April GUNK
your April shows, an eclipse, and a returning feature writer on the concept of an "industry plant"...
from industry plant to community garden
by Dawood Nadurath
the “industry plant” is currently understood, and reviled, as a bastardized inversion of its exponential potential – the term is, often spitefully, leveled against those holding a predetermined upper hand in their pursuit of creative validation, individuals who have ties, familial or otherwise, that grant them a shortcut to the network necessary to affirm their success. who are we, though, as stewards of the “do-it-yourself” spirit, without those with whom we’ve predetermined a network of creative and emotional support? a fostering of community, no matter where you are, stems from the same root of interdependence — tending the garden around you so that your soils may too be enriched.
i’ll quickly concede, before someone else does for me — the “industry plant” discourse gains legs each time for one primary reason: financial support. while smaller musicians scrape and grind through part-time jobs, meager show payouts, and near-zero streaming income — in other words, no support from the currently understood framework of music as a career — these “plants” have a shortcut to a fundamental, gatekept ease. however, throwing oneself against a wall that’s meant to feign scarcity is a surefire way to ignore the potential for validation, financial or emotional, that quietly simmers around you. the bands, and labels, that i’ve seen vault over the melancholic, sisyphean task of pitching themselves to an indifferent Industry gained the running start necessary from years of community groundswell. deciding to reclaim your own autonomy from the nebulous hope of being “signed” by anyone who’s in the business of making money from the sacred transmutation of your lived experience into art, and instead trusting those around you who have already co-signed to uplift it, has its own gain – the likelihood of making money back from pressing 200 tapes or records at a time with your friends and regularly playing shows with them is far higher than seeing a recouped statement from the label who’s pressing 1000 off the bat, relying on you to sell them at the same rate you probably would anyway.
labels themselves are already waning in their supportive abilities, given the rapidly shifting sands of the economic framework of the music industry – they’re unable to predict where market demand will come from or go, so they rely on the artists to identify their own avenues of support and execute cold, empty marketing plans. if the responsibility remains on you, why not take that same risk with those you already trust? some of the most striking examples of labels or collectives who have maintained consistently interesting, uncompromised output, while continuing to bank strong faith from the artists they support, have done so through low-stakes financial partnerships and a heavy reliance on creative collaboration. a stunning cohesion of visual aesthetics, for example, attributes to an attractive nexus of earnest support, and that seamless camaraderie can only come from a shared vision of true faith in the other. the most unappealing and ineffective promotional material i’ve seen produced has, without fail, come from labels and teams who are forced to produce them as a smaller part of a larger rollout – when the translation of art comes second in priority to the marketing of it. a singular, vulnerable, and dynamic aesthetic is the first line item axed, relegated to in-house manufacturing, a morsel of rot found spreading within the larger distaste and abandonment of critical artistic value (pitchfork folding into GQ, the unstable writers and general freelance landscape, labels generating AI bios or bios so dry and unflinchingly devoid of warmth that one would hope they were machine-generated, etc).
when creatives are valued, they create freely – the onus, however, will also often fall on the creatives themselves to reorient where their value is generated. should they continue to depend on a withholding, assembly line framework that will keep them in financial and creative debt for five to fifteen years, or should they take the same chance with those who have been quietly along for the ride the whole time? the value and potential for connection through art has never been elevated by industrial validation – they’ll always need you more than you need them. may we, by gutting the expectation and value of industry support, deconstruct the hierarchy that the industry plant relies on, and reconstruct it as a mycelium?
april design by our friend caroline gay :) find ur shows and maybe ur eclipse watch site (offline). if you want to design an issue of GUNK in the future, email us!
you can reliably find GUNK at: honeymoon coffee shop (ridgewood) topos (ridgewood) normas (ridgewood) milk&pull (ridgewood), little roy (bed stuy), playground zine box (bed stuy) prima (clinton hill) the lot zine box (greenpoint). if you can’t find GUNK…we need your help with distro in your neighborhood! email us for a stack ;)
& on to our GUNK playlist… the amount of new music that came out in march was frankly unbelievable. we included some of our fav’s along others. most notably, if u have not stopped in yr tracks to listen to More Eaze + pardo + glass’s paris paris, texas texas and Alena Spanger’s Fire Escape albums, do that now.
ˋ°•*⁀➷ GUNK CLASSIFIEDSˋ°•*⁀➷
is your band (or solo act) looking to connect with other bands or performers to put together a bill for an upcoming show? send GUNK a little intro to your music (no links sorry) including an email address for a reply and we’ll publish the listings!
—> thegunkyard@gmail.com **if you’d rather your email address not listed let us know and we can get you in touch with interested parties**NEW LISTINGS:
Hey there! My name is Maddie (they/them) and it would be great to team up with some like-minded bands/songwriters to play songs from our upcoming EP, released under the moniker Volena. (This is my first full-band project, making indie-folk music with a hint of country/midwest emo). We're open to stripped-down sets as well as a louder full-band sound. Instagram: @volenaband. Ty :)
Searching for drummer and bassist (general community and hanging out). For a Queens based queer artist. Name is Zack and I've been hopping around the scene for awhile. Putting out a new EP this summer and would like to start meeting more folks and maybe get a full group together with myself and a synth playing friend of mine. Just been a general recluse and wanna get out there, book shows with others and be around like minded people! I play avant pop/power pop and open to the avant garde! Please email me zacksmusicbox@gmail.com for more info!Thank you for supporting GUNK <3 we have some exciting news coming in a few months… until then…. get to the gig.
xx
Hannah & Ceci
 | A guest post by
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Beautiful post by Dawood, giving name to something I've been perceiving but not quite grasping. Mycelium! That's the answer. Two other gigs to add to an overstuffed month: Friko at Brooklyn Made (4/13) and Holly Miranda, Amb. Parsley, and Chris Maxwell at Francis Kite Club (also 4/13).