A Joyful Slog is a documentary about the Irish independent music scene and the development of DIY music ethic in the country over the last twenty years. It features interviews of bands such as And So I Watch You From Afar, Jape, Adebisi Shank but also journalists and labels representatives.

Former Incubater Sjuul Stultjens wrote the following for us:

DIY is something the fine folks over at Incubate know everything about. Whether it’s discovering independent bands and distro’s, reading zines or supporting indie labels, the DIY frame of thought is something of high value here. We implore you to get involved as well and support your scene, wherever you’re from.

A Joyful Slog gives us an insight look at the DIY scene in Ireland. The documentary starts off with the guys from And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA) telling about what DIY means for them and how when they first started out there was the necessity to do everything themselves.

The comparison with early punk/hardcore labels like Dischord, SST and Alternative Tentacles is made, because these labels have been a great inspiration for the Irish (and most of the European) DIY scene. These labels had their own fair and ethical methods of touring and ultimately provided a model of how the industry should work that has inspired DIY movements all over the world.

Some of the musicians involved in making this documentary are: Vinnie Dermody (The Jimmy Cake), Richie Egan (Black Belt Jones/The Redneck Manifesto/Jape), Owensie (Terrordactyl) and the guys in ASIWYFA.

The cool thing is they also interview people from different sorts of DIY backgrounds like Ed Hannon, who is a zine fanatic. Gav Beattie, who tells us about DIY screenprinting and design. Niall Byrne, who is a filmmaker/blogger and Gib Cassidy, who owns and runs the well-known Elastic Witch record store.

All in all this entire documentary is fun to watch and it’s always great to see other people from other countries do their thing. Who needs big record labels when you can record and release your own music? Let your voice be heard and take matters into your own hands. DIY!