Gut Health — DIY BABES ZINE

How Do Artists Create Outside of Exploitation?

Gut Health works within the punk ethos so their music can reach its current and new audiences. The band has released EPs on the DIY label Marthouse Records and is set to put out their debut record on the homegrown DIY label and zine Highly Contagious.

Gut Health is Athina Uh oh (vocals), Eloise Murphy-Hill (guitar), Dom Willmott (guitar, synth), Angus Fletcher (percussion, synth), Myka Wallace (drums), and Adam Markmann (bass).

By Billie Estrine

Mon. Aug 12 2024

Credit: Cél Polart

In conversation with Eloise:

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Melbourne; I was actually born in that hospital (we did the interview in North Melbourne). I went to school in the inner Western suburbs and played a lot of music in high school. The inner western music scene around Footscray is really tight-knit. It's a good introduction to the warm, inviting, and accepting music scene.

Is there a lot of DIY stuff out there?

Yes and no. It depends [on] what scene you're in. There's a good hardcore punk scene. Growing up, though, I was going to venues, what used to be known as the Dancing Dog but is now Mamma Chen's [that was the main one].

What inspired you to start making music?

In general?

Or how did you get into music?

I don't know; it was just around. In early high school, I formed a lot of my friendships through music. There were instruments around the house: Dad played guitar, my brother played piano, and [I] swept it up.

When did you start playing live?

I started gigging in [my] first year [of] uni.

Would you consider that your introduction to the Naarm underground music scene, or was it before?

Yeah, that got the ball rolling in terms of meeting new people, [being introduced to new] genre types and people in different scenes.

Have you always played punk music?

No. One of the things that I really love about Gut Health is that we're all from different pockets of music spaces. I love indie rock, [and] that feel. Myka plays soul-feeling music. I did not sound like a punk musician or a dance-punk musician. There [was] definitely a learning curve of, "Oh, I'm allowed to treat my guitar like it's a machine."

Did you start playing punk in Gut Health?

Yeah, definitely.

How did you guys all meet each other?

Adam and Dom have known each other for a really long time. They were in a band together originally. Adam and Athina met and decided to put a band together [with] dance-punk/no-wave vibes. I was a friend of a friend, and I got a message from Athina saying, "Hey, I'm starting this band, and if you're interested, we need another guitarist." So I went to a rehearsal and met Myka. Myka and Athina have known each other for ages. I remember being like, "Whoa... Am I doing this right? Cool."

Lots of learning. That's so dope.

Then Angus tagged along at the end.

Gut Health was originally on Marthouse Records. How did that connection come about?

The more I meet people from the music scene, the more people know Dougal.

Yeah, I talked to Dougal in this cafe.

Yeah, he's such a huge part of the DIY Melbourne music scene. He's insane; he's got so much on his plate. It's incredible. I think it was Adam and Dougal [who] knew each other.

How did that relationship relate to the band's growth between 2020 and 2023, if it did?

Honestly, that label side of things is not quite my repertoire. When I think of the upcoming music scene, Marthouse is a key part of that. His support and his value of DIY puts such heart and soul into things. People in the scene feel that, and that's a real commitment to making music in ways that don't fall into commercial, consumerist, horrible aspects.

What community dynamics does the song "Inner Norm" explore?

Inner Norm is poking fun at oneself. [This] is my interpretation of Inner Norm. I don't know if Athina would; we don't discuss lyrics often. Electric Party Chrome Girl, the name of our first EP, is a joke between us because it's a misheard lyric of one of Athina's lyrics.

No way.

Yeah, I don't know what the actual lyric is. Inner Norm is the song [when] I like to look around at the rest of the band whenever we're playing. It makes fun of things about the Inner North music scene but in a loving way.

Do you think there's something political about creating a community in the underground?

Creating [a] community is super political. It's turning away from systems and companies and saying, "No, we can rely on each other. We can create things that are just as legitimate and empowering without needing to fall into exploitation." That's the only way that big...

Corporations do it.

Yeah, exactly. Well, most corporations do it. There are some companies, although still with a capitalist mindset, that work not to exploit artists.

Also, I heard on the news recently about the government and people not supporting local music venues. If you're not able to support the places [where] small artists can grow and have that spark of audience engagement or get some buzz going, there is going to be no music scene. That's the way that it works.

Forming a community is political because it prevents creatives from being inhibited by companies' priorities. It allows more diverse values, perspectives, and expressions to be expressed in a supportive and safe space.

Can you tell me about the fundraising campaign to donate to the Gaza Mutual Aid Fund?

We donated our merch sales and we also donated our fees from The Great Escape. We played at The Great Escape this year in Brighton, and there was a boycott movement that was frontlined by bands from the UK.

Is it connected to South by Southwest?

It's in the same vein. Barclays was funding The Great Escape. They have shares in weapons manufacturing for Israel. Our donation of our merch sales towards that isn't just because of that. We're in a position as artists where not only is it our responsibility to [platform] what's going on in Gaza, [but] anything that we can do could be done, so why shouldn't we?

That was a decision we came to. It was a hard decision to come to, in terms of playing the show. That was a complicated time.

Why did you end up playing the show?

We ended up playing the show because of various factors. One of them [is] that if we went into this space and we were able to visually advocate for Palestine, we walked onto [the] stage, and Athina said a statement that we'd written, basically saying, "There are people in this room who have benefited from staying silent on the conflict in Palestine and The Great Escape's complicit benefit from that. Industry representatives are able to stand behind their company name, and artists are put in positions [where they need] to sacrifice an opportunity. When these problems can be addressed by these companies that refuse to say anything [and] refuse to be political about it," So, we went in there and were just like, "You all have blood on your hands. We're gonna play these songs; we're not happy about it. You're culpable in all of the bloodshed that is happening in Gaza." we played it because we wanted to have a statement, go in there, say something, [and] actually disrupt that space.

It was a strange feeling because you're not approaching that performance as you'd approach any other performance. You're approaching [it] in this way. What I'm doing is tied into something larger, but I'm gonna attempt to dismantle that, derail that comfort these people are experiencing, make them feel culpable, make them feel responsible.

Did you receive any backlash?

No, we didn't—not to my knowledge. I didn't receive any backlash. We wrote Free Palestine on our guitars and tried to make it as visual [as possible]; if you're going to take pictures of us on stage, you're going to have Free Palestine in the photo. You're gonna know what we're about, just because you're not saying anything about it [and] you are not listening to the artists you've tried to book for this.

What are the connections between the ethos of punk and underground communities creating fundraising campaigns?

It's similar to that question about community. How can we make shit happen? How can we work together and disrupt something? Make it uncomfortable for people? Also, in terms of funding, it's that thing of, "How much can you give, can you give? If you can't give, what can you do?" Sliding-scale ticket systems in venues [are] a really great example of that. Instead of the artist being like, "Hey, this is how much a ticket is gonna be." Going, "How much can you pay?" 'Cause at the end of the day, people just want to stand in a room with some sweaty bodies and dance around to some tunes.

Gut Health also organized another fundraiser for APAX Warehouse in April 2023. Can you tell me about the importance of big art spaces in the underground music scene?

Community is one thing, and community relies on having space. They offer this possibility question, you walk into this big space and it's like, "Okay, what do we want to do here? Do we want to have [an] art thing in that corner? Do we want to have a stage over here in this corner? Maybe we can have lights in this cool way." Having a space [where] you're going to put in the effort to make your imagination, your vision and figure out how to make that happen. Instead of, here's the sound desk, and this is the fixed lighting. It's so much more interactive, and punks thrive on feeling interactive. Feeling there's something to play with, and there's something to participate in, and there's something to share.

Gut Health has been on two European tours in the last three months, which is really cool. What is Creative Australia, and how were they involved in making the second one possible?

We got a grant, and then we went back [to Europe]. We were very lucky to get a grant.

Gut Health has gotten pretty big. Have a lot of the band members been involved in the scene for a while?

As I said before, Adam and Dom played in a band together a couple years ago. Myka's been playing music [forever] and is an incredible musician, has such an amazing catalogue of work and plays with some incredible artists. Athina tried her hand at a couple of more soulful projects, which I would love to hear. I've never heard it. I really wanna throw out one real jazzy number. To have an alternate timeline moment.

We put in a lot of effort last year to play a lot of gigs, and I feel very lucky and grateful to be with such a hardworking group of people. Also, [we are] so lucky and grateful to have people who like our music.

Gut Health's first EP, Electronic Party Chrome Girl, was recorded in a Brunswick shipping container.

A storage facility.

Can you tell me a bit about that process?

It was this place in Brunswick; I miss that place. Every five storage facility spaces were being used as rehearsal studios for a bunch of different punk bands. It was a really cool introduction to the scene. You rock up to a rehearsal every week and wave hello to this person and that person and be like, "Oh, they're doing this." Simon from Bitumen helped with the production of the EP; it was really fun. I met those guys from Bitumen when we did a tour with them last year with These New South Whales.

The EP was my first time recording anything, and [I] was very comfortable easing into it. We have as much time as possible; we're doing this ourselves. It doesn't need to sound golden, crisp, and perfect, but it sounds good. It's a good feeling. It was very intuitive.

Is it this place that I'm thinking of?

It's a big yellow one. It's a storage facility.

That's key, DIY. How has the recording process evolved since then?

Our recording capabilities have definitely stepped up. Dom did the engineering and recording of the first EP, and Adam [did] as well. Between then and now, Dom's commitment, skills, and knowledge [have] elevated so much, which is really amazing.

We recorded the LP in Button Pusher studio on Plenty Road in Preston. We recorded with Julian Cue, an incredible person, musician, and sound engineer. It was a cool thing [to] be able to go to a dedicated space, have everything set up, and record for three or four days. We got a lot of the drum, bass, and percussion stuff from those sessions and guitars. We did some overdubs in different spaces. We did a few sessions at APAX and at home. It was so lovely to work with Julian; they're such a professional and up-for-anything creative person.

Can you tell me about your new deal with AWAL Recordings and their philosophy?

Yeah, that's what I was alluding to. We are releasing our music via Highly Contagious, and we've partnered with AWAL to get it out into the world. We spoke with a couple of artists before working with them, and their philosophy is very much artist-centric. My impression of them is that they don't seek to take agency away from artists but ask, "What can we do? What can a company offer in terms of something realistic, achievable, and beneficial for artists' careers?" So basically, we have licensed our music to AWAL for a period, but our music will actually be released via Highly Contagious, which is Adam's new record label. It's super exciting and important to us because it means that the label will be driven from the band. Highly Contagious used to be a music zine for outsider and disruptive music, but Adam's repurposing as a record label, and it will also be used to run fun DIY events and parties with Athina.

Can you share Gut Health's plan for touring the debuted album?

We're gonna play some shows; we're playing in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

Did you guys tour with Dr Sure's Unusual Practice?

We've played shows together, but we've never toured with Dr Sure's.

Has the band's relationship with the Naarm underground music community changed since being away on tour for a little while and now coming back? You weren't gone for very long.

We played this show with Sunfruits and Dr Sure's [in Europe], which was lovely. It was sweet to be on the other side of the world, and play shows with some of our closest friends. Elena from Sunfruits is my best friend from high school. Playing with Dr Sure's is always a treat.

We haven't been gone for very long. I'm excited to play shows in Melbourne again. I'm really keen. It's been quite a while since we played a show in Melbourne. Obviously, we love playing together, but some of us are keen to play different music. The last 20 shows that we've all played as people have been this music. So, some of us are excited to play different styles.

With their other bands?

Yeah.

Now they're home and can do that. That's awesome.

Check out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gut___health/#
Website: https://guthealth.space

Billie Estrine

Naarm/Melbourne, Australia

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