I Will Do My Worst

Having trouble finding bands to play your upcoming show this summer? Here are some tips (yes, I used to book shows): 1. Book outside your bubble You gotta broaden your search for openers outside of the shortlist of bands your friends are in. Try booking a band from an adjacent scene or friend group, even if they aren't your cup of tea. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean they don't have a following of friends. People get sick of seeing essentially the same 2-3 locals on every show y...

How-to Contribute to The Counterforce The Counterforce is a distributed and community project! Through 11 issues and 280+ posts, we've been lucky enough to have contributors from all over the world: many are friends, many are strangers, and some were strangers and are now friends. But we can always use more contributors! I don't particularly like writing, and I didn't start this to have a place to publish my own writing. I would really much prefer to just do the shit-work and provide a platform...

The first and only time I ever used the DICE app was to go to a show in New York City. It was the only way to get a ticket to a show I was traveling many hours and crossing an international border to attend. The only way to buy a ticket was by installing the app on a mobile phone – a deranged, dystopic idea. To purchase a ticket for this hardcore punk show, I needed not only a credit card, but a decently-new mobile phone running an OS made by Apple or Google. I needed my phone to be working at t...

In lieu of a year end top ten list, I present to you a dirty dozen of selections from DEMO FEST 2025. In case you missed it, over 70 bands/musicians put together a new demo in October and November this year for our 2nd installment of DEMO FEST. All those releases are available online at 2025.demo-fest.org and all proceeds from donations/downloads go to the local Montreal mutual aid group Solidarity Across Borders. I simply could not narrow this selection down to 10 releases, so it's 12. And eve...

A first column in which I look at the current landscape of bandcamp alternatives and how to DIY punk music online. ...