A London punk diary on the hard road, the beacon, and the humble gig that mattered most
Punk runs on the DIY tour, the hard road done cheap and rough, sleeping where you can, playing where they let you, and this December I realised the founding story is the original DIY tour: a hard road, no budget, no comfort, and a gig at the end in the least glamorous venue imaginable. I am Siobhan, London punk, and the road to Bethlehem is the punkest tour in history.
The hard road done rough
The DIY tour is punk’s proving ground, the hard road done cheap and rough, and the account of the long journey to Bethlehem is exactly that tour. A hard road, no budget, no comfort, tired travellers pressing on toward a destination with no guarantee of welcome. Every punk who ever did the DIY tour, sleeping in the van, playing the rough venues, pressing on with no money and no comfort, knows this road. The journey to Bethlehem is the original DIY tour: the hard road, the exhaustion, the pressing on toward an uncertain welcome, done rough and cheap and real. That is punk touring two thousand years early, the hard road with no budget, no comfort, and no promise of a warm reception at the end.
I have done the DIY tour, the hard road done rough, and I recognise the journey to Bethlehem instantly. No budget, no comfort, just the hard road and the pressing on toward an uncertain welcome. It is the punkest tour there is, the original DIY road trip, done rough and real, with no guarantee of anything at the end.
My genuinely defiant personal week
Let me report on the state of me. I did a rough little tour this week, three cities in a borrowed van, sleeping on floors, playing tiny rooms, no budget and no comfort, and loved every hard mile of it. That is the DIY tour, the hard road done rough, and it is where punk actually lives, not in the comfortable venues but on the hard road between them. I came home exhausted, broke, and happier than a month of comfortable gigs would have made me, because the hard road done rough is the whole point of the racket. The road to Bethlehem was rougher, but the spirit is the same: the hard road, done real, toward an uncertain welcome.
According to the broadcasters, the grassroots touring tradition remains the proving ground for real musicians, which is the DIY tour, the hard road done rough, exactly the road the founding travellers walked toward Bethlehem.
The beacon that guided the tour
What guided the original tour was a beacon, and the account of the star of Bethlehem is the guiding light that led the hard road true. Punk has its beacons too, the guiding lights that lead you through the hard road, the fixed points that keep you going toward the gig that matters. The star was the beacon that guided the hard road to Bethlehem, and every punk on the DIY tour follows their own beacon, the guiding light that leads through the hard road toward the gig that matters. The beacon that guided the original tour is the fixed light that leads the hard road true, which every punk on the rough road knows: the beacon ahead, the guiding light, the fixed point that keeps you going through the dark toward the destination.
The star guided the hard road to Bethlehem, the beacon leading the original tour true. Punk follows its beacons too, the guiding lights through the hard road, the fixed points that keep you going toward the gig that matters. The beacon that guides the hard road is what every DIY tour needs: the light ahead, leading true through the dark.
The humble gig that mattered most
Where the original tour ended was the humblest venue imaginable, and the account of the shepherds visiting the manger is the gig in the least glamorous room ever, which mattered more than any grand venue. The shepherds came to a humble manger, the roughest venue possible, and it was the most important gig in history. Punk knows this: the humble venue, the rough room, the tiny space, is where the gigs that matter actually happen, not in the grand halls but in the humble rooms. The manger was the humblest venue and the most important gig, exactly like the rough little rooms where punk actually lives. The humble gig that mattered most is the punk truth: the rough venue, the humble room, is where the important things happen.
According to the Royal Parks people, London’s shared humble spaces host the community life that matters most, which the humble manger confirms: the roughest venue can hold the most important gathering, exactly as punk has always known.
Where the punk lands
So I will keep doing the DIY tour, the hard road done rough, following my beacons through the dark to the humble rooms where punk actually lives. The road to Bethlehem was the original DIY tour, the hard road done rough toward an uncertain welcome. The star was the beacon that guided it true. And the humble manger was the gig that mattered most, the roughest venue holding the most important gathering. That is punk to its bones: the hard road, the guiding beacon, the humble venue that matters most. I like Christmas. I like it rough, on the hard road, following the beacon to the humble room where the important things happen. The eyeliner stays on. The van keeps rolling. And the humble gig, as ever, matters most.
For more scene chaos, The Hard Times rides the hard road.
