Published
Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 18:41
- The initiative will launch Return To Source, an anti-harassment campaign, at GALA festival in London this weekend.
Don't Be A Creep (DBAC) has just launched Return To Source, an anti-harassment campaign for this weekend's GALA Festival.
The campaign will be shared across the South London event's social media channels and feature as posters on the festival site. "Having been disconnected from our music community, it's easy to feel like a satellite sometimes. But even when we're isolated, we're all orbiting the same source," reads the press release. "The source is what it means to be human and to commune with our community. It's where our compassion and care for one another resides."
Ruby Savage launched DBAC in 2017 after a series of unpleasant experiences in the DJ booth while running a post-punk club night at Vogue Fabrics. The song "Too Many Creeps," by no wave band Bush Tetras, was the first source of inspiration.
"The lyrics of that track are just incredible," Savage told Resident Advisor. "And it really collided with me doing a lot more DJ work and realising, 'Holy shit, there's a lot of creeps out here.'" Savage printed a run of Don't Be A Creep t-shirts which she stashed and sold from under her desk at work. The response was immediate.
"I noticed straight away a lot of dudes were like 'yes, getting me this tee, I want to be an ally, I want to support.' It raised really interesting conversations," she said. "I ended up having to educate male friends on how much f'd up shit goes down on a night out."
"I think a large part of why it resonates so well with people is because it's born out of creative expression, real emotional frustration and I think people feel that," Savage, who now works on DBAC with Maude Churchill, told RA. "It's really important for us to continue to lead with visuals in order to destigmatize a topic which has become so stigmatised, and in a climate which has become all about cancel culture."
"We are so about calling people in, not calling people out," Savage added, "and for us that's what the communication needs to do." So far, DBAC has collaborated with a number of London venues, along with We Out Here Festival and Melbourne's Angel Music Bar. The duo are also planning a roundtable discussion with community stakeholders, including security staff, promoters, club owners and artists.
"A lot of people want to help or improve but don't actually know how or where to even begin and that's where we would like to be in the conversation," Savage explained. "Not saying we have all the answers, but we're very, very determined to try and find them and try them out."
"If you make it a culture where you can hear your mate telling you 'Yo, that's not cool,' I think we can prevent so much," she continued. "You can prevent people's lives from falling apart."
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