Cora Perkins, Assistant Spectrum Editor
It was a normal day in Scuffletown Park, the birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming and the punks and ravers were moshing and dancing.
Femmefest, a festival of DJs and hardcore punk bands, celebrated feminine-presenting people, both in and out of music.
Miles Dillahunt, vocalist of PlutoniumWomb and creator of the fest, wanted there to be a space for newcomers to become involved in the scene.
“I wanted to create a safe space for people who might be nervous to get involved with activism or shows due to their queerness or femme identity, just so that way they feel less alone and encouraged to go to more shows,” Dillahunt said.
A big motivator for the event was the reaction to a previous story by The CT about women in the hardcore scene in Richmond. The comments under the article spoke volumes to how many men in the scene feel about women speaking out against issues they face within the hardcore community, Dillahunt said.
“The comments were vile,” Dillahunt said. “Both Judas and Lexi received death threats for speaking on their lived experiences. A lot of the people in the comments aren’t even authentic punks, and don’t go to shows in the area, so I felt like Femmefest would be a good opportunity for femmes, queer people and the whole sea of ‘weirdos’ — just people who feel left out to take up space. The situation lit a fire under my a** to fly harder for the event.”
Bringing the two jarring genres of music together was a two birds, one stone situation, Dillahunt said.
“It honestly arose from my love for both shows and raves, the politics in both of these spaces and a moment of opportunity,” Dillahunt said. “With both the punk and rave communities, I’ve felt like we get a lot of newcomers who aren’t familiar with the politics or community aspects and thus deem it unimportant or just seem ignorant to it all together.”
It is important to talk about political issues and what is going on in the world in music because they would not just go away if ignored, according to Dillahunt.
“They will keep building, they will keep getting worse and politicians will keep getting away with their shitty behavior — to ignore is to be the idiot the politicians say you are,” Dillahunt said. “Through activism, I’ve had medic training and security training, both of which I’ve utilized at shows before. It’s a whole world people need to tap into because it only gets stronger with more hands.”
The cost of entry to the festival was either a donation of menstrual products or $10. All proceeds made went to Haze Harm Reduction, a community organization that provides free harm reduction materials and education at shows in the Virginia area. The festival raised over $149 for the organization.
“We raised so many menstrual products, we’re still counting but we got two huge boxes full of pads and tampons,” Dillahunt said.
In addition to handing out free harm reduction and prevention supplies and speaking one-on-one to educate people on the topic, the organization also shows people how to use Naloxone, according to Peaches Javins, founder and executive director of the organization. They focus on doing so at community events and live shows.
“It’s specifically important to target shows and the scene, because we can bring out these supplies and, you know, get them to where people need them, and directly help the community that has helped me specifically,” Javins said.
Music is a great way to get everyone on the same page politically, according to Javins.
“It’s a universal language, you know, you don’t always have to understand the lyrics to understand that,” Javins said. “You know, somebody’s angry about something, and it makes you wonder, like, ‘what are they so angry about?’ and so you can kind of have some of these conversations, and you can hear other people out, and ultimately it gets people talking, and it gets more attention on what’s going on, which is highly important.”
Art and music are inherently political, according to Maeve Hickey, also known as DJ Shartchan, who performed and repped the “raver” half of the festival.
“It’s really easy to kind of turn a blind eye to everything happening in the world and just party,” Hickey said. “But I also think it’s really important to use a platform when you have so many people in one room to just really appreciate the awareness that people want to put out.”
The raving and punk communities are not all that different, according to Hickey.
“A bonding force is; we’re all here for music at the end of the day, whether that’s hardcore or EDM, which is really awesome,” Hickey said. “Everybody just wants to come out to dance and like, support their community, be with friends, have a good time. So, like, no matter the difference of genre we’re all there for the same reason.”