DiY-Fest
Encyclopedia
DiY-Fest "the touring carnival of Do-it-Yourself
mediamaking" was a festival of ultra-independent movies, books, zines, music, poetry, and performance art that ran from 1999 until 2002.
In 2007, DiY-Fest was revived as DiY-Fest Video, a DVD production company devoted to alt-lifestyle instructional videos. Its first productions were Yoga For Indie Rockers
(DVD release Oct 30, 2007), Pilates For Indie Rockers
(DVD release Nov 13, 2007), and Vegan Cooking For Animal Lovers (DVD release Nov 13, 2007). Upcoming productions include Biofuel My Ride, Burlesque Workout For Indie Rockers, and an as-yet untitled DVD about solutions for ne'er-do-wells to "green
your home without losing your black heart." DiY-Fest Video is distributed by HALO 8 Entertainment
.
and organized by Kings Mob Productions
, the festival initially launched as part of a “Do-it-Yourself Filmmaking Workshop” that Pizzolo and partner Katie Nisa ran after rough cut screenings of their cult movie “Threat
.” The workshops were attended by a diverse, cross-subcultural audience largely from the independent film
, digital hardcore
, underground hip hop
, hardcore punk
, alternative media
, and culture jamming
scenes. Pizzolo observed that the DiY mediamakers shared a common ideology
but developed their art in isolation from one another, so he expanded the workshop into the larger forum of DiY-Fest with the intention of engendering cross-subcultural DiY collaborations.
In 2001, Digital Hardcore Recordings
released the fest-soundtrack CD “DiY-Fest” compiling spoken word clips from people such as Howard Zinn
and Jello Biafra
with underground music ranging from agit-prop folk musician Ani Difranco
to hip hop artists The Arsonists. Standout tracks on the album included the original collaborations “43% Burnt [remix]” (math-rockers Dillinger Escape Plan with noise-artists Atari Teenage Riot
) and “Ghetto Birds [remix]” (hip hop songstress Mystic with breakbeat diva Nic Endo
) . These collaborations were conceived by Pizzolo, who was so pleased by the results that he used them as the template for the mash-up album “Threat: Music That Inspired The Movie
.”
In late 2000, DiY-Fest was integrated into The Van’s Warped Tour
with the hopes of exposing the underground mediamakers to a broader audience. The festival slowed down with intermittent bookings throughout 2002.
A legacy of DiY-Fest is the growth of alt porn. The organizers of DiY-Fest observed porn as being independent media and were among the first to recognize and include gonzo, female-owned adult company Shane’s World as a DiY organization. DiY-Fest also hosted Suicide Girls at events when the site was still obscure, and, in a clever and controversial twist on the “Do it Yourself” theme, DiY-Fest partnered with female-owned sex shop Toys In Babeland
to give away free vibrators at live events.
in January 2006.
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
mediamaking" was a festival of ultra-independent movies, books, zines, music, poetry, and performance art that ran from 1999 until 2002.
In 2007, DiY-Fest was revived as DiY-Fest Video, a DVD production company devoted to alt-lifestyle instructional videos. Its first productions were Yoga For Indie Rockers
Yoga For Indie Rockers
Yoga For Indie Rockers is a fitness video that matches a traditional yoga workout with contemporary indie rock music and attitude.The DVD features certified yoga instructor Chaos running a hardbody yoga workout with three students: Rage Burner , Karri Langlois , and Kristina Sefeldt...
(DVD release Oct 30, 2007), Pilates For Indie Rockers
Pilates For Indie Rockers
Pilates For Indie Rockers is a fitness video that matches a traditional pilates workout with contemporary indie rock music and attitude.The DVD features certified yoga instructor Chaos running a mat-style pilates workout with the assistance of Rage Burner, who demonstrates the beginner moves...
(DVD release Nov 13, 2007), and Vegan Cooking For Animal Lovers (DVD release Nov 13, 2007). Upcoming productions include Biofuel My Ride, Burlesque Workout For Indie Rockers, and an as-yet untitled DVD about solutions for ne'er-do-wells to "green
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
your home without losing your black heart." DiY-Fest Video is distributed by HALO 8 Entertainment
HALO 8 Entertainment
HALO-8 Entertainment is a transmedia entertainment company specializing in cinema, genre graphic novels, midnight movies, music-driven lifestyle videos, and animation...
.
History
Founded by filmmaker Matt PizzoloMatt Pizzolo
Matt Pizzolo is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early works were created in New York City's Lower East Side, where he lived for eight years before moving to Los Angeles...
and organized by Kings Mob Productions
Kings Mob Productions
Kings Mob Productions is a DiY filmmaking and agitprop media-making "anti-corporation" dedicated to creating "new, dangerous, and thought-provoking media."-Background:...
, the festival initially launched as part of a “Do-it-Yourself Filmmaking Workshop” that Pizzolo and partner Katie Nisa ran after rough cut screenings of their cult movie “Threat
Threat (film)
Threat is an award-winning independent film about a straightedge "hardcore kid" and a hip hop revolutionary whose friendship is doomed by the intolerance of their respective street tribes...
.” The workshops were attended by a diverse, cross-subcultural audience largely from the independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
, digital hardcore
Digital hardcore
Digital hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk incorporating influences from electronic music. Digital hardcore fuses elements of hardcore punk with various forms of electronic music...
, underground hip hop
Underground hip hop
Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, alternative media
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
, and culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
scenes. Pizzolo observed that the DiY mediamakers shared a common ideology
DIY ethic
The DIY ethic refers to the ethic of self-sufficiency through completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for one's behalf. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
but developed their art in isolation from one another, so he expanded the workshop into the larger forum of DiY-Fest with the intention of engendering cross-subcultural DiY collaborations.
In 2001, Digital Hardcore Recordings
Digital Hardcore Recordings
Digital Hardcore Recordings is a record label set up in 1994 by Alec Empire, Joel Amaretto and Pete Lawton. Most of the music is recorded in Berlin, though the label is based in London where the records are mastered and manufactured...
released the fest-soundtrack CD “DiY-Fest” compiling spoken word clips from people such as Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
and Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
with underground music ranging from agit-prop folk musician Ani Difranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
to hip hop artists The Arsonists. Standout tracks on the album included the original collaborations “43% Burnt [remix]” (math-rockers Dillinger Escape Plan with noise-artists Atari Teenage Riot
Atari Teenage Riot
'Atari Teenage Riot' is a German digital hardcore group formed in Berlin in 1992. The name was taken from a Portuguese Joe song 'Teenage Riot' from the 'Teen-age Riot' album, with the word 'Atari' added as an Atari ST computer was used to create compositions...
) and “Ghetto Birds [remix]” (hip hop songstress Mystic with breakbeat diva Nic Endo
Nic Endo
Nic Endo is a Japanese-German-American noise musician who plays with the German digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot...
) . These collaborations were conceived by Pizzolo, who was so pleased by the results that he used them as the template for the mash-up album “Threat: Music That Inspired The Movie
Threat (film)
Threat is an award-winning independent film about a straightedge "hardcore kid" and a hip hop revolutionary whose friendship is doomed by the intolerance of their respective street tribes...
.”
In late 2000, DiY-Fest was integrated into The Van’s Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
with the hopes of exposing the underground mediamakers to a broader audience. The festival slowed down with intermittent bookings throughout 2002.
A legacy of DiY-Fest is the growth of alt porn. The organizers of DiY-Fest observed porn as being independent media and were among the first to recognize and include gonzo, female-owned adult company Shane’s World as a DiY organization. DiY-Fest also hosted Suicide Girls at events when the site was still obscure, and, in a clever and controversial twist on the “Do it Yourself” theme, DiY-Fest partnered with female-owned sex shop Toys In Babeland
Babeland
Babeland, formerly known as Toys in Babeland, is a women-owned sex toy boutique offering erotic toys, books and pornographic films. Babeland has an online store and four retail stores .-History:...
to give away free vibrators at live events.
DiY-Fest (Audio CD)
A compilation of spoken word and underground music released by Digital Hardcore RecordingsDigital Hardcore Recordings
Digital Hardcore Recordings is a record label set up in 1994 by Alec Empire, Joel Amaretto and Pete Lawton. Most of the music is recorded in Berlin, though the label is based in London where the records are mastered and manufactured...
in January 2006.
Track listing
- "Missing Press Conference" - George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
- "Alleged Accused Reputed Reused" - Matt PizzoloMatt PizzoloMatt Pizzolo is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early works were created in New York City's Lower East Side, where he lived for eight years before moving to Los Angeles...
vs Alec EmpireAlec EmpireAlec Empire is a German musician who is best known as a founding member of the band Atari Teenage Riot. Also a prolific and distinguished solo artist, producer and DJ, he has released well over a hundred albums, EPs and singles and remixed over seventy tracks for various artists including Björk...
feat. Seth TobocmanSeth TobocmanSeth Tobocman is a radical comic book artist who has been living in Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1978. Tobocman is best known for his creation of the political comic book World War 3 Illustrated, which he started in 1979 with fellow artist Peter Kuper...
& Jello BiafraJello BiafraJello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys... - "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Jello BiafraJello BiafraJello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
- "The Life" - Mystic
- "43% Burnt [remix]" - Dillinger Escape Plan vs Atari Teenage RiotAtari Teenage Riot'Atari Teenage Riot' is a German digital hardcore group formed in Berlin in 1992. The name was taken from a Portuguese Joe song 'Teenage Riot' from the 'Teen-age Riot' album, with the word 'Atari' added as an Atari ST computer was used to create compositions...
- "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
- "Child Autonomous" - Creation Is CrucifixionCreation Is CrucifixionCreation Is Crucifixion is a mathcore band that was formed in early 1997 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band was known for its complicated sound, which varied from ambient noise to more complex pieces...
- "White Collar Crime Fight Song" - White Collar Crime
- "A Less Important Place (live acoustic)" - Miracle of 86
- "Digital Skinhead" - Space Robot Scientists
- "The Fight" - Hanin EliasHanin EliasHanin Elias is a German industrial/techno artist. She was a member of Atari Teenage Riot and is now a solo artist....
- "Iris" - Nicole BlackmanNicole BlackmanNicole Blackman is a New York City-born performance artist, poet, author, and vocalist.-Literary career:Blackman is involved in the North American goth, spoken word and transgressive literature scenes....
- "Fuel" - Ani DifrancoAni DiFrancoAni DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
- "Ghetto Birds [remix]" - Mystic vs Nic EndoNic EndoNic Endo is a Japanese-German-American noise musician who plays with the German digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot...
- "Fellow Candymakers" - Sander HicksSander HicksSander Hicks is the founder of Soft Skull Press, and Vox Pop Inc. Raised in the DC area, he is the son of Norman Hicks, a progressive economist and anti-poverty specialist, who is retired from the . Raised Catholic, Sander attended Bishop Ireton High School, where he graduated with honors...
vs The Heartworm - "No More Prisons" - William Upski WimsattWilliam Upski WimsattWilliam Wimsatt, also known as Billy or Upski is a social entrepreneur, author, political organizer, and former graffiti artist...
- "The Show Must Go On" -
- "One Fight" - Holocaust
- "Kill Cupid With A Nail File" - The Icarus LineThe Icarus LineThe Icarus Line is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California.The Icarus Line was formed out of the ashes of high school punk group Kanker Sores...
- "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Safiya Asya Bukhari
- "Threat" - Kings Mob ProductionsKings Mob ProductionsKings Mob Productions is a DiY filmmaking and agitprop media-making "anti-corporation" dedicated to creating "new, dangerous, and thought-provoking media."-Background:...
- "Bells I [Sci Fi Mix]" - Nic EndoNic EndoNic Endo is a Japanese-German-American noise musician who plays with the German digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot...
- "Orgasm" - Ducky DoolittleDucky DooLittleDucky DooLittle is a sex educator, performer, writer, former peepshow girl, and sexual assault and violence intervention counselor in the New York City area...
with Jello BiafraJello BiafraJello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
Filmmakers
- Abel FerraraAbel FerraraAbel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
- Kings Mob ProductionsKings Mob ProductionsKings Mob Productions is a DiY filmmaking and agitprop media-making "anti-corporation" dedicated to creating "new, dangerous, and thought-provoking media."-Background:...
- Matt PizzoloMatt PizzoloMatt Pizzolo is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, and producer. His early works were created in New York City's Lower East Side, where he lived for eight years before moving to Los Angeles...
- Katie Nisa
- Lloyd KaufmanLloyd KaufmanLloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. Kaufman also serves as...
- Jem CohenJem CohenJem Alan Cohen is an award-winning New York City-based filmmaker known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists. He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award and many first place awards for feature filmmaking...
- Sarah JacobsonSarah JacobsonSarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who wrote, produced, and filmed her own movies.-Career:...
- Harris SmithHarris Smith (filmmaker)Harris Smith is a filmmaker, media critic and essayist from New York City. He is one of the founding members of the Remodernist film movement and was a participating member of the first comprehensive Remodernist exhibition in the United States, Addressing the Shadow and Making Friends with Wild...
- Esther BellEsther BellEsther Bell is an American film director. Her two feature films, Godass and Exist, have received critical acclaim in The New York Times and Variety for their tones of social and political relevance....
- Shane's WorldShane's WorldShane's World Studios is a pornographic film company started in 1996. It is one of the first companies to pioneer the reality style videos of adult entertainment. The company was originally started by Seymore Butts' ex-girlfriend Shane, who lent her name to the business...
- Debbie RochonDebbie RochonDebbie Rochon is a Canadian B-movie actress and former stage performer, best known for her work in Troma films.-Biography:...
- Hook-Ups (“Destroying America”)
- Jim JarmuschJim JarmuschJames R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
Writers
- Howard ZinnHoward ZinnHoward Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
- Nicole BlackmanNicole BlackmanNicole Blackman is a New York City-born performance artist, poet, author, and vocalist.-Literary career:Blackman is involved in the North American goth, spoken word and transgressive literature scenes....
- Sander HicksSander HicksSander Hicks is the founder of Soft Skull Press, and Vox Pop Inc. Raised in the DC area, he is the son of Norman Hicks, a progressive economist and anti-poverty specialist, who is retired from the . Raised Catholic, Sander attended Bishop Ireton High School, where he graduated with honors...
- William Upski WimsattWilliam Upski WimsattWilliam Wimsatt, also known as Billy or Upski is a social entrepreneur, author, political organizer, and former graffiti artist...
- Cat Tyc
- Clamor Magazine
Activist Media
- CrimethInc.CrimethInc.CrimethInc., also known as CWC , is a decentralized anarchist collective of autonomous cells. CrimethInc. emerged in the mid-1990s, initially as the hardcore zine Inside Front, and began operating as a collective in 1996...
- Zack ExleyZack ExleyZack Exley is a political and technology consultant, currently employed as the Chief Community Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation and previously from ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy...
- Safiya Asya Bukhari
- Independent Media CenterIndependent Media CenterThe Independent Media Center is a global participatory network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the Seattle anti-WTO protests worldwide in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism and its...
- PickAxe Productions
- Big Noise Films
- Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
- Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
- Soft Skull PressSoft Skull PressSoft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
Performance Artists
- Jello BiafraJello BiafraJello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
- Ducky DoolittleDucky DooLittleDucky DooLittle is a sex educator, performer, writer, former peepshow girl, and sexual assault and violence intervention counselor in the New York City area...
- Radical CheerleadersRadical cheerleadingRadical cheerleading is a form of cheerleading that originated in Florida, but has now spread across the United States as well as Canada, Europe and beyond. The idea is to ironically reappropriate the aesthetics of cheerleading, for example by changing the chants to promote feminism and left-wing...
- Kaiju Big BattelKaiju Big BattelKaiju Big Battel is a performance by the Boston, Massachusetts based performance entertainment troupe Studio Kaiju created by Rand Borden and David Borden. The performances are parodies of both professional wrestling and the tokusatsu kaiju movies of Japan...
- Aurora Cicero (tarot readingsTarotThe tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
)
Illustrators/Photographers
- Seth TobocmanSeth TobocmanSeth Tobocman is a radical comic book artist who has been living in Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1978. Tobocman is best known for his creation of the political comic book World War 3 Illustrated, which he started in 1979 with fellow artist Peter Kuper...
- Jason Rose
- Buddyhead
- Suicide Girls
Musicians
- Kevin DevineKevin DevineKevin Devine is an American songwriter and musician from Brooklyn, New York, who is known for alternately introspective and political lyrics and melodic acoustic guitar songs...
- Mystic
- Dillinger Escape Plan
- Atari Teenage RiotAtari Teenage Riot'Atari Teenage Riot' is a German digital hardcore group formed in Berlin in 1992. The name was taken from a Portuguese Joe song 'Teenage Riot' from the 'Teen-age Riot' album, with the word 'Atari' added as an Atari ST computer was used to create compositions...
- Creation Is CrucifixionCreation Is CrucifixionCreation Is Crucifixion is a mathcore band that was formed in early 1997 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band was known for its complicated sound, which varied from ambient noise to more complex pieces...
- White Collar Crime
- Miracle Of 86
- Space Robot Scientists
- Hanin EliasHanin EliasHanin Elias is a German industrial/techno artist. She was a member of Atari Teenage Riot and is now a solo artist....
- Ani DifrancoAni DiFrancoAni DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
- D-StroyD-StroyD-Stroy is an American hip hop Host, rapper, DJ, producer and actor of Puerto Rican descent. He is a founding member of and current CEO of Play Big Inc. and a former artist of Matador Records,...
- Holocaust
- The Icarus LineThe Icarus LineThe Icarus Line is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California.The Icarus Line was formed out of the ashes of high school punk group Kanker Sores...
- Audiofile Collective
- Ian MacKayeIan MacKayeIan Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, label owner, and producer. Active since 1979, MacKaye is best known for being the frontman of the influential hardcore punk bands Minor Threat and The Teen Idles, the post-hardcore bands Embrace and Fugazi, as well...
- Shipwreck
- LiarsLiars (band)Liars is a three-piece band formed in 2000 consisting of Angus Andrew , Aaron Hemphill , and Julian Gross...
- This Year's ModelThis Year's ModelThis Year's Model is Elvis Costello's second album and his first with The Attractions, released in 1978 . It was recorded mainly at Eden Studios in West London....