Made Together - Screen Printing NW + Byland Music

Made Together is our monthly spotlight on the incredible clients we collaborate with, and the custom projects we create to help bring their brands to life. Every project tells a story, and we’re proud to share how these partnerships turn ideas into something tangible and impactful beyond the print.

FEELING OUT THE MUSIC KEY BY KEY

The story of Byland Music begins on the piano bench of seven-year-old Alie’s piano teacher—someone who, by all accounts, looked and behaved a lot like Ms. Frizzle.

“Alie,” she asked gently, “how are you feeling today?”

Alie beamed back at her. Her mom had scraped together money from the grocery budget to pay for this lesson, and Alie felt nothing but joy.

“Happy!” she replied.

“I want you to find one note on the piano that makes you feel that same emotion,” her teacher instructed.

Alie pressed down tentatively on an E-flat.

“Okay,” the teacher continued, “now let’s find another key. We’re going to write a story using the sounds of the piano to represent how you feel.”

That day, Alie Byland learned to think of music as emotion first. Music theory, sight-reading, and structure would come later, but her earliest understanding of music was rooted in feeling, storytelling, and communication. Even now, she recalls that moment as the foundation of everything she creates.

Fast forward to 2026, and Alie—now the force behind Byland Music—has recorded and promoted her latest 2024 album Heavy For A While, alongside a collection of singles and EPs. She’s toured with her four-piece band, opened for Deep Sea Diver across both coasts, and experienced the surreal moment of spotting fans in the crowd wearing her merch and singing along to her songs.

WRITING STORIES IN TIME AND SOUND

Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Alie moved to Seattle at 18 to attend Bible college. She marks the true beginning of her music career with a DIY record created together with her then-partner and future band manager, giving shape to what would become Byland Music, coined after her married last name. The record memorialized her father in song, who had passed away when Alie was 20 years old.

Through every high and low, music has remained the one constant in her life. It has always been there for her.

Heavy For A While was built alongside a stellar creative team, most notably producer Nathan Yaccino. He encouraged Alie to explore unconventional time signatures, embrace the “mathiness” of music, and chase after the weird. Much like that first piano lesson at age seven, the album centers on storytelling through emotion: vulnerable moments, meaningful shifts in time, and the freedom to explore ideas that genuinely surprise her listeners. The result is a cinematic, indie-rock sound that invites people to lean in and feel it all with her.

WHERE MUSIC MEETS MERCH

Screen Printing Northwest entered the picture in 2021, when Alie was living in Everett and searching for a reliable local printer. What first stood out was proximity—we were within walking distance of her home in the heart of the city—but what kept her coming back was the people.

She loved that we were a team of “actual human beings,” willing to work with her timelines and budgets, and treating her like a valued partner rather than just another transaction.

“Merch is the most incredible way to make money these days,” Alie notes, especially at a time when artists earn only cents on the dollar through streaming platforms, while the cost of recording an album can reach thousands out of pocket.

“Having a local business like Screen Printing Northwest that really works with you—making it possible to get high-quality merch printed quickly and at a good rate—is a key part of me being able to continue my music career.”

To support the release of Heavy For A While, we printed an album shirt designed to visually represent each track through symbolic imagery. The artwork, curated by artist Andrew Martinez and inspired by the band mewithoutYou, mirrors the album’s emotional depth and storytelling focus.

Another fan-favorite design features Alie’s late cat, Whiskey. A deeply meaningful figure in her life, Whiskey ultimately became the final push that brought Alie back to Seattle from Albuquerque in 2022, after she struggled with a restrictive landlord situation. Seeing his face memorialized on a band tee can still be emotional, but for Alie, it’s also a way of keeping him alive.

“It’s so rewarding to see people wear my name around, or something that’s so special to me, like my cat’s face,” Alie adds. “I pour my heart out into my records, and it really means something when people care enough about the music to buy merch.”

MORE MERCH, MORE POSSIBILITIES

So what’s next for the Byland Music x Screen Printing Northwest collaboration?

Alie is interested in bringing her album bandanas, currently produced out of state, back to local printing. She’s also exploring merch concepts for her recent single “Two Circles,” which features an iconic set of wind-up chattering teeth. Ideas range from embroidered hats to printed underwear, and she’s especially excited about pushing creative boundaries with the latter.

As always, the goal is the same: thoughtful design and storytelling, and merch that feels as personal as the music itself.