Punk and hardcore bands pride themselves on what they call their DIY roots. They like to run their operations almost like guerrilla warfare. And if it isn’t underground, they want nothing to do with it.

But it can be hard at times to keep this relentless attitude up. No matter what kind of band you are, you still need venues to play and fans to play in front of. These things haven’t always been easy to come by for bands in these genres, especially in Iowa. But the scene has received a huge boost in recent months thanks to the efforts of Zach Hoyt, Nate Philips and Rusty Steele.

All three are also members of local bands themselves – C.H.U.D., Black Market Fetus and Dispensing of False Halos, respectively. Hoyt says the decision behind starting the Fallout Shelter, located at 243 E. 30th St., Des Moines, was in response to paying too much to book shows at the Des Moines Botanical Center.

Before the Fallout was opened, the trio did shows in the basement of a friend’s house, but this tended to be somewhat problematic as well, Hoyt says.

“When we did shows at our friend’s house – it was just like throwing a party,” Hoyt explains. “People would just come to get drunk and rowdy and then the people who really cared about the music wouldn’t come because they didn’t want to deal with all the drunk people.”

Hoyt and company attempted to solve this problem by making the Fallout Shelter an anti-drug and alcohol establishment. But again, you can’t please everyone and the no drugs and alcohol rule has done nothing but antagonize some people.

“Some people criticize us – they don’t want us telling them they can’t drink,” Hoyt says.

Hoyt says that in the venue has experienced both really good crowds and really bad crowds in its short existence.

About 100 people can be squeezed into the building and according to Hoyt, crowds have been anywhere from just the members of the band to 60 people.

While the Fallout Shelter may not be one of the biggest venues in Des Moines, it is gaining quite a reputation both in the local scene and with national traveling bands. Hoyt mentions that he has had various traveling bands play at the Fallout and tell him they wish their hometown had something like this.

Philips’ Des Moines based band, Black Market Fetus, just recently wrapped up a West Coast tour. To him, the Fallout shelter is something that should be cherished by underground fans.

“You come to Des Moines and have the ability to play at a completely DIY venue in front of a good handful of kids, get paid well, etcetera.,” Philips says. “The Fallout Shelter spoils kids down here with good shows and I just hope people support it.”

And though Hoyt says most of the bands that come through are touring acts, this Saturday the stage will belong to the local boys. The Fallout Shelter will host “515 Day,” which is a day long event that will show off some of the best punk and hardcore central Iowa has to offer. The “515” moniker stems from the 515crew (515 being the local area code), which is more or less a rallying symbol of bands in the scene. The Web site, 515crew.com, serves as a place where kids and bands in the scene can communicate with each other.

Although the Web site has only been up and running for a short time – it grew out of the now outdated Web site iowahardcore.com – the crew itself has been around for a few years.

“There really isn’t a history behind the crew,” Hoyt explains. “If you’re down with supporting the local scene and whatnot, you’re part of the crew. It’s not an elitist gang or anything, just a name.”

When not playing with his band C.H.U.D., running the Fallout Shelter or studying film at the University of Iowa, Hoyt finds time to also update the crew’s Web site. 515crew.com features show listings, band profiles and a scene message board. More than 50 bands have registered themselves on the Web site.

Members of the scene have noticed a definite change since the arrival of the Web site, and credit the organization of the 515crew in general with improving the way things work.

“515crew acts like the communication glue of the local scene – it brings everyone together by informing and making us all aware of shows, events, and topics affecting the scene,” says Adam Haug, member of Once Lost Pictures. “Without it, I don’t think show and event turnouts would be as good.”

“Having a group like the 515crew can really help smaller bands meet the bigger bands and play for a good amount of people, rather than just playing for the other bands and their girlfriends at every show,” says Duck and Cover bassist Jordan Jensen. “When was the last time two bands like Dispensing of False Halos and Poison Control Center played together? There’s lots of bands around here that sound nothing alike, but can still put on really good shows together.”

And in true punk DIY attitude, Philips, Steele and Hoyt don’t make a cent off of their work at the Fallout Shelter. In fact, Hoyt says they don’t even break even. Each member of the trio pays between $150 and $200 a month towards rent and utilities out of their own pocket.

This is mainly due to the ridiculously low prices the owners charge for bands to book shows. If you want to bring in some bands to the Fallout Shelter it only costs you about $40 – 50 plus 20 percent of the door money. That is, of course, unless you want to bring in a nu-metal band. Then you’ll probably just be turned down, Hoyt says.

So why don’t they just charge more and walk away with some extra cash? Because that wouldn’t be very punk. It seems as if people like to say “I’m not in it for the money,” but somehow that sentiment rings true with these guys.

“I don’t ever see myself running a legitimate club,” Hoyt says. “I don’t want to deal with bands doing shows that big and I don’t really want to make money. If you make money then you get to the point where you are always trying to make money from the shows. I’m just in it for the music.”

Spoken like a true punk rock prophet.

Web scene

The local scene has long been organized through fliers, posters and word-of-mouth. Times have changed, however, and in the past few years, central Iowa’s local bands have seen the scene enter the Web. Hard-working music supporters have put together more than enough information on the Internet to get one’s foot in the door, with everything from band and show information to booking contacts. Here are a few of the more notable of the Des Moines area music scene sites.

iowahardcore.com

This site was created in 1997 as a complete source for everything within the DIY hardcore punk scene in Iowa. Nathan “Morty” Morton recently turned over responsibility of it over to Zack Hoyt and Justin Nine, who say they are working on a revamping of the site. Iowahardcore.com includes news from the scene, a message board, booking contacts for venues across Iowa, mp3s and Internet radio of local music, and a list of links for liberation in causes as diverse as animal rights, political prisoners and anti-racist action. Also available are links to punk and rock bands’ Web sites and a large number of pictures from local concerts.

515crew.com

Somewhat of a “child” of iowahardcore.com, if you will, 515crew.com is run by the same people as iowahardcore.com. 515crew.com features the same types of music with a similar DIY atmosphere. It takes over where iowahardcore.com has slowed down, with more of a community message board feel than the other site. The site is used for anyone to talk about shows and news, offering everyone in the scene a place to come together and meet. One can create an account and a profile (for free, of course) and post messages, shows and news for all to see. This site has many pictures from shows at the Fallout Shelter and the Botanical Center, as well as local band links and links to larger hardcore music distributors.

Iowa Music News – iowamusicnews.com

This Ames-based site offers a music message board separated into categories for easy accessibility, as well as a link system separating bands by type of music. The site has a full-sized calendar for easily planning out one’s concert schedule in the Des Moines and Ames area. As with the other two sites, just about anyone can get a concert posted onto this site, making it a voice for local bands of all sizes and local fans with all tastes in music. Of note is a buy/sell/trade message board for music equipment. The shows calendar is often more in-depth than other sites for Ames music fans.

Lazer Local Licks – geocities.com/locallicks

The Lazer hellraisers at 103.3 have put together the site for all things rock, and many bands one won’t find on other local Web sites. Along with video downloads for bands such as Slipknot, Index Case, Murderdolls and Stone Sour, the site provides a forum for metalheads to talk about the local scene. Most of the concerts involved are Des Moines shows, but the site doesn’t discriminate too much between ones put on by the radio station and shows from other places. Musicians can post an add-on the site looking for other musicians or bands, and people can e-mail requests for Cory Brown’s Sunday night Local Licks program.

– Jeff Mitchell