Do it yourself, together

There’s no place like home, especially when you’re too young to go to any music venues. This is often the case with punk and its associated DIY scene, where many of their musicians and fans are teenagers and young adults. In places with bustling DIY scenes like Boston or Philadelphia, most music venues are 21-plus, for liquor licencing reasons. Therefore, the house show is the MacGyvered way for young musicians to share their music. For those under-21, the house show monopolizes their music scene because it is the only place to enjoy music in a collective space. But, what makes Montreal’s DIY scene unique is that established venues are relatively relaxed when it comes to fostering the youth subcultures of the city. Furthermore, the young are less isolated from its older and more established counterparts, allowing for a closer connection between the generations within the scene. David Mitchell, the vocalist and bassist of local band Gulfer, recalls how he started out in the DIY spaces nearly 15 years ago.