#NotSoWhite Punks of Colour, DIY Avengers Assemble
July 2016 began all fired up by a meeting at the DIY Centre, London where friends whose nationality had some African, Asian, Oriental and/or Latin in the mix, giving them what, in a fair world, would be called "a superior natural tan". In a #BritsSoWhite #OscarsSoWhite ukip etc year that prompted Never Enough Notes to write the article "Let's Talk About Music Week's Most Disgraceful Cover Ever", it was refreshing just to meet up and chat about being alternative lives from different cultures and backgrounds. Shared experiences and varying ideas of what "punk" meant to us. The recurring theme in that conversation was "D.I.Y."
Stars Stars Stars - A personal favourite, please do check out Nova Twins; 'Bassline Bitch' video below and CLICK THIS LINK for brand new 2016 EP excitements. Sounding like the biggest storm to hit the UK in a long while, Nova Twins have a collossal BeatPunk sound and #StageStyle of their own. Monsterous audiobrilliance, like Godzilla's little sister freaking out on stage at Download Festival sending the crowd WILD. Nova Twins should be on your hit list, topic of the day. Every day.
Me Me Me - Raised on Rock, Trojan Reggae and Classical Music by a music loving mum, and being a clumsy (check out this basic writing, but hey, spelling n grammar not so bad, eh?) awkward, spud faced, horse stalker, I've managed to grow into being an outsider, helped by the whole make your own everything, life included, ethic of punk. Rock n roll gigs are what I do, in the same way that other people go to football, the pub or nightclubs for entertainment. Also, DIY live music promotions (Rocklands ArtBeat). Yeah I have deliciously dark skin, but that doesn't define me. I have female genitalia, that isn't all I am, either. I'm supposed to be a proper grown up (I prefer Mad Old Bat Deluxe, personally) but good luck with telling me how the fuck to behave. Or what to like.
Us Us Us - It was good to be in a room of like minded and completely different minded new friends. How can we go forward in new ways of creativity without listening to other points of view?
So how inspiring are everybody that joined the facebook group and/or came along to the inaugural meet up? Fabulous and exciting wonderful (mainly female) Superfolks. Bumped into some familiar faces, made some new friends. Garnered some fresh ideas. Whatever happens now (some folks felt a bit let down by the vibe of the London Afro Punk event in September, others looking forward to it. Besides, Youth Man and Vodun are in the mix. Niiice). The great thing was the variety of opinion. Even to how we should describe ourselves, and name the festival, due to us all being so unique. Ongoing...
TheZineUK community has already fused all genres, genders, generations, sexual preferences, nationalities, classes and styles into Uniqulture, so that we can just get on with imagining new futures via connections made on adventures. I'm happy to go with whatever because I am now just feeling even more empowered than ever. This being a situationist collective/media/story, stay tuned for the next chapters...
The argument of a Punks Of Colour event being divisive at a time when the United Kingdom had just become a disunited queendom had been raised by well meaning people wanting to join in, who were white.
Everybody is invited to attend the Punk Music Arts Festival, so no worries about exclusion there. As for a non white steering committee and line up inclusion focus , well, I see it more like a Women's Institute not being sexist, just because Men aren't running it. Clit Rock, another point in question. Articulated eloquently, Sparks Magazine's article on Babely Shades says "Let’s imagine that if instead of fighting for riot grrrl and queercore to be more inclusive and intersectional, women of color and queer folks of color actually ran these movements."
All kind of music/arts lovers were present at the DIY Centre, London on 30th June, so, I see positivity, if not all plain sailing and sometimes it's gonna get uncomfortable but lets face things and move on.
#PoC ("People Of Colour") is how USA describe non white folks. They used to call us "coloured people", which makes them discoloured people? PoC offends some people. Ethnicity is a sensitive subject. Out of the subject of marginalisation being raised on the Punk Fest steering group, though, new mates are forming bands, exchanging ideas and I got to hear about the 'Love Sex, Hate Sexism' Radio Show Launch, and posts from a black goth (ironically, one of our teenage writers, Charis Crawford, covered this with a great article at the end of last year) and more genre tastes coming on board.
Outsiders. Uniting. Just when 48% of the population have just become outsiders. Leave, Remain, whatever, here we all are. If we want a future, we have to make it ourselves.
All more positive than being shot by some uniformed, legally condoned, murdering psychopath who doesn't think #BlackLivesMatter - we can't click our fingers and wake out of a hypnotised trance and just imagine that there's a horror movie on Eden while the film "industry" remakes remakes of prequels of sequels of remakes. Me, I'm an escapism buff. I live in the real world, but keep one foot firmly in the parallel dimension. I need my sanity for helping any revolution that will preserve childhood innocence for peace and hope futures. That is the vibe of ArtBeat music socials.
I would LOVE people from all of our communities and ancestors communities to see what punk can do. My granny always liked punks best of all, and she wasn't keen on white people. Thought they were savages because their racist comments were rude, vulgar, uncivilised and crass, whereas she didn't see punks as white people, just folks that said hello, or helped her across the road etc. They were outsiders themselves. Fair play, Gran. I'd like to say we'd evolved in the 21st century. Many of us have (myself included, we are all learning) and are still doing so. I, personally, have a long way to g(r)o(w).
Somehow, as part of our (r)Evolution, TheZineUK was meant to rep at the DIY Centre that night. #Punk40 is celebrated by Grime, Marginalisation, Austerity, Gentrification and fucking GRRRRRRRRRR! So that makes us explode with art more. Right? Seems to. Hey outsiders of all kinds, welcome to a Punk Year Zero. 2016, the year Planet Earth went even more NUTS.
Meanwhile on Planet Water; Uniqulture prevails. We are one race (human) one colour (flesh) with protective coverings fusing the shades and tones (soils, sands, chalks, coals) of the living planet's own skin. When we've lived long enough to have learned something, we earn hair the colour of mountains.
Last year when the outcry of "What? No Rocking Women?" (or hardly any) at Reading / Leeds Festival went up, TheZineUK responded with Polly Harvey's images (Claudia of Cat Bear Tree and Amy of Nova Twins) on the cover of Chapter 006 (from our 2015 DIY Expo) of the story book. I was sat next to Claudia at the meeting the other week, and look forward to hearing about her next musical adventures.
Stars Stars Stars - Steph from Big Joanie was making all this happen. I had wanted to book that band for this year's New Music Expo (ArtBeatFest), cos they have a mighty sound. I was unable to, so it added magic to the serendipity that we were meant to meet another way.
Imagine Nation : My awesomest friends live in Londonistan, Queeristan and Punkistan and more in our alternative universes. On the parallel dimension of Planet Water, that I call home, I choose Punkistan as the city where Rocklands (i.e. SELondon post codes, facing Docklands across the river), Costa del Thames, exists.
Stars Stars Stars - Inspired, found myself back at the DIY Centre, SE15, a week after the punk fest meeting because Nadia (mentioned "Punkistan", oh yes, its all magic meant to be) and Bev of riot grrrl feminist punks, The Tuts, from the Wild West (of London that is; Middlesex - I still think that place name would make a brilliant location for all genders and sexual orientations to have a festival).
The Tuts, were so engaging that I checked out their band and fell in love. Pictured; Bev at the end of their gig (after around five stage invasions by empowered young girls having the time of their life being part of the show). Their film maker got up and sang a song, the talent creating their stage outfits got a shout out. If that's not uniqulture then what is?
It was the launch of the single and video 'Let Go Of The Past'. Scroll down for this corker of funshine short film promo. Yet again, DIY leads quality control on new music/arts.
