‘Me and Johnny Magee’

THOSE OF US OF A a certain age — or a taste in music — might recognize this tune we recorded especially for you, dear reader. Exclusive! I was invigorated to write the song by the interview with our guest on Episode 25, John Magee. John’s basement tapes @travelling_screenprinter are becoming a print nerd’s breakfast treat.

In this month’s podcast, we talked a bit about how the tapes came about, and he confirmed my suspicions regarding his guitar, which appears occasionally. He recognizes the superiority of the Gibson SG as an instrument of mass mayhem in rock-and-roll. Les Pauls, Teles, and Strats…back on the rack. Well, except in the video. I was playing my Rat-O-Caster.

The song is a DIY, postpunk, alt-country romp featuring some of that DIY musicality on the downlow, direct in one take from Mo’s Roadhouse in Royston, BC, Canada. We shift this media mashup called “Art, Ad, or Alchemy” into a musical dimension as we enter our fourth year of podcasting. And 25th podcast!

Here we go! Apologies to Kris Kristofferson, Janis Joplin, and our guest this episode, John Magee. This is sung to the tune of “Me and Bobby Magee.” Have a little screen-printing musical fun here.

Follow along in case you want to karaoke:

No AI was involved in any of this.

Me and my friends at the New England Printfest.

Meet My Old Pal John

John Magee is an ink and application specialist for Avient Inks and spends a fair bit of time in other printers’ shops helping them get better at what they do. Raised in an entrepreneurial household, he describes his parents as “Capitalist Hippies,” who exposed him to graphics, T-shirt heat presses, and signage early on. If you want to hear his back story, listen to our interview on “Art, Ad, or Alchemy, Episode 25.”

Screen printing always was hovering in the background of his enterprises throughout the years. When income from skateboards and a skate park dried up during the crash of 2008, the squeegee came to the rescue. And after many years running his shop, which grew but also brought stress — a story many of us know too well — he found a job that fit his specific talents. And one that he enjoys.

The poster we will be printing on-site at the Long Beach Impressions Expo.

One thing that comes across when you engage with Mr. Magee is the depth of experience at all levels. He’s hands-on printing, but he also understands shop management and much more. He’s worked in the grungiest conditions and has also enjoyed lab-level printing with the most modern equipment around. Best of all, he’s not 75 and rolling his wheelchair toward the grave. He’s out there doing the good work, keeping the squeegees going, helping people get better at what they do, and solving problems. Like the song says:

“Perfect’s just another word for how it should be done,
Better than a screw up every day…”

“Watch” won Silver in the same category (special effects) the same year at the SGIA Awards.

The Future Holds?

Toward the middle of the podcast, we got into industry directions — everyone wants to know if DTF is going to cause permanent “WTF?” and the downfall of screen printing, which had been scheduled for termination by the experts in 2005. Or was it ’09? I can’t remember.

As Magee explained it, the ink companies sell black and white ink. The rest of the colors are decoration. And sales of the two basics increase every year. The health of a particular industry sometimes can be seen in the consumables used. Or new machines bought.

John observed, “Some years, machine sales are down, but consumables are up. Other years, it’s vice versa.”

“Foot on Sand” was the gold winner at the Imprinted Sportswear Show and The Best in Show in 2007 in the SGIA Awards.

I know in graphic and industrial press sales, it’s been flat. John said it was similar on the textile side, although everyone seems to have no trouble buying drinks for that hot, young DTF machine. But if you’ve been around for more than five years, you know that DTF isn’t really new; it’s just a better version of the transfer T-shirt shops that used to populate every mall across America. 20 years ago, DTG was going to wipe out screen printing. But screen still is around.

Why? Magee ticked off a few reasons:

• Speed. DTF only can go so fast. Fast, but not that fast.
• Special Effects. Screen printing has depth, texture, and unique materials.
• Opportunity. Screen printing offers a baby-step way to build a creative business on a budget.
• Durability. The difference between print on and stick on, and 20 washes.

What John predicts will happen — and we see this already in the industry — DTF becomes a useful tool. For a small garment decorator, it can replace screen printing. But so does a Cricut cutter. The beauty of DTF for an entry-level operation is the elimination much of the processing equipment and skill needed to screen print. And it solves the universal problem of multicolor design and print for short runs, and small, full-color, location-specific prints. These all are good reasons why many current screen printers use DTF. A startup business can buy transfers and its only production cost is a heat press to put a saleable garment out the door.

So, John thinks we will see less startup screen printing shops. But that middle ground (shops in the 3-15 employee range with a few manuals or autos) will remain viable, with opportunity to grow if they want it. They offer their customer base — which usually becomes regional with repeat, higher-volume orders — a better product than the local heat-press shop. They’re also more personable, more local, and give more reliable service than the gigantic, on-line, on-demand print shop operation we see advertised on TV.

People may not understand what screen printing is or the larger creative cultures that it is part of. Some underestimate the skill required to make it work. Others get it and speak the secret language we all seem to know.

In the podcast, there’s some pretty good stories about Magee’s various stops on the road of life. There’s been more than a few screen shop start-ups and misadventures as John traveled around the U.S. — @travelling_screenprinter is a pretty good handle. He’s based out of Colorado now, values his time at home where he mucks around in his basement recording studio, and shoots all sorts of videos about cool shirts, books, and presses or other equipment used through his years in textile screen printing. He also works on his Volkswagon restoration projects in between jaunts to trade shows, Avient headquarters, and different shops doing training and troubleshooting.

And don’t worry. I’m not trading the squeegee in for a recording contract. We’ll keep jammin’ away at the Roadhouse and I hope to see you at the Long Beach Impressions Expo. I’ll be with the Ink Kitchen crew, raising money for the Care Closet, who work with the unhoused in Long Beach. Our souvenir poster this year features Snoop Dogg, who grew up in Long Beach and is friends with Care Closet founder Duke Givens.

“The Puzzle” won Gold the year after, in 2008.

PHOTO GALLERY (10 IMAGES)