Screenprinting, Gigging, and Selling Blood

As someone who was jobless and on the road for five years straight, Kirk Huffman, charismatic frontman for local giganta-band Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground, didn't have a stacked résumé to rely on in order to pay the bills. "When (my old band) dissipated and I got married last year, I didn't really know what to do with myself," Huffman says of his search for direction. It didn't take him long to find one. With experience designing his own band's and tourmates' merch, Huffman started Bombs Over Bellevue, a screenprinting company/record label, with some of his own savings and a never-used college fund his dad had given him. His company's space (behind Pretty Parlor on Capitol Hill) is small but gets the job done. From the headquarters, they print and ship everything from CDs to limited-edition hand-screened posters for Kay Kay and other clients like Portugal the Man and Doomhawk. Some days are better than others at the shop: They might receive zero new orders one day and bucketloads the next, which is what happened the morning after Kay Kay's appearance on Last Call With Carson Daly. Huffman also admits he's got a couple of other tricks up his sleeve to supplement the cash flow: "Other than selling blood, I work a couple days flipping hash browns and flapjacks in a greasy-spoon kitchen."

Day Job is a look at how musicians pay the rent.