Starkville, Mississippi is a college-town, much like our own Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but with half the student body and city population. Starkville, home to Mississippi State University, is also home to something that even I can find myself at home with as an Alabama student through-and-through: A thriving DIY-scene.
I understand that not everyone is aware of exactly what a DIY scene is. DIY means Do-It-Yourself, which I learned from life hack YouTube videos I watched when I was a kid. DIY in this context means the same thing but in terms of a musical community for a city. DIY scenes tend to focus on more innovative or hardcore genres, with punk, emo, and other more intense influences. We have all heard about the thriving Chicago and New York and Los Angeles music scenes and wished we were a part of it. Starkville decided to make one of these DIY scenes themselves.
@starkville.diy on Instagram currently has over twenty-one hundred followers, 10% of the student body of Miss State (not that every one of their followers is a Miss State student). Each month, they post exciting poetry nights, art shows, concerts, and everything in between. What is most obvious about the people, both those that run the account and those involved in scheduling all of these shows, is the palpability of their passion. Their graphics are stylized like classic zines and feature pieces of art from local Starkville creators. They promote local student bands while helping to bring in those regional artists that attract big names and even bigger faces.
The first show I went to in Starkville was one of the ones that featured a regional name: Michael Cera Palin. A number of local bands opened for them, including Bored to Tears, Make it to May, and Snake Mirror. Despite never hearing of these first three bands before, they absolutely put on a show. Out behind a local pizza joint, on a slightly elevated stage in front of a mosh pit set in gravel, these college students played their hearts out on a cold autumn night for the whole of Starkville to see. Who cares if some of the people came for the bigger band?
That’s not to say that Starkville needs big names to draw crowds. Last month in January, I went to a similar concert featuring the two active openers from the fall and a new hardcore band, Red 40. Unlike the one in the fall, this show was in a house belonging to a few of the women more active in the scene. With the entire living room and kitchen full, the crowds spilled out onto the patio, down the stairs, and into the parking lot. There was a steady stream of people flowing in from local frat parties, their dorms, and post-bar all night long (until the show was over, around 11).
DIY scenes aren’t exclusive to Starkville. I am from Northeast Ohio, and Kent, Akron, and Pittsburgh all have thriving scenes. The coolest one I was fortunate enough to go to was Pittsburgh, where I went to a DIY venue called the Mr. Roboto Project. MRP is a DIY venue and left-wing political space containing a massive archive of historical zines from Pittsburgh. In terms of venues, it may not have been technically impressive, but the history and vibe were so perfect that the show was elevated to a new level.
Starkville DIY stands as a beacon in the darkness that is the cultural scene of the American South. Nashville, New Orleans, and Atlanta are the hotbeds of local talent and receive the overwhelming majority of concerts from national tours. For Alabama students, Birmingham is lucky to get one out of every ten artists with Tuscaloosa at one out of every one hundred. Locals and college students alike have taken up cause to start their own @diyttown, which is a great start to something that can be so much more. College towns are the perfect breeding ground for new and innovative artists and there is no reason the University of Alabama can’t be that. There’s no shortage of talent in Tuscaloosa: Interim, Blood Orange Trio, Fogcrawler, and Run for Cover just to name a few, but all of them seem relegated to bars and the once a semester house show. As I prepare to leave Tuscaloosa upon graduation, I hope I can leave a Tuscaloosa with more passion and love for the arts than the Tuscaloosa I started at three years ago. From what I’ve seen, I’m sure that’ll be the case. In the words of @starkville.diy, “make music, go to shows, have fun”.
Photo credits from Kathryn Rachford
