Dan Hamlyn
Owner of Pillowfight Promotions, a local music promotions company. Dan also collects zines, is a animal rights activist, vegan and a huge believer in the punk and DIY way of life.
- how has the punk/diy ethos made an impact on your life?oh fuck, probobly in every way, if i see something in a shop i like, my first thought is usualy 'how can i make that' or 'what injustice was commited to make that' depending on my mood i suppose. i think most if not all my decisions in daily life are made by thinking 'what would propagandhi do'. thats cool, i might make that into a patch.
also it has a big impact on the way i treat other people, you know that old christian rot about treating yer neighbor how you want to be treated, well i think that attitude is very prominent in the punk community and even in the way punks or people who identify with punk treat other people. christians are certainly no good at it. dicks.
- what importance does local music hold to you?local music is pretty important, i suppose i don't think about it enough really, but if it wasnt for local music then i wouldnt've met most of the brilliant and productive people that are my friends.
local music is also the foundation on punk, it allows us to build our own comunities and microcosms, which is fundamental as punk isnt about idolising far away untouchable rockstars. it's the networking of the individual punk communities that let it exists outside the conventional routes, and that surpasses just the music side it, it allows for the distribution of social and pollitical ideas.
- what would you personally want from a new local music station?to hear the songs i love and the songs i havnt heard yet! i wish people where brave enough to play new bands no ones heard of that only have one badly recorded song, thats the song i want to hear on the radio.
- what would you change about the local music scene if you could?i would like to hear more bands playing hardcore and crust and emo but i can't change what people want to play, thats up to them. i would also like it if people where more open to going to shows of bands they havnt heard of before, i think thats a big part of what punk is to me, supporting bands who are getting out there and doing it, even if i'm not tottally stoked on that band, i like to be there and show my support, i hate to think of bands getting disheartend and bummed out 'cos kids dont turn out to shows.
- how could the local scene/community benefit from a new radio station?it would help promote new bands, bands new releases and going back to what i was previously saying it could be used to hype up relativley unheard of bands coming to the city, boosting attendance to shows and just helping to reinforce the live music scene. and it would be good to listen to, thats cool.
- in what ways could you see a new radio station benefiting and integrating into the local music scene?oh christ, um loads of ways i suppose, split realises, live radio sessions, promotion on either side (for bands and the station) interviews with touring band leading up to shows. showcase shows for new bands. so much.
- what advice would you give someone setting up a local music radio station?um i duno anything about doing radio but i suppose its the same for every aspect of d.i.y, jsu fucking do it, ask questions and figure it out as your doing it, you'll soon figure out what your doing right or wrong.
- what do you think punk rock has done for the city of plymouth?given me a fucking great group of friends if nothing ellse!
- do you think that the internet holds an important place in the diy community?oh poop, i'm not a big advocator of the internet in some respects, but it has been around most of my life and i probobly rely on it more than i realise. the main negative affect i think it has on the d.i.y and punk community is that it allows people to listen to punk and get into punk without being around and involved in it, and fuck thats not a bad thing and i dont want to sound elitist but that allows people get into punk and be arrogant, aggresive, racist, sexist, specieist, capitalist etc and that can cause trouble at shows on a small level, and on a large lavel could ultimatley end with punk ending up in the hands of the major label fat cats and corporate sponcership. because if punk doesdnt mean or stand for anything then its just music, nothing more just music with a haircut. thats why i'm scared of the internet. but on the other hand the internet does let people like you do cool pirate radio shows and help bands and labels build network. it helps people like me talk to other people like me doing punk shit on the otherside of the world. i've recentley been talking to a dude in america who screen prints patches, he's a total dude, and it turns out he's touring with one of my favourate bands circle takes the square and their coming to the UK, so i'll get t5o meet him and high five, so i guess i've got the internet to thank for that!
Katie Shaw
Feminist extraordinaire. Katie Shaw works for NUS UK, promoting free thinking and equality into our educated generations. She's also interested in craftivism, feminism, punk and DIY.
Feminist extraordinaire. Katie Shaw works for NUS UK, promoting free thinking and equality into our educated generations. She's also interested in craftivism, feminism, punk and DIY.
what first got you into the punk rock scene?
I grew up in a medium sized town in ruralish Derbyshire, I went to a catholic secondary school, and I guess you can say looking back there was one punk kid in each year. I’d always been a bit of an activist/angry child and when I was 15 I went on holiday to the States, bought a Blink 182 album and then started looking into other bands, buying Punk-O-Rama cds and dying my hair pink. When I got to college (in greater Manchester) all the ‘alternative’ kids used to hang out together, so obviously we all got sharing music, going to gigs and had our own little community. The group was never really into big P politics but between the ages of 16 & 19 you’re pretty much discovering what your own politics are. By the time I’d got to uni I was heavily into punk music (mostly ska punk….I’m ok with that, I still love brass), and I quickly got involved with both my students’ union and the small group of punks at my little uni campus in Exmouth. Both the SU and that group of friends allowed me to have a much stronger realisation and narrative around my own personal politics. It’s worth pointing out at this time I was straight edge; I’d been sXe since the age of 17 which was due to a combination of both being really angry with the world and needing to focus my attentions on something positive, and being really enamoured with the movement itself and the music. I stopped being sXe when I hit the 3rd year of uni, although I definitely think making that lifestyle choice at the time helped shape a lot of the more positive beliefs I have now.
- how has the punk/diy ethos made an impact on your life?
I think as I mentioned above, it gave me a framework and support network to explore my own politics, and not party politics, but actual practical ways to live your life and realise what’s important to you. It also gave me an amazing group of friends first at college, then at uni and now in ‘grown up’ life, and it’s a group that continues to evolve and change because it’s based around common goals and shared interests not just locality. It’s also allowed me to make friends all over the UK from going to shows and meeting bands, promoters, other fans or people that just do stuff in the scene; even if you don’t know people’s names or have had actual conversations with them, you can go shows all over the UK and recognise faces. I’m very much aware of the mental impact DIY/craft and participation has on my life (and I’d assume for others in the scene), I truly feel happiest when I’m engaged in something practical, hands on and positive.
- what importance does local music hold to you?
The local scene acts to galvanise all that positivity. I suppose it gives the community a central social focus for the DIY element to fit around and allowing people to enjoy themselves too. The beauty of the Plymouth scene is that it’s pretty accepting of most kinds of alternative music because its so far out on a limb from the rest of the UK, you need to diversify your interests and be more tolerant of different types of music because there’s not enough people to be selective about genre and trends. That in itself is probably my favourite thing about the Plymouth scene, you can have a shoegaze alt. country band play with a garage rock and a hardcore band on the same bill and no one bats an eyelid because there is at least one of your mates in each band and everyone’s there to support each other.
- what would you personally want from a new local music station? & how could the local scene/community benefit from a new radio station? & in what ways could you see a new radio station benefiting and integrating into the local music scene?
I think the problem with punk rock/diy ethos and ‘the scene’ is that its too introverted. It’s exceptionally accepting of new people as long as you’re sort of into the same thing or hold some of the same values. If people really want to bring about societal change in our movement, then we need to stop talking about it to each other and start embedding some of our values and actions in the local community. Local radio would be an amazing tool for this as hopefully it would firstly provide a safe and inclusive environment for discussion and exploration and secondly it has the ability to reach a music wider audience. Also, I think there are maybe 2 types of people that get into punk rock, those who are into the politics and DIY and those who are into the music because its fast and angry and you can cover yourself with gnarly tattoos, obviously there’s a bit of cross over with both groups and I don’t want to come across saying ‘my politics is better than your politics’, but local radio would allow bands like Crazy Arm to talk about topics like anti fascism and enable those who come for the music to explore and develop themselves politically. I think a local music station would need to support all elements of the community, not just the musical side. If the station has an overarching ethos or mission statement that is community focused then it gives you licence to be selective with you guests/participants because presumably everyone involved is working for some kind of societal change or advancement.
- what would you change about the local music scene if you could?
More grrrls! The scene is very male led and male orientated, Plymouth Music Zone and Plymouth Music Collective have both done things in the past to encourage more female participation in music but it’s a slow process and it involves educating younger girls that they can play and guys that it’s not just their stage. The diy element of the scene is a lot more gender balanced and also more diverse.
- what advice would you give someone setting up a local music radio station?
Find out what happens in different communities in the city and look at where there’s a crossover of values and aims. See if you can get them on board. Look for people on courses at places like Deep Blue Sound who may be able to help you physically set up the station but also learn from the experience themselves too. Figure out why you want to set up a local station. What’s the need? What gap are you filling? Who do you want your audience to be? What have you got that other local commercial stations don’t have? If you can answer those questions your vision and who you need to get involved will be much clearer.
- what do you think punk rock has done for the city of plymouth?
Firstly I think it’s given a lot of people a home, community and sense of belonging who would have otherwise struggled in the city and the city’s own predominate culture. I think the music scene and the diy/independent scene (Jack Chams, Plymouth Knitters Social, Prime, GUYDJ) as gathered momentum over the last 4 years and actually unintentionally given other people the confidence to set up other projects and get both the local and student communities involved and active. I think this has probably had an impact on Plymouth’s capital of Culture bid (and the fact that the head of the Arts Unit at Plymouth City Council is a massive punk).
- do you think that the internet holds an important place in the diy community?
Yes, definitely. It helps keep the community fresh because you can draw on external influences and trends a lot quicker, and it also allows you to speak to people involved in the ‘scene’ across the UK, and the world which is great if you want to get something done, or if you find yourself in a position where you’re not physically in that community at certain times.
The one negative though I guess with the internet is the fact that it somehow takes up hours of your time unintentionally and it takes time away from when you can actually be doing really positive and creative things.
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