As I am sure I have mentioned a number of times on Losing Face, I live with two best friends and together they make up a two-piece band called Apologies, I have None.
Living with a band, especially an aspiring, dedicated band, has its occasional frustration (namely regular practice sessions and severe shortage of spare time) whilst it is also comes with an awful lot of perks.
One of which is the incredible and very much extended group of friends that now surround their act loyally and enthusiastically. My housemates are fortunate to have a steadily growing group of people that are more like good friends than they are simply fans but it would now be impossible to separate the two roles.
It has been a while since I have found the time to really indulge in a slice of the culture that they have become such a crucial part of, months in fact. Few things can make me feel as positive about the world like DIY punk can; it is phenomenal how competition is completely disregarded for collaboration and how utterly uncompromising some of the audience regulars can be as to what they like and dislike.
Bands look out for each other; the majority of the crowd know each other and anyone new to the scene seemingly gets swept off their feet and into the thick of things in no time at all. It really is heart warming when compared to the professional life that I lead and the stark opposites that I am often confronted by.
On Sunday there was an all day show at Bloomsbury Bowls in… well, Bloomsbury. From 2pm ‘til 11pm were back-to-back bands; the line up, free entry and venue was a combination not to be missed and I headed down with my housemates and others to enjoy a fun packed day of sweat and tinnitus.
Hanging about with my roomies at shows over the past two years has meant that there have been a growing number of familiar faces at these things and always the opportunity to meet new people, Sunday was no exception.
All day I was meeting people I hadn’t met before, all of whom were lovely and [when they made the connection] some were enthralled to meet “Justine’s Housemate” or the guy that actually lived on “Eason Drive” – something I consider more of a celebratory status than the recent Telegraph honour!
One thing that does occasionally come out, and the actual purpose of this long winded post, is my cashless existence. Some saw the London Paper in November and some heard one of the radio spots I have been lucky enough to feature in whilst others had no idea who or what I was up to or why and it is their reaction that I savour the most.
I’ve never really gone into it with any of them properly before, but I am always intrigued as to which way their opinion might fall.
Some love the anarchical, anti-monarchic slant on my actions – something I personally don’t wish to engage in. Others must immediately think ‘corporate ass’; expressing fear after concern after conspiracy theory. Am I OK with BigBrother knowing my exact whereabouts and spending habits 24/7 or can I sleep at night knowing that a big corporation like Visa has given me a helping hand every now and again or that I might be forced to choose Tesco over a local grocers if I haven’t thought ahead.
It is always great fun relaying the counter argument to whichever moral stance they chose in the first instance. Suddenly the entire situation isn’t so black and white – am I fighting ‘The Man’ or condoning ‘her’ rule? Do I particularly give a shit about either?
I have been witness to some of the most eloquent soliloquies and utterly incomprehensible rants from all manner of people in response to me telling them that I ‘live without cash’ and I hope I will be for a long time.
The scene my housemates are in is about Doing It Yourself, not because it is a trendy thing to say or do, but because they have to do it themselves – it is a lifestyle born out of passion in every case and every sense. Its sheer survival is impressive and hugely admirable even if the vast majority of the crowd don’t realise how perilous their sub-culture is.
There is very little different between DIY punk making the most of what they have got without compromising their passion and devotion and my voyage toward a complete and sustainable cashless existence. We are both defending something we believe in and, with a counter argument at hand, will defend our decision to accept support from someone or something bigger than us when we are given the opportunity to do so.
That is why I can listen to bands like Against Me! on Spotify and that is why I know cash will be a thing of the past in the not-so-distant-future.
1 Comment
May 12, 2009 at 4:51 pm
You perfectly sum up ‘DIY punk rock’ in your 4th and 5th paragraphs.
Coming from a guy who admittedly hasn’t been a show of that scene for a while, it’s great the way that you can feel exactly the same way about something that the bang-on-time regulars do.