diy (2 Viewers)

[taubstumm]

hi.

i'm curious to see what people's opinions are about independence and d.i.y.

what is d.i.y.? what makes something d.i.y., and where does it stop? or does it?

it's something i've been thinking about recently. i know people here have been talking about it.

thanks.

 

[damien]

c'mon lads, tom vs diy, the 14 page thread starts here!

 

[SeanR]

D.I.Y. is buttering your own sandwich.

 

[oh shit]

c'mon lads, tom vs diy, the 14 page thread starts here!

hehe!
down with idealogues. just do what feels good - by the way i'm naked right now.

 

[Phil]

He's Rob Stevenson posting in disguise.

 

[Super Dexta]

d.i.y. is staying up till 2 o'clock in the morning sorting out covers for red bridge and not waking liadain up to tell her all about it.

 

[stephenoblunt]

DIY is that warm sensation in your pants..

 

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

princess diy

 

[taubstumm]

i know phil might be tempted to mess with this thread, i docked him points a couple of days ago. so fair enough...

however, i'm not taking the piss here... there tends to be quite a bit of talk about d.i.y. on eirecore. i'd like to think that when asked what is meant by it, people could do more than just give evasive and ironic answers, if possible...

i have my own ideas about it all, but i want to hear other people's. if anyone has any way of describing it, i'd be curious to hear. that's all...

 

[SeanR]

See Muertos' post on the Blast vs DIY part 2 thread. That was pretty good.

 

[Phil]

I don't mess with threads. Thanks.

 

[brianMy Remorse]

diy is having a wank and not have someone else do it who expects the common courtesy of a reach-around.

 

[Cormcolash]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to brianMy Remorse again.

 

[Napalm]

I need my bathroom ceiling fixed.

 

[billygannon]

 

[Corm]

D.I.Y. to me is creating something by yourself or with your friends for yourselves and people like you. It is creating that thing because of it's own worth rather than for the other reasons things are usually created for; not for profit, not for prestige, just because it means something to you.

It started because there was no-one to make the things the punk kids wanted -zines, records, clothes, gigs, living spaces, movies, books...in short, a community. Business people tried to make money off punk when it started, and when the money ran out they declared it dead and abandoned it. So the whole scene went underground and D.I.Y., and since most punks don't have much money and also tend to have a spirit of individualism & independence, they began to do everything they could by & for themselves, and cheaply. D.I.Y. ideals spread through others with a "punk" view on things; ex-punks, under underground types of music, eccentrics, weirdos and misfits of all sorts who found there was no place in mainstream society for them and thus sought to create their own space.

Gradually over the last decade or two various aspects of punk have been co-opted by the media, fashion & music industries. So along the way D.I.Y. was forced to become more staunch in it's convictions, more suspicious of those who seek to profit from it, and more territorial around it's borders. Unfortunately this is sometimes perceived as elitism by certain people, wrongly, I would say. So as punk became popular again, there was now plenty of business people ready to make money off it, and there was now plenty of money to be made, since this time around it has a largely middle-class audience rather than the working-class audience of the late 70s and 80s. But along the way a lot of people decided they like to do things by themselves, and do them much better that way, which is why it's now more important than ever to continue to develop and grow in the face of the empty materialist profit-driven mainstream cultures, and continue to create our own vibrant and expressive cultures by and for ourselves.

 

[ed in mouth]

in regards as to how far diy can be taken, i wud describe it as an effort at a completley self customized lifestyle, where all conditioning and common assumptions have been challenged and nothing has been left for granted.
of course it began with the music scene but i think it has (and will continue to) become much more than that, encompassing lifestyles and communities of those that are willing to take it that far...

check out the blast vs diy thread on punkforit.com for a running commentary on the subject!

 

[niallmc]

down with idealogues. just do what feels good -.

Doing things by yourself or with your peers, for yourself or your peers without being driven by making a financial gain (or punk points) - that was the starting point for me.

 

[taubstumm]

ok, thanks for those...

if anyone has any more i'd be curious to hear them.

 

[windings]

DIY in music to me is doing stuff for yourself 'cos why the fuck wouldn't you? There are plenty of like minded people out there who do music, and through gigging and stuff you get to meet them. I say "do" music cos that what it is, not "play". Anyhoo, you meet like minded folk and swap ideas on how to go about different things, from recording to playing to artwork to travelling to making cdrs etc etc.

DIY isn't waiting around playing "selective" shows waiting to get signed by some poor fucker who doesn't have a clue