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| Arts & Crafts >> The Merch Monsters |
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How long have you been making merch? What started The Merch Monsters? Mike: We've have been making merchandise for about a year now with this company, I've been making/selling and buying merchandise for bands I've played in for the past 12 years or so.(Ex guitar player for - Youth Minority/ Trunk/ Put to shame/ Cut off and The Video Dead.) I started the company to try and stay in touch with old and new friends and also the independent music scene. Do either of you have a crafty background? Mike: I guess our craftiness comes from me being into art (self taught and dabbled in college courses) and Cheryl's Business courses in University helps to work the art via computer! You do buttons, stickers and magnets, any thoughts on branching out into other types of merch? Mike: Yeah, we would definitely like to branch out into making other merchandise, shirts/sweaters/hats/belt buckles etc... but right now we are having fun with the 1" buttons stickers and magnets with key chains coming soon. Who do you find yourself working with? Toronto folks or all over the place? Mike: Since we have started, we have made merchandise for bands, clothing companies, record labels, magazines, festivals etc.. across Canada, North America and Europe. Our clients started out as friends and everything just kind of escalated from there. We do free shipping across North America so that helps! |
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Do you feel that you have any specific challenges or advantages being based in Toronto and Burlington? Mike: Working from where we live doesn't really have any advantages or disadvantages considering most of our clients find us and work with us through the Internet, but when we started, word of mouth was all we had so I guess we had to count on our close friends and more local clients to make a name for ourselves before we could really branch out. What have been some of the projects you've made merch for recently? Mike: Some of our favorite projects have been our best friends in bands that we personally know, because they let us just go crazy with designs and logo's for them, but also working with Rue Morgue Magazine and the Festival of Fear, The Buck Brothers from the UK, The Great Orbax Freak show, Electric Frankenstein just to name a few. We are currently waiting on designs and amounts for Juliette and the Licks. (Actress Juliette Lewis' band with Dave Grohl on drums for the upcoming album!!) Do you have a 1" button collection? Mike: We don't necessarily have a 1" button collection yet, but do keep everything we've done on file and plan to make everything for our own personal collection when we get some time. |
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