by Sam Goblin (@mistergoblin1)
If you haven’t been involved in DIY (or even if you have) the whole thing might seem like a haphazard mess of connections that may or may not exist in the real world. While there may be some truth to this, there are a blessed few who dare to attempt to keep the whole thing together and moving toward something more meaningful. This sort of facilitative role arguably became even more important when COVID-19 hit, wiping out the usual avenues for artists and forcing people to get more creative than usual. I caught up with one of the people I’m talking about, Judy Hong (they/them) who runs Quiet Year Records, plays in Baby Grill, and organizes with Ice Cream Social in Richmond, VA. Along with Nancy Grim Kells (they/them, Spartan Jet-Plex, Womajich Dialyseiz) and James Cassar (he/him), they’re part of the team responsible for Grim Year Wednesdays, an inventive online hybrid of interviews and performances with a focus on fundraising for the Virginia Anti-Violence Project.
At the risk of making you state the obvious, why did you settle on the name Grim Year Wednesdays? Why Wednesdays in particular?
Grim Year Wednesdays is a collaboration between Grimalkin Records and Quiet Year Records. And 2020 has been grim. I honestly don’t remember why we picked Wednesdays. I think a factor was there already being a lot of events happening on weekends.
I love the idea that the show features a hybrid of interviews and performances, and it looks like this concept was a shared effort between your label, Quiet Year Records, Grimalkin Records, and Rumblepak.co. Can you tell us a little bit about how that collaboration came about, and how you all decided on the format?
When shows started getting canceled, I was particularly bummed about not being able to see screamo/heavy shows. I love the acoustic/at-home live streams that have popped up over the past few months, but that’s not really an option for a lot of artists. I wanted to come up with a way to keep in touch with members of the screamo community, as well as non-performing people involved in the music industry in and out of Richmond.
Nancy Grim Kells from Grimalkin Records has been doing a lot of great work in the Richmond community for years and runs a sick label, so I asked them for their collaboration and feedback. Over a plethora of phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages, we fleshed out an interview sandwich format, with a musical performance to break up the lengthy conversations and help keep the audience engaged.
Something that Nancy and I value as label facilitators and musicians is mutual aid and fair pay for artists. That’s standard throughout the work we do, especially since we prioritize QTBIPOC. We want to support those who have been affected by the temporary loss of shows/touring (which feels like everyone around us) and are committed to compensating everyone who does work with us (in this case, the interviewees and graphic designer). Unfortunately, both of us are also in the unemployment boat soooo *flashback*
I met James [Cassar] of Rumblepak a handful of years back during our college years. We ended up collaborating a lot and even did PR for Quiet Year before I took a hiatus in 2015. He’s definitely an incredible resource for learning how things are done on a professional level, but that all stems from being friends before becoming business partners. We’ve talked a lot about gatekeepers and barriers in the music industry and the structures that benefit from keeping certain people marginalized. I think we all agree things can be better. Anyway, I called him to bounce off some ideas and brought up that we needed to figure out a way to sustainably pay everyone fairly. In response, he agreed to completely fund payment for the guests to alleviate Nancy and my out-of-pocket costs and also do free PR work for us. He was going to stay anonymous, but I reminded him that he does Rumblepak and he can have a little credit lol.
For those who might not be aware, all the proceeds from the show are being allocated to the Virginia Anti-Violence Project which “works to address and end violence, with a specific focus on LGBT and queer communities across Virginia.” How did Grim Year decide on that organization in particular?
This was a tough decision-- Nancy and talked about this one for a while. There’s a lot of groups doing necessary work, both before the pandemic hit and now.
I particularly connect with VAVP cause I’ve attended a few workshops and fundraisers for them over the span of my two years living in Richmond. I appreciate VAVP’s commitment to addressing and ending violence from an individual level to systemic levels and everywhere in between. They tackle the messy, the tragic, the unanswerable. To be real, the skills and knowledge I’ve learned from them has helped me get through a lot of difficult times. They’ve been doing the work for a while and are an incredible resource and honestly give me a lot of hope. Plus, Nancy is on their sustainability committee, so having that direct relationship between us and the org is nice.
Are there any plans to transition Grim Year over to an in-person format eventually, circumstances permitting?
Judy: I literally never thought about that until now. Wow. Maybe. I really like being home, though…
Nancy: Actually having a series like this post-pandemic would be a great way to provide more accessibility to folks with disabilities and people who may not be able to access shows in person for any reason. Finding ways to host in-person shows via video platforms would provide convenience and accessibility to people who cannot attend in person.
I got to know you as a musician because I’ve played with a few of your projects, but I know you’ve done tons of activism and organizing work in DC, Richmond, and elsewhere. Do you see yourself primarily as one or the other, or does performing and activism kind of go hand-in-hand for you?
Eh, in short, I started out organizing before I started performing cause that was what I was confident in. I’m still not fully confident performing, but organizing comes pretty naturally for me. I have a problem-solver brain. I still handle being a musician that way too, very logistical, lots of planning, detail-oriented or whatever. So yeah, I guess it is mutually exclusive. I organized so my friends and I can perform too. At the end of the day, I just want to have fun with my friends.
What’s up with the Baby Grill full length, though?
I don’t think we’re ready for that. Lemme get some touring and another EP in first.
Anything else you want to share, or anything you think people should be aware of with everything going on currently?
You can find the full Grim Year calendar here.
You can watch/listen to previous episodes of Grim Year Wednesdays on Quiet Year’s Facebook and Grimalkin’s Youtube.
Check out Grimalkin Records’ Patreon- all their releases raise money for good causes and their catalogue is just really great in general.
Someone should really pay Nancy and me for our work.
I hope the rebellions going on will lead to tangible change in every person and every industry. I want to see more sustainable, paid opportunities for marginalized people, whether that be through jobs, residencies, sponsorships, grants, etc. I want to see them in leadership/ management positions. I want proper education and safe housing for all. I want prisons abolished, police defunded, ICE detention centers dismantled, and reparations for black and indigenous people. Invest in care, not cops. QTBIPOC are the future. Black trans lives matter.