Don’t Worry, Buddy Guy. The Blues Ain’t Dead.

06-Aug-2015 By Shannon Duvall Leave a Comment

Buddy Guy is worried about the blues. The legendary blues guitarist and singer recently sat down with NPR Music and told of his fears that the genre – so deeply entrenched in not just the American, but the international music scene – would die out before too long. Spooked by a conversation with musical peer Muddy Waters, shortly before Waters’ death, Guy says he’s made it his personal mission to ensure blues remains important to future generations of musicians and listeners.

Dwindling live audiences and a shift to more electronic sounds in pop music have been cited by older blues musicians and fans alike as the “downfall” of the sound. But a little research turns up blues’ massive influence across the modern musical spectrum – from rock and folk, to soul and hip hop, and beyond. Simply put, the blues ain’t dead. Here are fifteen examples of artists keeping the train a-rollin’. Hit play on the playlist below and get the scoop while you listen.

https://play.spotify.com/user/shanimald/playlist/1Rqw1KLk6lhI0tOMDCeOmL

The Soul Crossovers

Leon Bridges

http://www.leonbridges.com/

Bridges’ debut album Coming Home was released in June 2015. Hailing from Fort Worth, TX (and many would agree, it almost seems, another era entirely), his performances (in which he dons exclusively vintage clothing) have been likened to great soul and blues legends such as Sam Cooke. And if that’s not bluesy enough for you, here’s this: the first song he ever wrote, “Lisa Sawyer”, was about his mother’s baptism. In a river.

St. Paul & the Broken Bones

http://stpaulandthebrokenbones.com/

A seven-piece band out of Birmingham, AL, complete with a crazy tight brass section, St. Paul & the Broken Bones are often classified as Southern Soul. There’s no denying the blues element here, though, strongly heard in member Browan Lollar’s lo-fi guitar sounds and raw, humid vocals. The band are signed to Single Lock Records, a label based in the blues-rich Shoals region of Alabama. They gave the label their first Billboard 200 entry with “Half The City” in 2014.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

http://www.blackjoelewis.com/

Black Joe Lewis mixes the blues with old school soul.

Now performing as simply Black Joe Lewis, this band has been making bluesy waves out of Austin, TX (a city that has long been a hotbed for the blues) since 2007. Inspired by blues linchpin Howlin’ Wolf, with soul inspiration from Wilson Pickett and the funk sparks of James Brown, Black Joe Lewis’ guitar sound is vintage and moody, just as the best blues should be. Currently touring the US and Canada.

The Purists

Jack White

http://jackwhiteiii.com/

Perhaps obvious, but not to be overlooked, the popular and prolific White has been finding ways to sneak the blues into every musical project, from the White Stripes punk-blues, to the Raconteurs psychedelic version, to his country-blues collabs with superstar Loretta Lynn (which helped revive Lynn’s career). Some of the musician’s earliest influences – Son House and Blind Willie McTell – are clear throughout the body of his work, but come through strongest on his own, unfiltered solo albums.

Dan Auerbach

http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/dan-auerbach

Another famous band refugee, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys fame (a band also featured on this list) is a blues powerhouse in contemporary music. After the large-scale success of the Black Keys over several years, Auerbach built his own studio in Akron, OH, to focus on his own pure expression of blues-influenced sounds. His debut solo album, Keep It Hid, was released by Nonesuch Records in 2009.

Gary Clark, Jr

http://www.garyclarkjr.com/gcjsosbs

Blue to the bone: Gary Clark, Jr.

Another Austinite to make it onto the list, the 31-year-old guitar player, singer, writer, and arranger has been widely lauded as one of the great blues artists of the new generation. After learning to play at age 12, Clark became a regular feature at Antone’s, Austin’s chief blues club, and from there went on to gain serious momentum on the international scene. Eric Clapton himself hand selected the musician for the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010. His latest album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, is now available on preorder.

The Rockers

The Black Keys

http://www.theblackkeys.com/

With no introduction needed, The Black Keys are perhaps one of the most influential blues-rock outfits on the scene today. Originally happy to self-produce their records in basements and the like, the duo’s sound emerged raw, taking the radio by storm and ushering in a new wave of interest in the genre. Influenced cited include Junior Kimbrough, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson.

The Heavy

http://theheavy.co.uk/

Their first album was released in 2007 after members bonded over Jim Jarmusch films, and much like their artistic preferences, this garage-blues band’s sound is eclectic and sample-loving, with homages to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and others on key tracks like “Sixteen”.

The Irish

Hozier

http://hozier.com/

Who doesn’t love a bitta Hozier?

It’s not only found in the USA, you know. American blues sounds share quite a few similarities with Irish trad music, and the genre has long been loved across the sea. The music of darling-come-lately Hozier is a forceful example of how the blues are shaping sounds abroad. His first band at age 15 included blues persuasions, natural, perhaps, for the son of a Bray blues musician. The viral “Take Me To Church” has received international acclaim, and at 25 years old, he’s gaining momentum fast.

Davy Knowles

http://davy-knowles.squarespace.com/about/

The hotly-tipped 28-year old musician from the Isle of Man has been teaching himself to play the blues from a young age. His original blues-rock band Back Door Slam was formed in 2003, with sounds shaped by prior generation luminaries like Rory Gallgher and Eric Clapton. In 2014, Davy was selected to serve as the Isle of Man’s official Cultural Ambassador for “…Island of Culture 2014, the biggest cultural celebration in the country’s history.” His sound tends toward the pure end of the blues spectrum, a true tip of the hat to a special musical breed.

(*Note: The Isle of Man is not actually part of the Republic of Ireland, but is located in the Irish Sea, midway between Ireland and England. It is a self-governing Crown dependency.)

The Unsigned

Castle Creek

http://www.castlecreekband.com/

Blues in New York: Castle Creek.

One of our favorites, we recently had the pleasure of hosting Castle Creek at this year’s youbloomDublin 2015 Music Festival & Conference. We also had the chance to talk with them a little about their musical background, which featured in youbloom: HEADROOM #4. These ambitious New Yorkers incorporate the blues into their unique sound with panache.

The Contemporary Barnshakers

J Roddy Walston & The Business

http://jroddywalstonandthebusiness.com/

Uh…sir? You’re on in five. Sir?

Originally from Tennessee, with live shows which “make James Brown look lazy” (Baltimore City Paper), these guys take the blues to the its most rowdy, scrappy, and danceable. Quite the sensation, they can currently be found touring all over the eastern United States.

Cage The Elephant

http://www.cagetheelephant.com/

A band from Kentucky whose first success was in England (hey, the Brits have a real fondness for the blues; just look at the Rolling Stones!), these four young guys toured for nearly five years off the back of their self-titled debut, released to critical acclaim.

The Bleeding Hearts

Goodnight, Texas

http://www.hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com/about-us

Self-described as “American in every sense of the word”, Goodnight, Texas write songs reminiscent of a time when the blues were vital and necessary, and the back of a boxcar was the perfect place to sing them. Named after the geographic midpoint between members hometowns in San Francisco and North Carolina, they feature chugging, steady rhythms and plaintive, nostalgic lyrics which call to the dark, sentimentalism of your escapist daydreams.

Delta Spirit

http://deltaspirit.net/

A feature on the American music scene since 2005, Delta Spirit have a lot of work under their belt. History From Below, the follow-up to their warmly reviewed debut EP, featured collabs with blues lover Bo Koster of My Morning Jacket, as well as bass player & producer Elijah Thomson. Their latest release was 2014’s Into The Wide, and they are currently on tour in the northeastern United States.

What do you think? Know a modern blues band people should be grooving to? Let us know in the comments below.

youbloom artist spotlight: James Houlahan

03-Aug-2015 By Amy Van Daele Leave a Comment

Pull up a chair and kick back with us as we chat with youbloom artist James Houlahan about his new album, Multitudes, which is set to release this October.

“I aim to release the new album in October of this year, and I launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance the release of the album. Hopefully there will be enough support for a vinyl release. I’d really love to present my music to the world in that format. But we’ll see how it goes…”

Can you tell me more about Multitudes and how it compares to the two previous albums?

“My first album Seven Years Now contains mostly songs that reflect personal experiences. And the second album “misfit hymns” contains songs about characters, some of which were fictional and some who were real, like Janis Joplin. For some reason, I thought there needed to be a line drawn there. Between the personal and the fictional/imagined. But the more I write, the more these two elements are blending together. To the point where I no longer care what is actually true in a historical sense (e.g., whether something actually happened to me personally or not). I find myself getting lost in the stories of other people, of experiences I can only imagine, of dreams where I’m not sure where reality begins and ends…and I’m inextricably bound up within these songs to the point where I’m no longer interested in how they relate to me, personally. I hope that makes sense! In short, I don’t really know who I am anymore, and I absolutely love it.

“I wasn’t sure how to choose songs for the new album until I remembered the lines from Walt Whitman: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” And those lines made perfect sense to me (as well as provided me the album title!) So the new album has songs that combine the personal with the fictional in this multitudinous way. It’s also a little darker, a little more rock than the other two. There’s much less acoustic guitar, and there’s a lot of drum sounds! I was really interested in pursuing multiple textures of percussion. I’ve gotten much better at singing too, but I’ve still got a long way to go there. Anyway, there’s lots of differences, but I think it’s all for the best.”

What does your creative process look like when writing songs/recording an album?

“I tend to hear completed songs in my head. Like from a radio somewhere… Often the signal is not coming in perfectly, and I only get fragments. Sometimes I’ll write those down and work them later into a more complete shape. But the best songs tend to hit me all at once. Usually the chorus first, if I’m lucky. (Choruses are harder to write than verses). Sometimes they just appear in my head at the worst times, like when I’m driving on a crowded freeway or in line at the supermarket. But thankfully my iPhone is usually handy and I record them as voice memos. I find that the songs I end up recording more formally, in the studio, are generally the most insistent. Their presence in my inner ear is not to be denied. If all songs are like children, then the ones I record on an album are those that are crying loudest for my attention.

“When it comes to recording, I want to bring in other musicians and let them get inspired. I do tend to offer some guidance here and there, but I think what we’re really searching for is to capture a moment of magic. Something that sounds both spontaneous and composed at the same time. Lightning in a bottle. It’s really hard to set up the environment in which that happens, but it helps to keep an open mind. And to surround yourself with very talented players who can see your ideas and take them even further than you imagined. It’s good to have a plan or a map, but then be prepared to throw away that map when you no longer need it.”

What is it like to be in the studio with you?

“It’s like we are hunting something, searching for something, everyone together. It’s dark, and we’re not really sure where we’re going. But we’ve been hunting before and we know what it’s like to pick up the scent of something worth pursuing. But sometimes things get really weird and we’re not sure anymore that we are the ones doing the hunting. Maybe after all, we are the ones being pursued! Ha ha… But really, it’s a kind of strange blend of craft and magic, being in the studio. All of your past experience bubbles right back to the surface. But at the same time, it’s challenging and even a little disconcerting. Overall though, I love being in the studio, chasing those sounds. If I have ever experienced anything like a true sense of belonging in this world, it has been during moments in the studio. I know that might sound grand and mystical, but to me it’s just plain fact. I just love making music!”

How long did the album take to create and record? Tell us a bit more about that as well.

“I was writing and planning the record ever since I moved to L.A. from Boston about three years ago. Some of the first few songs actually appeared to me on the trip across the U.S., so it’s been in the works for a while. But late last year (November), I went in to Veneto West studio in Santa Monica with producer Ronan Chris Murphy. We brought in the amazingly talented Mike Gattshall on drums (The Letters Home, Rivermaker, Hot Sauce Holiday) and the musical maven Fernando Perdomo (Dreaming in Stereo, Linda Perhacs, The Dirty Diamond) on bass. We cranked out a bunch of basic tracks and started there. Due to the difficulties of my schedule and the others involved, we had to space out the tracking over many months. We ended up bringing in a whole bunch of other great players like Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, K.D. Lang) on percussion, Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin, and Danny Levin on horns. But now we’re in the mixing process and I hope to have it mastered before September.”

What advice can you give to emerging artists beginning the process of recording an album? What have you picked up along the way through your experience?

“Whether you’re making a whole album, or just recording a few tunes, I think the most important thing is to have good songs. I ended up not attempting a debut album until several years after I had started writing and performing, and I think that made the eventual album a better collection of songs. I was able to kinda process and discard a lot of material along the way…basically I had to write maybe 10 bad songs to get one good one! And then I grew loyal to those tunes and played them for people as much as I could. So I think it’s good to get the songs out there and get audience’s feedback.

“The other thing I would say is that, regardless of budget, it really helps to know how you want the music to sound in terms of production. If you don’t know, then just keep it simple. And be careful with who you work with in terms of engineers, producers, etc. It needs to be a good creative collaboration. When that relationship is not well developed, the music can suffer badly. Where, at the end, one is dissatisfied with all the artistic choices made along the way…it really pays off when you’re working with people who inspire you and who you can trust. Did you ever hear how Leonard Cohen got locked out of the studio during “Death of a Ladies’ Man” by crazed producer Phil Spector? They could not agree on anything and Spector started threatening Cohen with a gun. Eventually, Cohen was shut out of the production of his own album. Yeah, that’s an extreme case, but it highlights the need for that relationship to be productive. Having the right people around you is crucially important.”

Check out some of James’s tunes: “New World Blues” and
“The Party Goes On”

Learn more about James, listen to his music, and see his gig schedule on his official website. Any of his prior albums can be purchased here.

Streaming Services, Good or Bad for Indie Music

03-Aug-2015 By Guest Blogger Leave a Comment

The recent launch of Apple Music has brought a clearer image of the streaming music market. While the money keeps flowing and new subscribers tune in every day, how does this affect the indie artist?

The continued rise of streaming music is just the beginning of a transition into a digital-only market. Numbers are up all around for providers and listeners, creating an attractive outlook for the future of the music industry. But does this mean that you should sacrifice your soul and talent for streaming services? Of course not. They are undeniably large money machines, but artists only see a tiny fraction of these sales actually make it to their pockets. The traditional way of focusing on live performances and merchandise sales remains the best way to earn revenue.

Bringing up discussion about revenue is something that isn’t easy for artists, as general artist income and royalty payments have dropped off considerably over the past few years. This drop-off is due in large part to a significant reduction in physical albums being sold (i.e. illegal downloads). Royalty payments from streaming services are also quite small, with recent numbers for Spotify hovering around $.007 per song played.

Now, you probably have heard that artists like Neil Young and Prince have come out and complained about, and even elected to remove their offerings from streaming services. Superstar Taylor Swift has recently threatened to remove her latest album, 1989, from Apple Music completely over questions surrounding royalty payments. Apple Music is notably also facing an FTC probe itself into whether it violated antitrust laws in their practice of charging 30% extra for subscriptions through the Apple Store.
But how can we compare the likes of Neil Young, Prince and Taylor Swift to less-mainstream indie artists? These millionaire artists have already collected their fortunes and can afford to threaten streaming services by pulling their catalog but is this notion a reality for indie musicians as well?

Simply put, no.
First, an aspiring indie artist is already going to have a mountain to climb when it comes to selling music and gathering followers, something that services such as Apple and Spotify can make somewhat easier. Second, it is easy to blame streaming services for not giving more back to artists when a case could be made that it is the major labels who are to blame for such small payments. These major labels take a large part of Spotify shares due to various financial agreements that are only beneficial to themselves. Mainly, major labels use streaming services like a shield from artists who complain about streaming while taking a significant percentage of payments.
In this digital age, all artists have to make the right decisions when it comes to streaming. As an indie artist, the added exposure and simplicity “should” trump those checks in the mail. Keep touring and selling t-shirts at concerts because those remain the best way to make money.

Of course every artist is going to have a different experience with streaming. Do you have any good or bad experiences with streaming services? Let us know in the comments below!

Post by Thomas Ujj.
An expat/traveler and IT enthusiast with a passion for security and privacy. When he isn’t planning his next trip, he likes to take the time to practice his Italian cooking as well as religiously watching Italian football team AS Roma. Unfortunately, cooking and watching football games doesn’t always equal paychecks, so he writes for SmartDNS.com as well.

A Man Without Measure: youbloom Bids Farewell to Drum Pioneer Vic Firth (1930-2015)

30-Jul-2015 By Shannon Duvall Leave a Comment

Here at youbloom, we pride ourselves on giving good advice. As musicians and creatives who love the independent ethic, we like to draw from whatever experiences we have – be they salty and extensive or brief, yet fresh – and share them with you so that all angles of this music business madness are explored and unpacked as thoroughly as we can manage. The result of our musings, we hope, is as thorough and transparent an advantage as possible, for you, the unsigned artist.

But just as often as we communicate, we have to listen. And sometimes, we simply have to stop talking altogether. Today is one of those days.

Today we have no advice, only respects to pay to a man who dedicated his life to the pursuit of the impeccable: Mr. Vic Firth.

Mr. Firth, famed, longstanding member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, teacher, and drumstick company heavyweight, passed away on Sunday.

Born Everett Joseph Firth, on June 2, 1930, in Winchester, Massachusetts, to parents Rosemary and Everett E. (himself a noteworthy trumpet and cornet player), “Vic” started learning to play the cornet himself at the very young age of four. Later, the adolescent Everett became interested in several other instruments, beginning lessons in piano, trombone, clarinet, and, perhaps most fortuitously, percussion. During this time, he also began studying and learning to write musical arrangement, and by the time he was a high-schooler, Firth was known in his hometown of Sanford, Maine, as a full-time percussionist.

By the age of fifteen, he had formed his own twelve-man band, and settled on the stage name of Vic Firth, which, he once laughingly recounted in an interview with Modern Drummer magazine, sounded less like a “…skin disease” than the name Everett.

Vic Firth in later years. Photo credit: paulauger.com

Everett “Vic” Firth. Photo credit: paulauger.com

He took regular trips to Boston – a six hour drive away – to take snare drum lessons from George Lawrence Stone, as well as lessons in keyboard percussion from a man named Larry White, who would eventually convince Vic to attend college at Boston’s New England Conservatory, where Firth would earn both a Bachelor’s degree and an Honorary Doctorate in Music. He also made frequent trips to New York City to study timpani with Saul Goodman, and spent a summer in college at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts (where the Boston Symphony Orchestra spend their summers), the result of a scholarship award.

Having entered college as a Music Education major, Vic developed an enthusiasm for teaching, and started the NEC’s first preparatory department. Later, he would become head of the percussion department, leading it for over forty years, and influencing countless students in their musical studies, among them such distinguished musicians as John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff, and prolific jazzist Harvey Mason.

Firth became the youngest member at the time of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1952, auditioning as a percussionist at the age of 21, while still in college at the NEC. He spent the first four years jumping at every opportunity, moving quickly through the ranks from percussion to timpani, then on to roles as associate principal, assistant principal, and subsequently, principal timpanist. He would hold this position for the remainder of his 50 years with the Orchestra.

In his time with the BSO, Mr. Firth performed with such notable players as Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, and Seiji Ozawa.

Firth at work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Photo credit: Milton Feinberg/Courtesy of the Boston Symphony

A passionate pursuer of the very best in terms of musicianship, and, more specifically, sound, Vic turned his focus on his musical implements. Finding the commonly used drumsticks and mallets of inferior manufacturing quality, Firth began whittling his first homemade sticks in his garage and sharing them with fellow percussionists. Word spread of the sticks’ durability and wide range of functions, and by 1963, Vic Firth, Inc., perhaps his most enduring legacy, was established.

Through Vic Firth, Inc., Mr. Firth’s channeled his innovation and business savvy, which focused on setting the standard for drumstick quality, becoming indispensable in the world of drummers from every discipline.

Though we take many of the advancements today for granted, it was Firth’s insight and relentless perfectionism which drove such crucial improvements in stick design as pitch-pairing, weight-sorting, and centerless grindin g to achieve a smoother stick surface. Currently at the height of their production, Vic Firth, Inc. (now the Vic Firth Company) makes around 12 million sticks annually. “The Perfect Pair” is today a trusted emblem of superior work in the drum realm.

Vic Firth sticks, loved by many. Photo credit: ArunBli

In 1995, Vic Firth was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame, and in 2002, retired from the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

“I believe he was the single greatest percussionist anywhere in the world,” said composer Seiji Ozawa of Firth. “Every performance that Vic gave was informed with incredible musicianship, elegance and impeccable timing.”

Craigie Zildjian, CEO of Avedis Zildjian, world-famous cymbal manufacturer (merged with the Vic Firth Company since 2010), agrees.

“Vic was a visionary in the music industry who was revered by all of us,” he said. “Never one to accept the status quo, Vic blazed trails throughout the drum world.”

Mr Firth died at his home in Boston. He was 85 years old.

All hail.

The Top 5 Ways to Build a Better DIY Music Scene According to “Salad Days”

26-Jul-2015 By Shannon Duvall 3 Comments

It’s not so much the unpaid gigs. That you can handle – for now, at least.

It’s more the lack of sustained recognition; the very real blood, sweat and tears channeled into creating and sharing your music, only to receive enthusiastic responses in fits and starts. Those silent pockets of time between gigs make you want to put your mic stand through the computer screen.

The struggle is real. Photo of The Faith by Jim Saah.

You know your music is good, your audience knows it’s good, but how on earth do you get – and keep – the kind of momentum you need to make this what you do for a living?

It’s no secret that a lot of people in your local music scene are distracted. Last year’s music report by information measurement bastion Nielsen showed that, despite access to unlimited sources of new music online, the radio is still the source of the majority of new music discovered by Americans.

It’s as if fans still want the industry to do the legwork for them, telling them who’s worth listening to and going to see live. And research shows little likelihood of this trend slowing.

It’s a result of what has been dubbed “the tyranny of choice”. Simply put, with so many options out there, it’s easier and less risky for listeners to follow and spend money on artists who they perceive to have already proven their popularity. And all a record label has to do to make you perceive an artist in this way is to spend millions of dollars on PR and marketing campaigns, along with relentless radio play – money and resources up-and-coming musicians simply don’t have.

The truth hurts. Minor Threat. Photo by Jim Saah.

Still, music scenes survive – even thrive – on their own, far from the bank accounts of corporate music institutions. Often, it’s these scenes, organically grown and self-sustaining, that catch the attention of label scouts, leading to the discovery of a wealth of musical talent. Think CBGB-era New York, or the grunge scene of 1990’s Seattle, which exploded into a pop culture force majeure.

Salad Days, A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC, is a documentary chronicling one of the most influential DIY music scenes in American history.

It’s a rousing, thorough journey through the hearts and minds of musicians in 1980’s Washington, DC, who, without support from major – or sometimes even minor – labels, set out to take control of their own exposure, making and distributing their own records, creating their own record labels, putting on their own gigs in any spaces they could, and self-promoting by way of independently made ‘zines, posters, and mail order setups.

Without directly preaching, the film has a lot to say about how you can (and really should!) build, strengthen, and work to sustain the music scene in your own town.

Embrace everyone. The next generation of music heroes are going to be inspired by what’s going on right now, so you want them in your audience.

Consider the power of all-ages shows.

These can be held in outdoor spaces or school gyms, auditoriums, or rec centers. If you’re playing at a bar or in an establishment which serves alcohol, talk with the owner or booking manager beforehand to find out what they’re willing to allow. Often, the solution to letting underage fans into bars and clubs is as simple as marking their hands with visible X’s, so that bar staff know not to serve them alcohol.

Play music because you want to. After this, your reasons for strumming that guitar or writing those lyrics are your own. There are no rules, and no forms to fill out. Every reason for playing is a valid one, even if all you want to do it is to try it out for the laugh. If you have a message, by all means, share it. If you don’t, don’t feel pressure to come up with one for the sake of it. Don’t let anyone stop you or make you feel like you should explain yourself. Just show up and play.

I don’t know what it is but I like it. Photo by Jim Saah.

Play music for each other (and support others who do) because it’s inherently human. Western culture has somehow managed to appropriate music as the specialty profession of a select few, which, in other parts of the world, is crazy, because in most other societies, making music is something everyone does. Don’t fall for the hype. You’ve got a right to play. Encouraging others to do the same leads to a super creative DIY music scene you’ll be proud to call your own.

Hook each other up. Maintaining a strong, convicted community is the only way this works. Whatever your skill or skill level, get involved.

Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson of Minor Threat, hard at work in the front porch/Dischord Records office.

Offer up any resources you might have. Got a car? Offer to drive bands to and from gigs. An empty space can be a spot for bands to play shows or hold practices. Have access to a printer or photocopier? Help make posters, album covers, and ‘zines.

Share your talents and skills. Everyone has something they can contribute. Write reviews. Take photos and let the zine guy use them. Draw some sweet cover art or cut and paste a rad collage for a poster. If you’re good at talking to people, offer to answer phones for small labels. Give bands crazy haircuts. The options are literally endless.

And, hey, while you’re at it, promote equality. Everyone should have a shot and a say.

Get off your butt. At the end of the day, none of the talent and support matters without a motivated, no-nonsense approach to getting things done.

A strong DIY music community is one where bands and fans come together, show up to each others’ gigs and events, and stay active. That means not waiting around for something to happen. No one will release your record? Do it yourself. Remember that just by doing stuff, you’re contributing to the history and substance of the DIY scene in your time and place, as well as the formation of new, exciting music to come.
And don’t wait for tomorrow. Mark Andersen (founder of Positive Force, an activist group that was instrumental in organizing music and social events within the DC scene) agrees. “(The time) is always now,” he insists. “So go. Make it real. NOW.”

Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat has a moment. Photo by Jim Saah.

Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat soaks in the moment. Photo by Jim Saah.