Kitty Hell Interview: Acceptance and Community in DIY Punk Spaces    

“Do what you can to find your people,” says Alana of Kitty Hell to the students of TAMUG.

Hailing from Denton, Texas, Kitty Hell is a trans fronted “do it yourself (DIY)” punk band, consisting of vocalist Alana, guitarists Ethan and Gina, drummer Zakk, and bassist Topo. 

Kitty Hell performed at Temp Tats Magazine’s Trans Day of Visibility Fest this year, just an hour's drive from campus, a few miles up I-45. 

Other Texan bands such as Morta, Hambear, Ten Cent Life, La Grimas, Sugar, Memoria, and Out of Sight also performed.

 Alana has been involved in the DIY punk community since 2018, she says, and the genre has given her a sense of community she could not have imagined.

She believes one of the most important things is that “[she’s] playing with some of [her] best friends.” As the vocalist and lyricist, she pours a lot of emotion into the songs she writes, ranging from subjects of love, queerness, and gender to fear of death and drug use. Guitarist Ethan chimed in that Alana writes about “being alive.”

Ethan says, “At the end of the day, we’re operating in this space for the other people in this space. If you are keen to join, you can, and if you want to join because of our music, hell yeah. But if you don’t want to join, and you’re against us, we’ll take care of each other and [...] we’ll fight back.”

When asked about the correlation between being punk and queer, Alana offered this:

“I think that [alternative] has been an especially applicable label for queer people and queer artists. 

Regardless of how inherent and core to the self being queer might feel to a person, societally it has always sort of been seen as the alternative, whether it is welcomed or ostracized.” elaborating by stating the community is more welcoming for anyone who may be considered different.

“The status quo…is ‘if you’re different, you’re not accepted.’” Ethan added, “Depending on what your differences are, that can range from anything to a cold shoulder and slight discomfort to full-on violence against you. It’s very important that DIY spaces are accepting of everyone.”

As a final farewell, Ethan and Alana offered advice for queer people on campus.

“It can be scary to put yourself out there, especially during times like these, but whenever you can, you can try to find your people and find community.” Alana says.

“Whatever it is you enjoy, don’t be too afraid to put yourself out there, and don’t be afraid to embrace what is really special to you,” Alana added.

“Also,” Ethan jumped in, “get off the internet. Go outside. If you have a friend you think will be uncomfortable talking about something like this, trans issues, queer issues, make them uncomfortable. They’re not your friend if they won’t have your back like that. That’s a face-to-face thing. It’s easy to consume content online, but any change will happen with words in person, and I don’t think there’s anything more important than that.”