Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesFed Up Fest Is Here!

Fed Up Fest 2016 is returning to Chicago this weekend. We asked the collective what it's all about...

What is Fed Up Fest? How did it get started?

Fed Up Fest came out of conversations about the lack of queer and trans folks in a punk scene largely dominated by straight and cis folks. It felt uncomfortable and unsafe at times. Originally taking inspiration from the Black & Brown Punk Collective, organizers decided to create a fest dedicated to showcasing and celebrating radical queer and trans voices in punk and hardcore; confronting and challenging the oppression and abuse in our scenes; and creating stronger and more sustainable bonds between and across radical queer and punk communities.

In order to achieve these goals, the FUF collective organizes a three day, all ages, music, art, and workshop fest dedicated to elevating the music and visibility of queer and trans people engaging with and confronting white supremacist, heteropatriarchy; and, actively challenging microaggressions, cultural appropriation, and rape culture in punk and hardcore scenes. The Fest is also a fundraiser for a local organization that centers its work around the queer and trans community; this year that beneficiary is the Transformative Justice Law Project.

Who are some of the artists and bands that will be performing this year?

FRIDAY July 29 at Auxiliary Arts (3012 W Belmont Ave)

+ Mermaid N.V. (Chi)
+ WEB (Chi)
+ Atta Boi (Chi)
+ ugly lovers (WA)
+ Crutch (OK)
+ Jesus and his Judgemental Father (Leeds, UK)
+ Tigress (Chi)
+ Moor Mother Goddess (PA)

SAT and SUN July 30-31 at the Black Couch Studio (4200 W Diversey Ave)

SATURDAY
+ Marvin the Robot (OH)
+ No Approach (NC)
+ Naive Sense (MN)
+ Vile Creature (Ontario, Canada)
+ Rifle Diet (MN)
+ SISSYFIT (CA + NY)
+ Homosuperior (DC)
+ ONO (Chi)

SUNDAY
+ Pessimist Prime (IL)
+ + (Plus Sign) (CHI)
+ Human Being (Chi)
+ pussy foot (Chi)
+ Jenna and the Pups (PA)
+ Spray Tan (CA)
+ Trash Lobster (OK)
+ The Breathing Light (Chi)
 

Are there any artists, individuals, groups, etc. from Punk music's beginnings that the Festival looks to for inspiration?

Fed Up Fest is inspired by the direct action coalition Fed Up Queers (FUQ) that existed in New York city from 1989-1990; Homocore Chicago shows put on by Mark Freitas and Joanna Brown in the 90s; and the Black and Brown Punk Collective, which creates shows for QTIBIPOC punx to network and keep the Chicago punk scene diverse and safe.

Talk about what a "community of care" is. Are you advocating actions or policies that go beyond the confines of the music festival?

We are advocating for an intentional space that works to minimize harm, violence, and oppression that might occur at the Fest. We recognize that people come to the Fest with different experiences, perspectives, behaviors, and language, and that some of those things can be harmful to others. A community of care works to address that harm, in order to create a space that is both empowering for survivors of violence, and challenging for those who enact violence.

Obviously, Fed Up Fest doesn’t exist within a vacuum, so if someone is being harmful at the Fest, our response is focused on that particular behavior and also acknowledges that these behaviors come from larger systems of oppression. Like our statement says, “We seek to forge stronger bonds and create a community that we can rely on, rather than systems of violence and domination.” We hope this inspires people to take this care and compassion beyond the confines of the Fest.

This is the festival's 3rd year. How has the event changed so far in its short lifespan, and how hasn't it?

This year, we’ve been more concrete in communicating our intentions around dealing with oppressive behaviors, through the community of care statement. We do our best to take the knowledge and wisdom our community shares with us to improve. We’ve made mistakes and listened to folks’ critiques from previous years, and we’re always working on what we do and how we do it.

The collective has rotated every year, which provides fresh insight into these practices. There has also been a strong shift from just highlighting queercore to a broader inclusion of bands and genres that embody a spirit of punk, queerness, and radicalism. It’s still punk. It’s still political. It’s still DIY. It’s still a benefit. And it always will be.

How easy or hard has it been getting the word out about Fed Up Fest, especially in such a crowded Chicago summer festival season?

We’re not trying to compete with bigger music fests. There aren’t a lot of radical, DIY, queer- and trans-centered, anti-oppressive punk fests. We have a reputation already so a lot of folks are coming this year that have in previous years, and it's this type of trust that encourages word-of-mouth promotion that we rely on the most. Queer and trans folks from all over hear about us and travel here just to come to the fest, but can’t afford or don’t care about “Riot” Fest or Lull-apalooza. We did get nominated for a Chicago Nightlife award though, so...

The hardest part is the lack of resources and connections since we’re a benefit and have to start from $0 every year.

Queercore gives a space to those who might be unwelcome in "traditional" Punk and Hardcore places. Over the last few years, has that particular mainstream at least started to the get the message that there's room for everyone to make and enjoy music?

We’re not concerned with being assimilated into the punk and hardcore mainstream in order for queer and trans folks to be “included” in a scene that has felt exclusionary and unsafe for many of us. To this day, we continually see homogenous punk and hardcore shows where there isn’t room for everyone to make and enjoy music, where entire bills are booked containing only straight, cis, white men. What we’d rather see is queer and trans folks carving out their own spaces that feel empowering for them despite the marginalization they may experience in their local scenes.

Throughout the last two years of the fest, people have told us what a positive, empowering experience they have at FUF. Then, they get really sad when they remember that almost all other punk and music spaces they’re in the other 362 days of the year in aren’t anything like it.

It is, of course, election season. Last week, Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal, became the first person in history to make a speech publicly acknowledging that he is gay at a Republican convention. Is this in any way progress?

No, this isn’t what we consider progress.

It's been almost 20 years since the heyday of Chicago's '90s hardcore scene. Since then, it seems like many of the spaces in the city that used to be meeting places for punks are being torn down or gentrified. How does one stay punk in 2016?

Considering the rampant gentrification and policing that occurs within Chicago, physical spaces are hard to create, and autonomous/DIY spaces are getting shut down more often than started. It seems to us that punks have gone online in order to talk, connect, promote when and where shows are, share music, etc. Of course, you can still go to punk shows at houses, bars, and venues - just look for photocopied flyers hanging around town and show up. But punk isn’t such a monolithic thing anymore. It’s dispersed to the point where there are a lot of scenes just within Chicago, with different politics and identities and sounds.

And studs. You gotta wear lots of studs.

What are your hopes and dreams for Fed Up Fest moving forward?

We hope to grow to a point that we have more sustainable funding and can provide our beneficiaries with even more funds each year. We’d also love to increase the network of bands that we attract to play the fest. We want more international representation in the bands that play and in the racial and gender diversity of performers.