A Small-Town Punk’s Journey to 924 Gilman: The Beauty of the Unpredictable DIY Scene
Life as a DIY musician can be unpredictable, sometimes for the worse, other times for the best. This is a reminder, for everyone but also for myself, to never take anything for granted.
As a small-town punk rock kid from Northern Italy, I never imagined I’d one day release my music on records and play it live, let alone go on tour and perform in front of people who cared enough to book a show or listen to what I had to say.
I have this vivid memory of my childhood friend Daniele and me listening to a mixtape of Californian punk bands before falling asleep in our tent during a summer camping trip. I had just started exploring punk rock, and I’d fallen in love with the sound of those bands. There was something unique about the way they sounded, nothing else felt like that. I was discovering a new world and learning about its anti-gods and anti-temples (the “anti-” prefix is mandatory). One of those anti-temples was a place called 924 Gilman St.
Just like my hometown DIY space, Magazzino 47, but with worldwide relevance for DIY music, alternative subcultures and radical politics.
In 2024, I released my album Life Burns. Sell The Heart Records agreed to put it out in the US. That alone would have blown my teenage mind. A few weeks later, I received an email: “Here’s what’s confirmed for the tour.” And there it was:
November 23rd, 2024 – Berkeley, CA – 924 Gilman – CONFIRMED.
I just sat there, staring at the screen. How did this happen? What did I do right to get here? Most of it is still a mystery, but I trust the Universe to have the right answer.
Flash forward to that night: bands from Sell The Heart Records on stage at Gilman, and me hopping on stage with my acoustic guitar. Everyone made me feel welcome, included and part of something so beautiful and unique it’s hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it. How it happened, I still don’t really know, but it did.
Sometimes a small-town punk rock kid dreams big and finds people along the way who help make those dreams come true. Never take anything for granted. Life can be unpredictable as a DIY musician. And sometimes, that unpredictability turns out beautifully for the best.
(Forever grateful, Sell The Heart Records.)