GRRL027: Depression & (the lack of) DIY spaces with Diana Regan

You might be wondering where episode 26 is, but uh, just… it never existed. (It’ll come soon, I promise.)

For episode 27, I interviewed Oakland-based solo artist Diana Regan, who records and releases her music straight from her home! In the episode, we talk about the stories behind her songs and our process transposing  and performing our songs in different instruments–in her case, ukulele to guitar; for me, ukulele to piano. We also touch on the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland last year, and how DIY spaces and communities like that saved Diana in her younger years.

Not-so-fun fact: I originally interviewed Diana in early 2016 but because of technical difficulties, I had to scrap the interview. Fortunately Diana was willing to sit down with me for a SECOND interview. Thanks to Diana for her patience!

Content Warning: We talk extensively about dealing with depression, and also have mentions of self-harm, addiction, and trauma.

Listen Here

http://traffic.libsyn.com/grrlongrrl/GRRL027__DIY_spaces__depression_featuring_solo_artist_Diana_Regan.mp3

Download GRRL027 from Libsyn [39min, 36.1MB] or stream from these websites [iTunes | Stitcher | TuneIn | Google Play]

Show Notes

• [1:10] Diana Regan – “Rapid Cycles”
• Growing up with a family of musicians, playing in punk bands
• Considerations when switching off between ukulele and guitar when performing live
• Transcribing/transposing music to other instruments (uke to piano, uke to guitar)
• What songs absolutely don’t work moving from ukulele to guitar?
  • “Foggy Highways” and “The Unanswered Question”
• [9:30] Diana Regan – “Foggy Highways”
• Being depressed the day of the interview
• What kind of strategies Diana uses for dealing with depression
• Oakland music scene, Ghost Ship fire
  • Introflirt – their Facebook shares memories of their creativity and passions
• Similarity to the artist communityies in Fresno / The difficulties of creating a safe music community
  • Mention of defunct space “notaflof” (no one turned away for lack of funds) – DIY queer spaces
• More Fresno – “Those kinds of DIY spaces… That was like my home”
  • An active, hostile police presence trying to shut these spaces down
• Gentrification / California being too expensive for artists and creative communities
  • I mention a great episode from The Imposter featuring musician Austra, talking about funding for the arts and gentrification
  • Needing financial and social capital to get a community going
• [22:30] Diana Regan – “Salty Little Tears”
• Why hasn’t Diana been playing very much?
  • Benefit for the Bay Area Queer Zine Fest
  • Honey Hive Gallery in San Francisco
• Feeling like shit for not doing anything creative
  • (Not) writing songs while depressed — Diana
  • (Not) working on the podcast — June
• “Fake happy face” – faking happiness or normalcy while depressed
• The importance of talking about mental illness
  • June talks about another great podcast episode; in this instance, Angry Grrrl Music’s interview with Punk Talks’ founder Sheridan Allen
• [33:30] Diana Regan – “The Secrets That I Keep”

Links

• Diana Regan on Bandcamp
• On Facebook

Thanks

As always, thank you so much to Glenn Greggs of Wait Think Fast Productions for providing audio hosting costs. You can check out Glenn’s show every Tuesday 9pm EST on WCOMFM, a public radio station in North Carolina that features radio plays by local playwrights. You can listen live on the website.

And of course, thank you so much to Diana Regan for sitting down with me (again!) and to Polish for providing the intro and outro music.