As the clock ticked further past 7 p.m., energy pulsed around the venue. Bodies pushed close together as anticipation started to spike among the viewers.
It’s not uncommon for punk shows to start late. In fact, “punk time” is a term coined in the community referring to shows that start late because crowds are waiting for the musician.
In this case, though, it wasn’t a musician the crowd was waiting for — this show doesn’t observe punk time. The crowd was waiting for Donald, a regular showgoer, to arrive before the performance could begin.
The delay represents an important aspect of “do-it-yourself,” a punk subculture where individuals create without help from large corporate entities: a commitment to a welcoming and equitable community.
“There are no fans in DIY,” said Indiana Laub, who collaborates with her partner Caitlin Garets under the name Bitter Half Booking to bring punk to Corvallis. “Everyone is contributing to the community equally.”
Drawing on DIY culture, Laub and Garets create sober, all-ages and accessible shows that start “punk-tually,” when everyone arrives.
Bitter Half Booking tries to make their shows open to all groups, including those with disabilities and the immunocompromised by booking accessible venues and making face masks mandatory.
“We really try to prioritize the needs of the people who are the most marginalized in our community,” Garets said. “We are making a space that is subversive and accessible in a way that the rest of the world often is not.”
Laub and Garets were drawn to the punk scene during their early teenage years. Garets, who grew up in Corvallis, said she didn’t feel like she fit in, and punk gave her an outlet.
“There was a woman who was just shredding on guitar,” Garets said. “I was like, that is what I want to do. This is what I want to be a part of.”
From having shows at skateparks and indie coffee shops to full blown Halloween fests, Bitter Half Booking is bringing punk to traditionally non-punk places.
“We do shows at the library now. Who cares?” Laub said. “A lot of DIY is just about trying to push the limits of what you can do and not assuming that things are not gonna be possible just because it’s not what’s normally done.”
That doesn’t mean abandoning a punk ethos of subverting authority. Bitter Half Booking hosted a show in Lebanon, to protest the city’s mayor for refusing to sign a Pride proclamation.
Garets and Laub booked the queer folk-punk band Reptile Lovechild, who are from Lebanon, to play in a beneficiary show. Proceeds from that show went to queer youth in the area.
“It was all Caitlin and Indiana,” said Justus Humble, the vocalist of Reptile Lovechild. “They’re basically the blueprint. Everything that (it) means to be a punk in Corvallis, those two are a blueprint of it.”
As they spoke on their experiences with Bitter Half Booking, Humble and drummer Joshua Cook demonstrate the respect that Bitter Half is trying to bring to the local punk scene.
“They’re very inspirational,” Cook said. “I want to be like that when I grow up.”
Humble and Cook also have deep connections to the punk community that started early in life.
“It’s always been there. Somehow it’s always been there,” Humble said.
Both band members recalled childhood cartoons and media that got them first loving the punk sound. They take much inspiration from Greenday’s 1994 album “Dookie.”
Reptile Lovechild and Bitter Half hope to bring a sense of belonging to everyone in the DIY scene in Corvallis. That’s why Bitter Half’s shows are all-ages: to ensure that youth have fun opportunities and reinforce the intergenerationality of punk.
“If we’re not here to be here for someone’s first show, or be here for someone’s ‘Dookie’ moment for someone else, why are we doing this?” said Humble.
As the community changes over time, and adaptation is needed, Reptile Lovechild sees room for growth.
“I want to see even more community, love and support,” Cook said. “I want to see people walk into a crowd of strangers and still feel safe.”
Bitter Half is actively working to bring that to fruition by creating safer spaces and a “pocket of their own universe,” Laub said.
“I can’t fix the world,” Laub said. “But for an evening, for a few hours … we can sort of create the culture that we want to create.”
– Sage Besbris, Roosevelt High School
– Charlie Bloomer, Sandy High School