It’s no secret that when it comes to music, I’m the black sheep of my family. I was probably dropped on my head when I was an infant, as I like barely musical, fast, ridiculously obnoxious music, spanning anywhere from punk to metal to electronic. Since I’ve moved to Victoria, I’ve gone to ~13 weird, DIY shows. (I hesitate to call them concerts, since most of them take place in community centers with barely enough space to house the bands themselves.) As you can guess, the group that goes to these shows is… a little odd. They’re some of the friendliest people I’ve met, don’t get me wrong, but they’re definitely strange. The last show I went to, I got (accidentally) bodyslammed into a wall by a random middle-aged guy who lost his balance and fell into one of the merch tables. Although the shows, music, and generally everything about the scene that I’ve found myself in seems chaotic and violent in nature, there’s an extremely welcoming, group-oriented mindset. If someone falls, there’s at least 3 people there to pick them up before they hit the ground, and if someone’s injured, everyone stops everything they’re doing to help them. As a wise, random person said, “We’re all here to have fun. It’s not fun if we don’t take risks, but it’s even worse if we’re not here for each other”