At Drkmttr, 5/18/2024
In the heart of Nashville’s music scene, an important shift is underway as beloved all-ages venue Drkmttr embarks on a new chapter as a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. With their inaugural two-day fundraiser Drkmttr Fest just around the corner on Oct. 19 and 20, the small venue’s organizers intend to revitalize its relentless commitment to community, accessibility and independent music.
Since its inception in 2015 with a crowdfunding campaign organized by booker and musician Kathryn Edwards, Drkmttr has been a haven for artists and music lovers, fostering creativity and connection. The venue has moved twice, settling into its home on Dickerson Pike in 2019. Drkmttr has weathered numerous other challenges, ranging from the DIY venue closures following the deadly 2016 fire at Oakland, Calif.’s Ghost Ship to COVID-19 and beyond, meeting each with determination and belief in the venue’s mission.
As live music returned after pandemic lockdown, so did Drkmttr’s calendar, brimming with shows featuring punk, rap, metal, pop and much more. Local up-and-comers and touring acts have found a home here, and the venue hosted one in a national series of massive abortion-rights benefit events in January. As resilient as Drkmttr and its community are, the pressures facing independent venues have only increased. Olive Scibelli, who co-owns the venue with Edwards and co-manages it with Edwards and Chappy Hull, explains that the decision to become a nonprofit was born out of both necessity and vision.
“We’re just trying to swim around in this industry and make sure we survive,” Scibelli says. “If a place like Drkmttr closes, you know, you really have no venues that are really, truly grassroots, and fewer places for people of all ages to play.”
Olive Scibelli and Kathryn Edwards at Drkmttr
In the spring, Edwards, Scibelli and their team ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to help bridge the financial gap as they applied for nonprofit status. Now that the venue’s application has been approved, an array of new opportunities for grants and other sources of funding are available. Their transition to nonprofit status empowers the venue to make a more significant impact in breaking through the glass ceilings that often stifle voices advocating for change.
The festival takes place on both an indoor and an outdoor stage, and the lineup perfectly embodies the unapologetically avant-garde nature of the venue. Saturday’s afternoon headliner is former Nashvillian and expert songsmith Katy Kirby, while Athens, Ga., post-punk endeavor Pylon Reenactment Society takes over that night; Nashville guitar hero William Tyler headlines Sunday afternoon, and Kansas post-punkers Sweeping Promises cap off the festival that night. The fest will also showcase local talents like Budge, Husband Stitch, Soft Bodies and Total Wife, alongside touring acts such as Kal Marks, Margaritas Podridas and Nightosphere.
Founded in 1979, the original Pylon came to an end when guitarist Randy Bewley died in 2009. Pylon Reenactment Society came about a few years later when a new group of musicians formed around lead singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay. In February, the Society released Magnet Factory, its first album of new music. Hay is eager to share the new material (as well as favorites from the first two Pylon LPs) with the crowd at Drkmttr Fest: “It will be new to us and the audience,” she tells the Scene.
William Tyler Band and Friends at Drkmttr, 11/30/2019
William Tyler has long been one of Drkmttr’s most passionate supporters, praising the venue for its unwavering dedication to the local creative scene and its role as a vital space for independent artists. Over the past three decades, he’s seen firsthand how spaces like Drkmttr (and its predecessors like Lucy’s Record Shop) breathe life into Nashville’s arts scene, stimulating the grassroots creativity that the corporate entertainment world ignores at best and stifles at worst.
“These places are essential to fostering and growing the soul of a creative community,” says Tyler. “And with corporate hegemony running amok in the entertainment industry now, independent venues of all kinds — cinemas, clubs, galleries, open-minded ‘third spaces’ — are like the flowers sprouting through the concrete sidewalks.”
In addition to the stellar music lineup, the festival will feature a vendor market and a Drkmttr merch booth as well as a community yard sale where attendees can purchase unique goods that have been donated. Scibelli notes that the items will be priced like a traditional thrift store, with the idea that the yard sale will provide an accessible and affordable way for festivalgoers to support the venue.
Amid the celebration, however, she remains acutely aware of the challenges facing Drkmttr, particularly the marginalized groups the collective is dedicated to uplifting.
“I don’t feel like things have changed for the better,” Scibelli says, referencing the ongoing struggles faced by the LGBTQ community in general, and trans individuals in particular, in the current political climate. “That’s what makes me want to double, triple down on Drkmttr and all the work that we’re doing. It’s needed now more than ever.”
The venue is responding to the political environment with a mural project designed to celebrate trans joy — a visual reminder of the importance of representation that will welcome all who enter the space to be part of an ever-evolving community dedicated to diversity and empowerment. The project will begin during the festival and is intended to be completed by Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.
Looking ahead, Scibelli envisions the festival as a starting point for even bigger dreams. “Maybe we can actualize my block-party idea next year,” she says with a laugh. For now, Drkmttr continues to be a testament to the strength of community and the unwavering spirit that fuels the creativity that represents Nashville at its best.
