STARKVILLE — Sometimes, when you want changes to happen, you have to do it yourself.
At least, that’s the approach Mississippi State University students and musicians Lishman Heathcock, Josh Whitfield and Max Hyche take with Starkville DIY, a grassroots art and music collective that has been operating in the city since 2022.
“I’ve always noticed that Starkville has had a lot of arts and events and all that, but it always felt very top-down instead of bottom-up,” Heathcock said before a demo release concert for Whitfield and Hyche’s band Sludgelung on Jan. 27.
Heathcock, a senior at the university, started the Starkville DIY group in August 2022, as he felt there was a gap in the music and art scene of Starkville. He was inspired by similar DIY groups he had seen operating in Hattiesburg, where he grew up.
With the help of other musicians in the area, Heathcock started building a network to connect artists in the city. Using social media and other more traditional methods, he started putting out the message that the group would be booking concerts and shows for local bands in the area.
Starkville DIY booked its first show at Nine Twenty-nine Coffee Bar the next month, featuring local bands Bad Data and Hartle Road. The show also featured Bored to Tears, one of several bands Whitfield plays in.
Eventually, Heathcock brought Whitfield and Hyche on as co-directors of the collective, though the group said these titles are for “paperwork alone,” as the group filed for nonprofit status in the fall of 2023.
“Our slogan is ‘We are Starkville DIY,’ and that’s supposed to be an inclusive ‘we,’ not an exclusive ‘we,’” Whitfield said. “If you go to shows, you’re a part of Starkville DIY. Or if you book shows, or are an artist… we try to get as multimedia as possible, although we definitely have a focus on music.”
Between their full-time studies and their own band practices, the three directors started booking more and more shows for local bands, growing to about three a month. These shows have happened in a variety of venues, many of which did not host concerts previously.
The Starkville Area Arts Council has hosted seven Starkville DIY concerts since March 2023, SAAC Program Coordinator Juliette Reid told The Dispatch on Wednesday.
“The guys at Starkville DIY approached us after the Midnight Bizarre, wanting to do more music events and it was just kismet,” Reid wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “They have really helped us achieve our mission of connecting our community through the arts in ways we had not been able to before. Their passion for music and the arts is truly inspiring and we will continue to support their endeavors.”
While booking shows and organizing interesting lineups is the primary way Starkville DIY operates to promote local bands in the area, Whitfield said the collective’s mission means they are willing to help artists however they can, including small things like borrowing pieces for sound systems.
While the shows mostly promote local musicians and their art, Hyche said the group also helps with highlighting graphic artists, along with other mediums.
“We’ve had people ask to make flyers and to help do sound and everything,” Hyche said. “So the community is really flourishing and more and more people are showing up. It’s really great to see that what we do matters to some people and they have something to look forward to.”
Whitfield said the concerts were originally attended by about 40 audience members at a time. But over time, the size of the crowd has grown to about 80 a show. The highest attended show they have had included 130 people, Hyche said.
While the group has been building its connections, the bands they support have also been developing their music. One of the bands, Sludgelung, includes Whitfield on drums and Hyche on guitar. The pair said the collective helped them to release the music they performed Saturday night and has helped them as musicians.
“An outlet to create is really important to me,” Hyche said. “This demo release wouldn’t be a thing if DIY wasn’t set up. It just wouldn’t.”
Austin Tingle, guitarist with another band that opened for Sludgelung on Jan. 27, Die with Nature, said the show and the artist collective brought him and his band to Starkville from Jackson.
“It just shows that if like-minded people get together and you just let them do their thing, then you can make stuff happen,” Tingle said.
Despite Heathcock coming up on graduation in May, the group has no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Hyche said the group hopes to also arrange other live art events, including a poetry night, improv nights and more in the future. For more information on upcoming Starkville DIY shows, visit @starkville.diy on Instagram.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
