photo by Blowfish
Chis and Glen from KLYAM, mannnn, you know these guys?! Ok, lemme back up.
I’m old at this point, 43! The Boston/ New England music scene/community has (or more aptly, various alternatives to/ undergrounds of the larger Boston etc. music scenes) have, more or less been all I’ve known as a music and creative scene/ community for the entirety of my life. I got involved at 14/15 going to punk shows in 1994/1995 and I’ve been actively involved in one form or another ever since.
In all those years I’ve met many, many art organizers, punk promoters, DIY music scene pillars and the like. Nobody I’ve ever encountered has more purely done it for THE JOY of the thing itself than Glen and Chris. NO BODY.
It’s been an amazing trip getting to know these guys over the years and watching them spin their lovingly eclectic DIY dreams into a lovingly eclectic DIY reality. It aint about clothes ya dummy. It aint about a genre, or a band. It aint about the money. It aint even about you. Look no further than these two KLYAM freaks if you wanna get a good grip on what’s it’s really about.
Now read these questions I asked Chris & Glen via email and over beers @ the Silouhette recently.
What are the ur-texts of KLYAM?
CHRIS: I’m not sure what this means?! KLYAM stands for Kids Like You & Me as you know. We started it initially as a blog on June 27, 2009. Our friend and bandmate Ben Tan (in our band Johnnie and the Foodmasters) thought we should call it Kids Like You & Me as a reference to the song “Bad Kids” by our favorite band the Black Lips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5N_mtmV_Q
GLEN: Discovering new music and counterculture and blogging about that for the first few years. Rapidly increasing fandom and appreciation of independent music. Immersion into local, DIY music, contributing our part by putting out records and putting on shows. Still immersed.
15 FUCKING YEARS!!!! What was the Boston underground like when you guys started out? How’d you get involved?
CHRIS: The local music scene was totally off our radar when we started. The Kids Like You & Me blog was devoted to our favorite bands (many of which were of the garage punk variety) and our various musings on whatever came to mind: movie reviews, political rants, opinions on the topics of the day. Mostly focused on music. Mostly a fan site. We obsessively wrote about our favorite bands. It was kinda unhinged, but it was the era of the blogosphere! Things didn’t really have to make sense, at least it seemed that way. Outside of some shows in the burbs, we hadn’t really gone out to too many local shows. It was mostly seeing stuff in our hometown and supporting our friends’ bands. Then we started seeing bigger bands like the Black Lips and No Age and people like that and we slowly heard about smaller bands. Simultaneously I was attending college at UMass Lowell and one day my roommate Jimmy invited me to a house show at his friend’s place since he knew I wrote about bands and liked going to shows. I had never been to a house show before, but I was intrigued and Gritty happened to be visiting me that weekend. Turns out Frank Hurricane was on tour from Atlanta. It was a trip. I’d be lying if I said I was immediately transformed into a local music head, but it definitely felt special. Around that same time, we were communicating with Allie Hanlon from the bands The White Wires and Peach Kelli Pop (located in Ottawa at the time) and she invited us to both of her bands’ shows when they came here on tour and they were both at house/underground spaces (Starlab and Problem House respectively). Slowly we started meeting people and hearing about more DIY spaces. We first met you Dan at Gay Gardens! The show was on November 19, 2011 and Fat History Month/Florida=Death, Big Mess, and Saralee was the bill! I remember you handing me a flyer for upcoming Hassle shows and saying the scene stays alive because people like all of us document it!
GLEN: The 2011/2012 underground was fertile – we only knew a small part of it all, being totally outsiders at first as Chris alluded to. But there were plenty of house shows, small venues/bars, a variety of “nights,” fests, etc. We went to what we could. Local diy / underground bands would play with more well known touring bands often in those days, sometimes at bigger venues and sometimes at houses. Those pairings were fitting and great (educational and entertaining) for us as fans – relatively newer underground fans at that! We got to know people like you who were much more involved. We discovered some amazing bands and became more involved ourselves – eventually putting out music we loved and putting on shows with bands we enjoyed. That’s still the inspiration and guideline – doing it all for fun and good times. We like to mix things up and haven’t been afraid to be random. As long as we’re excited about the stuff we’re doing, we’ll keep going. There’s no financial incentive or outside pressure to do or not do anything. This is DIY after all.
In these 15 years… tell me about your trajectory and the trajectory of the local underground music community in that time…
CHRIS: Like I said before, we started off outside of the local underground music community. It was little by little. We started stumbling into more and more local music shows until that became primarily what we were writing about and documenting. We saw bands like Saralee, Skimask, Guerilla Toss, and that definitely expanded our horizons beyond straight up rock and roll/garage punk (we never exclusively listened to that though!). We got really hooked on Fat Creeps. That motivated us to start a record label and we did without knowing how that worked! More on that later. Overtime, writing about bands all the time wasn’t as appealing. The blog still exists, but we morphed into a show booking entity about 10 years ago. That’s primarily what we do now. There wasn’t any conscious decision to do that. There never really is. We never push anything and go with what feels right. We like putting on shows!
As for the scene’s trajectory, that’s harder to say. You know way more than us Dan, but from our perspective, there’s been a lot of ups and downs. We love talking about the past, but also crave newer bands and what’s happening now. That being said, 2012 was an amazing year! The house show circuit was a lot stronger and in general, the scene felt tighter. And to be honest, better bands or at least more bands to our liking. With the crackdown on houses and various venues closing over the years, it’s been a bummer in that regard. Bands and people leaving town. Luckily, we’re optimists! You have to be. I personally don’t feel like I have an option not to be. If you want something to be better, you have to make it better. I don’t like when people say “You’ll do fine!” or “We’ll be okay.” You have to make things okay. That’s the KLYAM way. Even if you’re surrounded by a wall of shit. You welcome that shit. I’ve always said when everything sucks and there’s no hope, it’s the best time to do anything. You have nothing to lose and you have less competition! Gritty always says “the best time to do anything is now.” The last couple years have been a breath of fresh air with some really cool bands like Loretta, Phagocyte, Gossip Collar, Adult Learners, Thighs (of course, we’ll miss y’all dearly!), Foodmasters and Gritty holding down the fort, and mainly coming from the Pelvic Floor crew. Huge shout out to them! They are making a huge impact and making the scene more acceptable for Trans/Queer folks. K.O. Queen, Nurse Joy, Jarsch, Dilemma Rose and the Wailin’ Milfs to name some 🙂
GLEN: Chris covered it all quite well above! There’s been a notable revival post-shows returning in Summer 2021, at least for us and all the bands Chris mentioned. So many new people that we’ve met who are doing very inspirational and amazing work. And older heads who’ve started up new bands, too. There might not be as many venues, ‘promoters’, but there’s still usually at least a few local shows that catch our attention almost every week. It’s exciting – almost like our early underground days. There was a trajectory from the mid 2010s to 2020 where the garage / noise / punk / experimental was notably not as prevalent (some great bands broke up or moved away) – and more psych or pop rock was sprouting up. We were still doing what we liked – it just seemed like there weren’t as many bands doing what we liked. But we’re in a new era for sure!
What is it that inspires you guys to continue throwing punk and diy shows in 2024?
CHRIS: I don’t get inspired by most things. I don’t find inspirational stuff to be inspiring! We have some definite inspirations such as Illegally Blind, BUFU, Boston Hassle (of course!), and the bands we love and definitely the DIY ethics out there. But, I’m more inspired by things I don’t like haha. I think we both think that way. It’s like “That sucks! This is how we would do it.” That goes from everything to the way we interact with people all the way up to the events we book. How we go about our lives. How we perform in our bands.
GLEN: Agreed. At this point we’re very confident that what we’re doing is fun so we’ll keep that going – live and learn with some adjustments here and there.
Most fun show you’ve thrown? Or 2 or 3?
CHRIS: I’ve enjoyed all of the shows we’ve thrown, some more than others. It’s more individual bands/performances that stand out to me than the shows themselves. The Monsieurs, The Barbazons (asking us what songs we wanted them to play as they went through the set!), Unnatural Axe, the last few Johnnie and the Foodmasters’ sets at our Rama Lama Ding Dong festival have been wild! The noise fests were trippy. The shows we’ve thrown in parks in Somerville have been an amazing alternative. The first one we did at Lincoln Park in September 2021 (that Thighs played!) felt like a great way to really return to shows after the Pandemic.
GLEN: Yeah – there’s something nice about all the shows we’ve done. I’ve personally loved the outdoor genny shows of the past few years. Rolling up to the park and building a show from scratch is very rewarding. The Rama Lama Ding Dongs have been consistently awesome!
Who are some Boston or New England bands of the past that you wish you’d had the chance to book???
CHRIS: Historically speaking, The Shaggs, The Pixies, Lou Miami & The Kozmetix, Lightning Bolt, Gerty Farish (someday!), Jerry’s Kids, Gang Green, DMZ, and absolutely Tunnel of Love. In our time, would have loved to have booked Maine Coons, Saralee, Pucker Up, Haag, The Migs, The Silkies, Bugs and Rats, Fat History Month, and Fat Creeps (put out their record though!)
GLEN: Saralee #1 for me. Such a special band with a singular, stand out sound. The best humid basement band. I was hooked when I first saw/heard them and all these years later I’m constantly revisiting all of their stuff. Maybe I’ll start a fan club – I know there’d be at least a few passionate members.
In a town where the venues suck often & the diy venues are destined to have too short lifespans, what are some spaces that have been important to you two in your DIY journey?
CHRIS: First off, Club Bohemia – what they used to call the basement of the Cantab Lounge – was one of our favorites. Our boy Mickey Bliss was great to us and we’re still friends and collaborators. He supported us early on. Most people hated that place haha. It was a dank dive bar, perfect for KLYAM! Not as much now though 🙁 . The Black Lodge, Trixie’s Palace, and The Farm were all great Allston basements for some of our shows/noise fests over the years! ZuZu, Lilypad, State Park, O’Brien’s Pub, and most recently Cambridge Community Center are above ground venues that have all been excellent to us!
GLEN: Agreed on all those! Shout out to Moe’s Lounge or later known as Radio Down. Sort of like the more polished cousin of Club Bohemia – it had a great basement vibe for being Legit.
How’d you guys meet? What brought you together over music?
CHRIS: Strip club bathroom. You know they say politics makes strange bedfellows! For real though haha, we grew up in Wakefield, MA and met in the 5th grade in 2001. We had many classes together and got to know each other over the years and eventually started hanging out together. We would show each other music – I’d introduce Gritty to older artists like Buzzcocks or Black Flag or Daniel Johnston or whoever and in turn he would show me newer people like Animal Collective or Deerhunter. Music wasn’t the central focus of our friendship. We were just best friends. But, we slowly started getting more and more into bands and shows and writing about both. Black Lips (as you know and I won’t bore) was definitely a turning point and the garage punk contemporaries that came with that. We became die hards. Or as we used to say “excessive fandom.”
GLEN: Definitely! Sharing music via CD mixes, AIM, and eventually blogging. I didn’t have much of a perspective on older music (like pre-2000s) and Chris knew a ton of that and was always showing me that. I was deep into contemporary indie rock or whatever it was called, and then more obscure stuff – there was a ton to share back and forth.
What’s the future of Boston diy looking like??
CHRIS: Fuck .No idea! I try not to think about the future too much, but I know you have to. As everyone knows from listening to Hellhole by the Sea, Boston is getting more and more corporate and shitty by the day. When I was younger I wanted to knock the corporate ogre flat on it’s fat fucking ass and I still do. But, I don’t put my energy towards that any more. I don’t think we’re going to destroy anything. However, I want to continue to exist outside the mainstream and create our own alternative world. As for DIY in Boston, I’m uncertain. I think it will always exist, but the degree to which it will, I am not positive. We need more people doing what we’re (us and you Dan!) doing and more of it and better (at least for us lol). I don’t see as much happening right now. Is the next generation going to be even worse? Hope not! I hope people can look at KLYAM and think ‘hey, if these bozos can do this, so can I.’ That’s important to us. That people realize even amongst all the bullshit you can still make your band/label/booking thing whatever happen and thrive. And if it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to at least you had fun along the way. That’s also important to us. We like to have fun and want everyone else to as well. Positive vibes. I think we need more of that and hopefully that will bring more people together. PMA isn’t sunshine, loli pops, and rainbows (although I like those, shout out to Ms. Gore), it’s making the world a better place as corny as that sounds. It’s a horrible place, but there’s still beauty out there. Even the smallest act of kindness is better than nothing at all. You give nothing, you get nothing. I’m not a JFK fan (not a fan of any U.S. president), but I’m a sucker for the “Ask not…” quote. And I throw that out there to anyone in Boston: Ask not what your local music scene can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your local music scene. You think there aren’t cool shows happening on Tuesday nights? Start booking them! That’s always been our attitude. We do what we want and later see if it works.
GLEN: That’s right. I’m feeling optimistic about Boston DIY. We’ve now seen what people mean when they say – it’s a college town that changes every four years. And that rings true beyond just 18 to 22 year olds. People are always moving, or moving on from DIY. Life happens. We’ve been fortunate to have DIY coincide with whatever is happening in our life and we’re at least interested to still play a part in the magic, as fans and as people who put on shows and play in bands. The personalization, niche-ization of the current / future social media environment means that things probably won’t be like they once were – when the scene appeared (or was) more organic or unified. Still, it’s literally do it yourself – aka people making things happen. Always was and always will be. If you’re a new band or booker, totally outsiders as we once were – know that there are options for you. It’s easier than ever to connect but along the lines of what Chris said – prepare for disappointment if you are expecting things from a ‘scene’ without an input on your end. I’m still very grateful for the times we/I have been asked to be a part of something that we/I didn’t do ourselves. 15 years later.
Is your record label still active? How hard is it to run a label?
CHRIS: It’s not totally gone, most of our releases (even ones that sold out initially) are available online: https://klyamrecords.limitedrun.com/. Some are available at Deep Thoughts in Jamaica Plain, Vinyl Index in Somerville, and Armageddon Records in Cambridge. For all intents and purposes, it’s defunct as of now. We had fun doing it, but we have no plans on putting out any more releases. At least now, but you never know! It’s hard to run a label and expensive! Vinyl is expensive. We initially wanted to focus more on vinyl and we did, but then we started doing tapes and that was cool, but ultimately felt like we weren’t doing anything the bands themselves couldn’t already do. I don’t want to speak for Gritty, but I’ll speak for myself, it felt like you had to be more business savvy if you wanted to accomplish anything running a label with relatively unknown artists. I think if you look at our other ventures over the years (blogging, booking shows, podcast, DJ nights) you can get away with not thinking about business too much and still thrive. But, I don’t think that’s true with a label. I’m not knocking people who have solid business models and run a smooth business. If you can pull it off, hats off to you! I’m glad people do and I think it’s great there are independent labels out there. One of the other reasons I lost interest in running the label is because my approach to everything has always been as a fan and I get obsessed with some records and then I want to move on to the next thing. I could be pumped on a show and then the show happens and it’s great and you move on to the next. With a label, there’s a release and probably a release show/party, but then the record doesn’t go away. Even if it does well and/or sells out, then you just do a repressing. Personally, I would rather move on to the next thing. Also, it’s been a blessing to have done all the releases on KLYAM Records, but frankly when you’re working with independent artists, they could break up at any time and that makes it difficult to sell the records/tapes.
GLEN: I feel similarly. We got into a nice rhythm with the label and had some momentum out of the gate. Simply put, we released music that we enjoyed and invested time and money to put out a physical product for these bands. Something they could sell at shows, on tour, or online. We also sold it ourselves, but it was for the bands. No one was signed exclusively to our label and it was something of a cultural artifact. There are tons of labels who’ve had that model. We still have the (pretty decent) equipment to duplicate tapes. It could be as simple as dusting it off and exploring new territory, but prob not as the ole KLYAM Records. It was a nice run!
The brand of diy punk that you all trade in: can u talk about some of the underlying philosophies that make KLYAM tick?
CHRIS: I have 3 core philosophies. 1) Don’t do anything you don’t want to do, 2) Think for yourself and question authority, and the most difficult one 3) Be kind to everyone!
GLEN: Fun times and gratitude – mostly
