For a certain generation of Birmingham residents, Cave9 was something not unlike a church. For six years, the nonprofit served as an all-ages venue for young people to get together and not only listen to music, but also have their first opportunities to perform for an audience. In a city with a music scene contained almost entirely within the confines of bars toting 18 to 21 and over age admittances, Cave9 played a unique and crucial role in fostering the current cultural renaissance happening throughout Birmingham entire.
It’s because of a place like Cave9 (which went defunct in 2009) that Hayley Grimes, Wess Gregg and Katie Dunne were able to meet and form a lasting friendship that years later would bring them together to create DIY Birmingham, an online fanzine cataloguing much of the independent music and various other Do It Yourself activities happening throughout the city. This nonprofit service is a labor of love for the three of them — not just for music, but for their city — as all three perform their duties for the site alongside their various day jobs.
But their commitment hasn’t gone unnoticed. On July 13, the staff members, along with a large number of thankful supporters from the community, came out to the Firehouse — another DIY venue currently in operation — to celebrate the website’s third anniversary. Along with music and food, the staff also held a raffle with all proceeds going to the continued growth of the website as one of the most important resources for keeping in the know when it comes to the city’s independent music scene.
“We want to make it as accessible as possible,” says 27-year old Hayley Grimes, the main editor of the website and its other successive forms in various social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. “So there’s no excuse for you to not know what’s going on in Birmingham.”
And that’s exactly what the website does — revolving around an easily navigable calendar, DIY Birmingham offers up-to-the minute information on upcoming shows on a monthly basis. There are also links to every band’s website so that any user can find out as much information about the show as possible. But the website doesn’t solely champion music — there are various links for local charitable organizations, such as the weekly Food Not Bombs free food drives.
The idea for the site was, in a lot of ways, Grime’s brainchild. In 2010 while on a trip to Chicago, she came across a fanzine (a fan-made magazine) focusing on how to make your own show calendar. This would inspire her to create her own calendar once she returned to Birmingham.
“I would complain — or hear other people complain — that the music scene sucked. People don’t come out to shows,” Grimes says. “If I was to feel that way then all I can do is promote shows.”
The Do It Yourself ethos is essential within independent art scenes. It’s this lack of reliance on corporate entities that allowed places like Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles to develop their own particular and influential creative hubs in the 1980s. Everything depended on young people taking matters into their own hands: promoting shows, recording music, and of course writing about it all through fanzines. In its purest form, DIY is not merely about giving bands a chance to play for an audience, but also the means in which a community can actively participate in the process as well.
“It’s almost selfish,” admits Wess Gregg, who even before joining up with the website had been promoting and booking shows for several years himself. “I want to be part of a music scene that is thriving. Instead of just twiddling my thumbs, I do my best to make it happen.”
DIY Birmingham started out as a physical calendar photocopied in large quantities and hung up all over town. Grimes soon found this method lacking in keeping pace with casually occurring last-minute show announcements or sudden changes in times or locale. So DIY Birmingham made the timely transition into social media, allowing Grimes and friends to maintain a constant and up-to-the-minute product with the expediency needed to diligently work at booking and promoting more shows.
“We’re aware of all these great artists and musicians operating outside the mainstream by choice or necessity,” says Gregg, “and whatever their reasons, we can identify with that and we want to try and support our community.”
One reason DIY Birmingham is such a comprehensive resource is due in part to the diverse range of interests held by each member of its staff. While Grimes is a lover of garage rock and punk music, Gregg’s tastes lean more towards the hardcore genre. Their differences in music allow them to be even more aware of the various types of bands operating within the city. “It’s up to us to keep a pulse on what’s going on,” says Gregg.
Newcomer Travis Swinford will not only be bringing his own personal music tastes into the equation, but also his involvement with various art shows, adding one more seam into the ever expanding range of activities covered by the website. Swinford will be filling the void that the recent departure of Katie Dunne left within the ranks of DIY Birmingham’s staff.
“She wanted to see what other communities are like,” Gregg says of Dunne’s move to Los Angeles. Clearly there are no hard feelings, since the recent birthday celebration was also effectively a going-away party for Dunne. In fact, the overall atmosphere for the event was permeated with gratitude, not only from the attendees but also displayed by the generous multitude of raffle prizes donated by numerous local businesses such as the Bottletree Café, Kingdom Comics, Magnetic Audio and the Alys Stephens Center, which donated two free tickets to the upcoming David Sedaris performance in November.
This goes to show how great a relationship the website and its staff shares with the local business community. Places like the Bottletree, a venue largely responsible for the increased local presence of many esteemed indie bands from all over the world, are indebted to the efforts of the website, who not only provide a resource for fans, but also for bands that need to know about what venues there are to book through in the city. The website offers a convenient directory that gives out all the particulars needed for anyone to locate and/or contact many of the appropriate venues throughout Birmingham.
“There are a lot of awesome bands who won’t come through Birmingham because they won’t know who to book through,” Grimes says.
Gregg immediately finishes the thought: “We let them know who to book through.”
The two friends share a look and laugh.
For more information go to diybirmingham.com or follow them on Facebook to find out about upcoming shows and other activities.