Fists flying, music bumping, a punch in the face here, a fall on the concrete there – it’s all a blur when you’re moshing during your favorite band’s set at Islais Creek Skate Park. The San Francisco skate park, commonly referred to as 3rd and Army by those that frequent it, is a popular location for DIY music shows in the Bay Area.

The concept of the DIY music scene comes from the full form of the acronym: do it yourself. From choosing a location to booking bands and designing flyers to hauling out equipment, people with a passion for the Bay Area’s heavy music scene are working to keep the DIY aspects of it alive in their communities.

“Besides [DIY] shows, there’s really no other place for young people to go and hang out for free — you know, where nobody wants to gain anything from you,” Jude Rubero of the band Dissociation said. “Everybody wants to just have fun. Everybody has the same idea in mind.” 

The prevalence of DIY culture is engrained in the anti-establishment roots of hardcore-punk, not just as a way to give the boot to the ‘big man’ but also as a gateway for all ages to access alternative outlets and ideologies. 

“That’s what the community really brings to the table, its a lot of like-minded people who agree that the world is fucked up,” Shellye Morris of the band Snallygaster explained. “You can be in a room with people and all know that and not have to talk about it.” 

There is no concrete list of counter-cultural values in the DIY music scene, but themes generally revolve around community and inclusivity. These ground rules become a valuable characteristic of the heavy music scene when taking into account that a major part of the culture is embedded in “moshing,” a form of expressive dance that incorporates punches, kicks and two-stepping into a flow of movement, usually in a ‘pit’ formed in the center-front of a crowd. 

Ash Lee, 18, has improved the quality of shows at 3rd and Army through their sound company, Ash Sound Co. With the help of their father, Robert, they have been able to make shows at the skate spot and other DIY spots more appealing to a wider audience through high-caliber sound engineering, production and professionalism.

Hauling out equipment, PA systems and a stage to, oftentimes elusive, locations is no easy feat. According to the Lee’s, planning begins months ahead of time, and the day of the gig is usually a day-to-night-long excursion that produces little monetary profit. But for Ash, it’s all worthwhile and not something they do for the money. 

“There’s no other place I see so much raw energy and emotion,” Ash Lee said.

Bands like Dissociation, based out of Vallejo, praise Ash Sound Co. for the way they’ve shaped the DIY music scene. 

“Ash is just an incredible asset to the scene,” Dissociation guitarist Carl Laigo said. “[They] turned 3rd and Army into a viable spot to actually play music at.”

In Vallejo, the DIY music scene takes on a new significance given some performance spaces near the area — Golden Eye, Taqueria Mila and 9 Lives in the East Bay — are out of commission. For this reason, bands like Dissociation feel they have no choice but to put on shows in a DIY manner at places like Allan Witt Skatepark. 

It doesn’t always go over smoothly. In the past, Dissociation members recall as many as 12 or 13 police cars arriving at the skatepark after noise complaints were made by neighbors in the area. Dissociation member Angela Elmore thinks that the resources and officers used to police outdoor shows could be better utilized in other areas of Solano County. 

“Going to a skate park show and pulling up with 13 of your cars, like a lot of your cars, that’s taking safety away from the actual community and actual stuff happening,” Elmore said. “They want to respond to some kids having fun.” 

The concept of fun displayed at heavy music shows may be difficult for people outside of the scene to understand; many may see ‘moshing’ as dangerous and inherently violent.

“We’re not here to hurt each other,” Carl Laigo, the guitarist for Dissociation, said. “We’re here to pick each other up when we fall, and we’re trying to have fun.”

It’s true that there’s a chance someone comes out of a show with a black eye or a chipped tooth, but people in the scene make space for everyone, acknowledging that the violent aspects of a mosh pit aren’t every showgoer’s cup of tea.

“That’s why there’s not a pit through the whole venue,” Morris explained. “You can stand further back.”

People active in the DIY heavy music scene, like Morris, believe hardcore-punk spaces can be beneficial. “But that violence is what brings peace to a lot of us. When you can be violent in a controlled room, you tend to be less violent when you leave,” Morris said.

Eissej Washington, the bassist for Dissociation, believes one of the reasons crimes are committed by youth in his hometown is because they don’t have many outlets to express themselves or activities to participate in. 

In 2024, the California Department of Justice reports that out of 15,295 reported juvenile felony arrests in California, 44.1% (6,739) were violent offenses. Out of 7,274 misdemeanor assault and battery offenses by juveniles, the 12-14 age group had the highest percentage of apprehension. 

“Why not come to a show, fuckin’ listen to music, make some friends, get that fucking pent up energy out in a different way, instead of going out and doing crime and shit,” Washington said.

Washington has a little brother, which motivates him to make shows in Vallejo keep happening, “I don’t want him doing that shit [committing crimes]. That’s why I want shows to happen.”

Because the DIY scene lacks age constraints, it often serves as a gateway for youth to get into the heavy music scene when they may not be able to get into an 18+ or 21+ venue show.

“When it comes to the DIY scene in general, everybody’s 15,” Morris explained. “Usually after 18, people start to not go anymore, or change scenes to like hardcore beatdown.”

The influx of young show attendees and new bands into the hardcore, punk and other alternative music subcultures are a vital part of the cycle that keeps the DIY music scene at the crux of constant evolution. 

Ash, who plays in the band’s Baby on a Rampage and Las Ratas, says the scene is constantly evolving. They point to bands that come into different areas of the DIY and hardcore-punk scenes and experiment with new sounds.

“I think seeing the mixture of beatdown hardcore and RBS [Real Bay Shit] and then all sorts of other genres, like the floodgates are open, there’s no need to be close-minded,” Ash said. “You can experiment and keep those same aspects but introduce stuff from all sorts of genres.”

It all ties back to the do-it-yourself nature of the scene. Many bands, such as Snallygaster and Dissociation, abstain from using a specific label to define the genre of their music. Rather, they identify with DIY culture and what it stands for.

As Rubero explains, “When there’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, and you have no fucking money, you just have to make the place yourself.”