S1E11 - Contributing to the Punk Scene: Jason Herbert on Marketing and Guerilla Promotion

Episode Notes

Eric and Ben discuss community building and how marketing fits with DIY culture with Jason Hebert of Rebel Force. Jason is from Sudbury, Ontario, a small town with a legendary reputation for punk rock and local music. They compare it to Seattle in the 90s, noting that it lacks media attention but is full of undiscovered gems. They also mention the Townhouse, a legendary venue for bands traveling through Sudbury. In general, the conversation is focused on punk culture, music, and DIY. The speaker got involved with the local punk rock scene when they were 14 years old. The speaker's first goal was to play one show and eventually they started meeting people and putting on shows. As they got more involved, they passed the torch on to the next generation. They don't remember exactly who passed the torch to them, but they remember the big names in the scene at the time that were organizing everything. The conversation is about two friends, Kevin Mason and the speaker, who used to organize punk rock shows in the late 90s and early 2000s in Sudbury. They would put up posters to advertise, using letters cut out from magazines since they didn't have a computer or printer. They also organized an annual event they called the Fuck School Show, which caused a lot of trouble with school administrators. The conversation also mentions a girl named Amy who was in the same room as the two friends for some of the shows. The conversation is about how to organize a show in a local scene. The speaker talks about how they used to coordinate shows in Sudbury before social media was a thing. They had a network of contacts and venues that they worked with to put together shows. They also mentioned how they did design, marketing and promotion for the shows. They also talk about how punk rock has a bit of a secret attitude towards it and the speaker mentions how guerrilla marketing and street teams were used to promote shows.