From Deathcore to Decorated Apparel: How Jacob Harmond Built Merch Drop
- Ryan Moor
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
In the decorated apparel industry, there’s a story that repeats itself over and over again. A band needs shirts. Someone in the band decides to learn how to print them. What starts as a way to fund tours slowly turns into a business.
That story is exactly how Jacob Harmond, founder of Merch Drop, entered the world of screen printing.
But Jacob’s path started on the stage.
From the Stage: Chelsea Grin (2008–2018)
Jacob Harmond was a member of the Salt Lake City–based deathcore band Chelsea Grin, a group that helped define the heavy music scene of the late 2000s and 2010s.
Formed in 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Chelsea Grin quickly built a global following in the extreme metal scene. Known for their aggressive sound, technical guitar work, and relentless touring schedule, the band released multiple successful albums!
During the peak of the band’s touring years, Chelsea Grin performed around the world alongside major acts in metal and hardcore, playing festivals and packed venues across North America and Europe.
Like many touring bands, merchandise was a huge part of their livelihood. Fans didn’t just come for the music—they came for the shirts, hoodies, and limited tour prints that represented the culture surrounding the band. And that’s where Jacob’s journey into screen printing began.
The Garage Print Shop
Like many bands, Chelsea Grin needed merchandise constantly. Printing shirts became a natural extension of the band’s DIY mentality. Jacob started screen printing in his garage, producing shirts for the band and other artists in the scene. What started as a practical solution quickly turned into something more.
As the band toured heavily, demand for merch kept growing.
But eventually life began to shift. With a growing family, Jacob started thinking about life beyond the road. Constant touring, long stretches away from home, and the grind of the music industry made him rethink the future.
Instead of leaving the merch world behind, he decided to build something bigger from it. That idea became Merch Drop.
Scaling Up: The Anatol Years
As Merch Drop grew, Jacob transitioned from garage printing into a professional production environment. His first big step was purchasing an Anatol automatic press, which allowed the shop to move beyond manual production and begin scaling output.
Funny story, Jacob told me that he left his manual setup suck in time and hasn’t touched it since, his Riley Hopkins Manual Press is still sitting in his house, inked up screens covered by years of dust! Soon after, he added a second Anatol press, dramatically increasing the shop’s capacity.
With more production power, Merch Drop began working with a growing list of artists and brands in the music world, producing merch for larger runs and more complex designs. But as the shop grew, two major bottlenecks started to appear.
1. Oversized Printing
In the music industry, bigger prints are better.
Bands often want oversized graphics that dominate the front or back of a garment. Merch Drop was increasingly running into print length limitations on their existing platform.
2. Dryer Bottlenecks
Running two automatic presses at full speed created another challenge.
Without a gas-powered dryer, curing prints—especially water-based and discharge inks—became the biggest production bottleneck in the shop.
To continue growing, Jacob needed a new solution.
Enter Skip Marsh & Technical Service and Supply
That’s when Skip Marsh from Technical Service and Supply entered the picture.
Based in Salt Lake City, Technical Service and Supply has been serving screen printers across Utah and the surrounding region for decades.
The company has built a strong reputation in the market for equipment expertise, service support, and helping printers scale their operations.
Skip, a ROQ dealer in the Salt Lake region, introduced Jacob to a system designed to solve both of Merch Drop’s major challenges:
Why the ROQ NEXT XL Was the Right Fit
For a shop focused heavily on music merchandise, oversized capability is critical.
The ROQ NEXT XL delivered exactly that.
Key advantages included:
28” print stroke standard on every head
Up to 36” print stroke in double index
Open-access design for faster setup
Increased speed compared to previous equipment
This meant Merch Drop could now confidently produce the oversized graphics bands love without compromise.
And just as importantly, the press was faster and easier to work on, making day-to-day production smoother for the team.
Solving the Production Bottleneck: ROQ Sahara
The second major upgrade was the ROQ Sahara Gas Dryer. By switching to a larger gas dryer, Merch Drop could finally support two automatic presses running at full production speed.
For a shop producing high-color and water-based prints, that curing power was essential.
The Sahara allowed Jacob and his team to:
Cure water-based and discharge prints consistently
Run both presses at full capacity
Eliminate the production bottleneck that had slowed growth
Not Without Challenges
The installation wasn’t completely smooth. Because this was the first gas dryer installed in Jacob’s facility, the building required a new gas line. Shortly after installation, the dryer began experiencing problems holding temperature and occasionally required restarting.
The ROQ Service Team stepped in immediately, making multiple trips to the shop and even replacing burners while troubleshooting the issue.
Eventually, the real problem surfaced—and it wasn’t the dryer at all.
The gas company had installed the wrong regulators. Jacob’s facility had been given a regulator that was too small, while a neighboring building had been given one that was too large. Whenever the neighbor’s gas usage increased, it would pull gas pressure away from Merch Drop’s line, starving the dryer.
Once the regulators were corrected, the Sahara performed exactly as designed.
Jacob later reflected on the experience:
“ROQ service really stood behind the equipment. They kept coming out and troubleshooting until we figured out what was going on. In the end it wasn’t the dryer at all—it was the gas supply. Once that was fixed, the Sahara has been ROQ solid.”
The Future of Merch Drop
Today, Merch Drop is positioned for serious growth. With the power of the ROQ NEXT XL and ROQ Sahara Dryer, the shop can now deliver:
High color-count prints
Oversized graphics
Faster turnaround times
Higher volume production
And in the world of band merchandise, that combination is powerful. Jacob’s journey is a perfect example of how passion can evolve into a business—moving from touring stages to running a modern print facility.
Jacob still likes to go into his manual shop stuck in time and reflect back on how far he has come! From one kind of ROCK to another, we’re excited to see where Merch Drop and their ROQ-powered shop go next.
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