonton/Calgary gigs and see what they can provide. You never know what you might find, especially with their fifth anniversary just a few months away.

In light of that milestone, “we have tons of new ideas for Showdown. We are working to get our website upgraded for easier navigation. Also, with the very recent purchase of our new Canon 7D camera, we will be offering daily updates through pictures and HD video of life around the shop. We are looking to upgrade our manual presses to offer six colour over-sized prints. We plan to have more sales on popular items like black and white t-shirts,” Thurston says. “Our clothing line site is underway, and we plan to release a few custom cut and sew pieces every year, as well as graphic t-shirts. Among other small things around the shop that are smaller upgrades we also plan to upgrade to a large embroidery machine.”