DIY Conspiracy: Defend DIY Punk

diyconspiracy-logo-punkDIY Conspiracy is a web journal for underground music and culture.

The site launched in 2005, and since then, we have tirelessly strived to embody the creative and community-driven spirit of punk rock, with a strong emphasis on political and ethical values. It is run entirely by a community of international punks for the sake of our enthusiasm. We don’t serve annoying ads and overpromotional nonsense, and we’re not owned by any corporate scumbags.

Over the years, we have published thousands of reviews, interviews, premiere streams, scene reports, and other types of articles on our site. However, we review records out of love for the music and the subculture. We don’t want to contribute to a culture where records are listened to briefly by lazy reviewers just to generate more content on their website, boost a band’s ego, or meet a label’s sales targets.

We have all been involved in bands, collectives, zines, or booking gigs in our local towns. Since 2019, we’ve been organizing our annual DIY Fest, and as gig organizers, we strive to make the shows “prix libre,” meaning everyone decides how to support the venue and bands without a set price.

DIY Solidarity Project

In 2024, we started a new project called DIY Solidarity. This project came to life thanks to an old punk who decided to put an unexpected inheritance to good use. The application period for DIY Solidarity is open annually from March 1st to March 31st.

DIY Solidarity allows us to allocate annual funding to support DIY initiatives globally. There’s a pretty straightforward application form that keeps bureaucracy to a minimum, while allowing us to identify the cornerstones of the project. Our goal is to distribute the funds among bands and venues, zine makers and distros, festivals and gatherings, social centers and living spaces. While applications over $1,000 may go through, chances are limited. Our aim is to benefit a broad array of projects rather than a select few.

A Note on Copyright & Credits to Photographers

DIY Conspiracy does not intentionally infringe any copyright laws.

In our From The Archives section you’ll find some out-of-print interviews, articles and other publications that we’ve found inspiring and interesting enough to republish with full credit to their original creators. If you think we have published copyrighted material without permission, please contact us and we will remove it as soon as possible.

We try to give credit to the photographers of all the images we use on the site. However, this can sometimes be difficult to track down, especially in the case of old, pre-digital photos. If you see an uncredited photo and you know who the author is, please don’t get wild, but do get in touch.

As punks, we’re all about keeping our content free and accessible to everyone. We’re stoked whenever our stuff is republished in a zine or translated into other languages. However, along with genuine DIY punks from our community, we’ve also seen our content scraped by online scammers. That being said, we do ask for a bit of respect for the work we put into creating it. Please give credit where it’s due, or better yet, reach out to us before you republish anything from our site. We’re more than happy to provide additional information, high-res photos, or whatever else you might need to use our content. Let’s keep the punk spirit alive by supporting each other’s work!

Keep us Conspiring – Your Support Matters!

While we strive to be self-sufficient and independent, without sponsored posts or annoying ads, there are significant costs associated with maintaining our site, and any support for DIY Conspiracy is greatly appreciated.

Join the Ranks – Become a Co-Conspirator!

We’re always looking to expand our team of contributors with passionate punks from around the world who are eager to write for DIY Conspiracy.

If you’re interested in contributing, reach out to us with some background information about yourself, your favorite hardcore punk adjacent subgenres, and a review of a recent album (from the past year). We’re also seeking interview submissions, rants, and fresh scene reports on the bands, zines, DIY venues, and collectives that are keeping local punk scenes and communities alive.

A.

A salon Bolshevik. Books shows under Dissonant moniker.

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Andy Lefton

Dedicated to the underground and having a better world we can…

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Angel S.

Playing music, booking shows, occasionally writing. I co-run Amek…

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Apostolis Zamparas

Hiking metal punk and music journalist for Greece's Rocking.gr.…

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Azafell

Anarcho-individualist and illegalist, residing in Sofia. Cultural…

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Charlotte Vásquez

Writer in a lot of places. Art enthusiast. Collector of LPs,…

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Craig

New Zealand's most successfully unsuccessful music writer.…

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Dan Southgate

Lover of music, hater of tories. Gig goer, player and occasional…

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Dickhead Bidge

Dickhead Bidge, as an anarchist vegan bike punk, ticks several of…

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DIY Conspiracy

Articles published by the editorial team of DIY Conspiracy.

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Edwin XVX

𝙑𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙀𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝘼𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙖
Editor for @straightedgeinterviews…

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El Freegano

El Freegano a.k.a. xITSOx. From Skateboarding and Yoga to Hip-Hop…

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Elizabeth Galdamez

Old punk whose dedication to women in the underground is the…

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Eric Anderson

Chicago-based music writer and regular contributor to Maximum…

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Erik Anarchy

My name is Erik Anarchy. I sing in a band called Modern Love (on…

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Fotis xBTWx

XVX. PMA. Strength. // Contact: takexyourxshot [at] yahoo [dot]…

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Gabriel Kuhn

Gabriel Kuhn is the author of books such as Sober Living for the

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George Chelebiev

DIY enthusiast, vegan straight edge. Runs a vegan blog with a…

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Giz Medium

Giz Medium is an anarchist librarian and DIY punk musician living…

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Iggy Punx

Iggy Punx is an Eastern European punk rocker, currently residing…

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Jaxon

Living at the bottom of the world and deeply enmired in…

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Jens VSXE

Jens resides in Sweden and plays in a band called Seeds in Barren…

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Jyoti Mishra

I'm the bloke in White Town
✖straight edge✖
⭐Trotskyist⭐

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Kaygusuz Vandal

A jack of many genres and underground music rebel. Pagan…

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Mario Garofano

Mario loves aggressive music, horror movies, and the natural…

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martin

Language nerd with a soft spot for giant monsters, kungfu…

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Matthew Holmes

Fanatic of RPG's and coffee. Matthew runs a distro called Human…

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Michael Thorn

Michael Thorn is a hardcore punk lifer who is behind Razorblades

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Mittens XVX

Long time zine publisher and hardcore punk gig organizer. Sci-Fi…

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Nathan Brown

Nathan is a punk rock lifer and has promoted DIY gigs, written…

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Niki G.

Releasing records with Ugly and Proud Records, booking shows with…

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Phillip Stounn

A music/film enthusiast, especially focused on DIY/Underground…

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Punks For Rojava

Punks For Rojava is a network of people from the international…

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Randy Smith

When not running little left-radical record label Rebel Time…

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Roman Evdokimov

Music enthusiast, columnist, blogger, and creator of the YouTube…

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Sanctus Wojtek

Singer and lyricist for Sanctus Iuda and Orphanage Named Earth.…

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shentov

I don’t want to produce content. I want to produce discontent.…

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Sina Khanum

Sina Khanum plays in Southern California hardcore and punk bands.…

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Teoman Gee

Teoman Gee is a cofounder of Alpine Anarchist Productions. ⛰️🏴

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Thomas V

Drummer, dad, human resources professional, and sometimes a…

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TN

My name is TN. I play in several bands, including: (1) neocrust…

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xCalumx

Freelance writer and music journalist based in Scotland. Punk,…

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zbpunk

Anarchist punk, dancing on the border of utopia trying to find…

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