DIY Hardcore & Punk Shows in Tuebingen/South Germoney.
Hey. This is some kind of calender for diy hc/punk shows in Tübingen. The following text is written by one person, so it's not meant to speak for "the" Tübingen scene or something.
Here we go: We're organizing hardcore, punk, crust, ... concerts in Tübingen, a small (85.000 residents) but very nice university town near Stuttgart with a relative big left/alternative scene and some nice venues. The main location for shows is an autonomous youthcentre located very central next to the main train station called "Epple Haus" (squatted in 1973 after a concert of the legendary german anarcho band "Ton Steine Scherben" in Tübingen, today legal and supported by the city council). This house offers a lot of space and opportunities and I'm appreciating it very much, cause places like this are very rare and precious. The house has two very cool floors for concerts and parties. The floor where the concerts take place has a small stage, a very good sound and a capacity of around 250 people, but it's also nice if there are only 50 people . Another cool location is a basement in the alternative houseproject called "Hegel 7", just some meters away, much smaller and more rough but also with a very nice atmosphere and ideal for shows with around 50 people and with a more direct sound.
I'm making shows in Tübingen since 2007 ("
past shows") but I was not that creative in finding a name for the organization and because I never wanted to create something like a 'brand' and was never into a cool gang, I decided just to call it what it is: d.i.y. organized shows in Tübingen. Maybe someday I have a great idea and I will change its name again... Anyway, more important than how you call it is how you do it. D.i.y. (= Do it yourself) means for me to decide on my own or according to my friends helping and supporting the concerts if, what, when and how I / we make our concerts. That's the basic approach. I'm booking the bands on my own, (I like it the most to be in touch with the bands directly, I'm very sceptic about "booking agencies" and 'cool' big label bookers), I'm mainly doing door deals that cover all costs but I don't pay huge fees and rockstar shit (but of course: big show = big money. who, if not the bands should get it?!). I'm making flyers (or ask some people I know), I'm looking for people sitting on the entrance (no security club bouncers, fuck them), standing behind the bar selling the cheap drinks, cooking the vegan food and staying the night with the bands... There are also other groups organizing shows in Tübingen. Sometimes we do things toghether, sometimes I just post their dates.
I'm no ambitious booker or promoter, I'm not interessted in every fukkin' shit band who is touring around and is looking for a place to crash or thinks they are cool. I don't (wanna) earn money with anything linked to the concerts and the music - and it don't wanna present bands who do so (nothing's wrong with earning money with your music, everybody hates work and playing music is better than building tanks, but the location and the people including me are working as volunteers and the venue is non-profit/non-commercial, so we don't offer a stage for bands who are. For this there are other places). I'm organizing shows with bands I like because of their music, their attitude and/or if they are just nice people. In the best case: All of this! I give a shit about being the cool, well known promoter guy and the scene blabla, that's not what I expect from hardcore/punk and that's not why I became interessted in this thing back in the days (haha, not thaaat long). I'm always happy to meet new, nice and clever people with a distinctive sense of humour, a reflected political point of view, playing good music or showing me something I didn't see before. Being open minded is also a nice skill (in this scene) - I try so, too, haha.
Making concerts gives me a very strong and positive feeling and hanging out on the shows should give the same to the people visting the shows, so I don't want stupid, aggressive and/or annoying people there (neither bands nor guests!), killing this spirit and destroying what so many people created in a collective process and with their heart's blood (now pathos off): This is really fucked up and makes me angry. Hanging out easy and with respect for each other is the way I imagine my/our shows... Of course hardcore/punk music is and should be like a fukkin explosion, like an eruption and sometimes like a painful drowning in a hopeless, dark nothing: frightening, aggressive, disappointed, pissed and ready to fight and I really would love to see a lot on this world to go down in a huge riot (some bands would have the right soundtrack for that), but dancing on a show should not be like fighting with some nazi-bastards or the cops or like a defensive animal. So tough guy like wind mill kick box moves have nothing in common with my hardcore style and I don't want it on the shows.
Apart from that we are strictly against racist, fascist and sexist attitudes and behaviors, although I know we are all living and have all been socialized in racist and sexist societies, so latently this attitudes are in all of us - but: I expect, even from people related to the hardcore/punk scene, that they altercate with this and try to avoid discriminating behavior and speaking.
To all covinced racists, sexists and fascists: Just go and fukkin die, you are a fukkin bunch of losers, we will fight you - stay away!
To all the real punks, to all the true hardcore kids, to all the crusty crusties, to all the people who give a shit about categories like this: You are very welcome, bring your friends, talk to me/us, if you are interessted, feel like it's your place and your party, act like you think it's cool for all people, flirt and kiss, drink and talk shit, dance and sing, go home early or be the last man/woman standing, sleep on the floor or stagedive, adore the bands, buy their shit, annoy their merch guys with stupid questions about lilmited coloured pressings... but pay at least the common 5 € entrance fee and don't bargain everytime about it - that's not much and it's just to afford shows and places like this.
...And: Fukkin smoke outside!!
Hardcore is still spelled P.U.N.K.
See you.
Love.
