This short column is about our attempts to encourage more
local bands to form.
13 shows on, A Public Dis-Service Announcement is still two blokes booking the occasional band just to make sure
that there’s something coming up that we’re stoked about. Not that we only
paddle in our own pool; there’s other stuff going on that we occasionally show
our faces at if life in the end times doesn’t get in the way. But
fundamentally, this remains about us trying to put on shows we want to see and
we hope you get something out of.
But there remains a boring
caveat to that. In life there are endless decisions to be made. In acting on
those choices, there are always ways of thinking that are inadvertently
promoted. Sometimes that choice is between a pint of piss or a shit sandwich
and it is what it is when it comes down to it. Sometimes we just take the easy
option because we are working too hard/are skint/the self-service isle at
Sainsbury’s is quicker. Sometimes the values in those decisions are so taken
for granted that we don’t notice them and that’s when things get a bit scary.
Sometimes it’s worth pausing to ask: “What and how am I contributing to here?
Can I do better?”
When we book DIY shows,
we’re forced to make choices that affect the sort of scene we’re hoping to
contribute to. We’ve already written about this regarding mixed bills and it’s similar with
encouraging people to form bands. We can try to curate a space where people are
spectators who turn up, drink beer and watch strangers make a pleasantly
unpleasant racket. Or we can try to curate a space where people are participants
who turn up, drink beer and support their mates making a pleasantly unpleasant
racket before occasionally swapping places. We strongly believe that a healthy
scene is participatory, not transactional. Being a DIY hardcore punk
collective, we’re proudly non-profit and we’re always trying to move beyond
just selling the occasional evening out for people in vegan Doc Martens.
The pin badges we are gave
away at THE DOMESTICS show and are
passing out at the ROPE/NO PULSE/SANS show (22nd September, Shooting Star as per usual) are an
experiment to see if we can help encourage this second state of affairs. This
seems to us a core part of having a vibrant hardcore punk scene. Particularly in
the early to mid 2000’s, Southampton had a sizable number of DIY bands were
good enough to play out of town and who made some half decent recordings. It felt like most people
contributed something* and there was more going on and more of a sense of
shared ownership and more to be excited about because of it. We aren’t arguing
for nostalgia** or that we should try to recreate 2003. That’s a dead end. But
being aware of the best bits of our history isn’t when we use it as a way to
remember what’s possible when we work together.
All organising is
theory. Armed with background information of dubious quality, someone comes up
with an idea for how to make something desirable happen. However, there are
always plenty of factors that can’t be accounted for. There are always things
that can’t be known. So organising is also always a case of hoping for the
best. We’ll probably just look like patronising assholes and waste our money.
But what we’re hoping for is that the badges that say “Let’s start a punk band
together” lead to one or two conversations that might not happen otherwise. If
that turns into another local DIY band that’s half way listenable***,
than that’s a result. We would all do well to remember that DIY punk is not a spectator sport. Go out there and create your
own culture.
Badge Design
The black and white image above is the design that we
used to make the badges. We’re posting it up here under a CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License in case you want to take this idea and run with it in your
town as well.
The S.T.E. Collective
"S.T.E. Core Values: The S.T.E. (Southampton, Totton
& Eastleigh) Collective was involved in putting on regular punk/hardcore
gigs in the Southampton area from summer 1988 through to the end
of 2002. Since then there have been several more S.T.E. gigs and Rich and
Geraldine and others continued under the Almost The S.T.E. banner. It
was always a non-profit making & non-hierarchical collective made up
people like you and we only worked with bands/individuals we feel some sort of
affinity with - no contracts, guarantees, major label bands or business
bullshit. We don't all hold the exact same views on everything but share a
common bond - those time-honored principles of trust, honesty & a
sense of community. Above all, we love punk rock and the emphasis was always
on the gigs being fun (we aimed to ensure these took place in an environment free from violence, racism, sexism and homophobia) & on communication (hence this Bulletin!) Whilst many of the S.T.E. participants are scattered around the globe,
we still adhere to & promote these ideals/ethics..." - Reproduced from
the August 2019 S.T.E. Bulletin.
This column first appeared in a slightly different format in the August 2019 STE Bulletin zine. A Public Disservice Annoucement is distinct from the S.T.E. Collective but we have a lot in common and were very pleased to contribute to what is a great resource.
The STE Collective
have their own Facebook Page where they regularly share old flyers that remind
us of what sort of things are possible when people get their shit together.
They’re booking a one day festival at the Joiners in Feb 2020 featuring DANGER
MAN, TARGET OF DEMAND, LUCKY MALICE and more. You should probably go.
There are flyers for
more famous bands like NOFX, ALL, SAMIAM etc posted on the STE Page wall. But
fuck it, VERBAL ASSAULT are better than whatever you are
listening to right now and you’ve probably not heard it so we’re sharing this
flyer instead.
* Disclaimer: Not
everyone was in a band obviously. Lots of people made zines, booked shows, fed
people, took photos, ran labels, sold records, shot film footage, did the sound,
heckled everyone to the absolute shit and/or were generally helpful to those
who did these things (all of which are of course awesome and fully encouraged).
** Disclaimer: We are 50%
going to see both JUDGE and YOUTH OF TODAY.
*** Disclaimer: Let’s
keep the ska revival revival a bad Hard Times joke.
