By DCist Contributor Danielle Ohl
This weekend, the nationally revered 9:30 Club is hosting what could be the most important show of the year for the D.C. music scene. No, it’s not a Grammy-winning artist playing an “intimate show” at the venerable club. Instead, on Saturday, the 9:30 Club will honor local label Babe City Record’s first year of existence, and simultaneously, the District’s growing indie scene.
“I think it’s in their best interest to work with groups like ourselves,” says Peter Lillis, Babe City’s publicist and promotions guru. “It gives them an opportunity to reach new people and to stay fresh.”
So how did this all come about? A barely year-old local label scoring one of the best music venues in the country for a birthday party? Turns out the iconoclast-turned-iconic venue actually approached Babe City with the idea for a multi-act anniversary show in June, presumably because of the merit in Babe City’s DIY style.
“We are a new group and they saw what we’re doing is noteworthy,” Lillis says. “We have people turn out to our house shows significantly, and a lot of the staff from 9:30 [Club] has seen those shows.”
But what is Babe City? A house venue? A collective? A label? A group of musical guys and gals? All of the above.
Though its physical home base is a quiet row house right around the corner from Dupont Circle, Babe City Records is actually a bit of a Janus. As a recording label, it’s a professional operation that vets artists—both musical and otherwise—and expends time and resources on marketing and producing their music. But as a house, it’s also a friendly and funky collective that does what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants.
“We all wanted to do this in our own way,” Lillis says. “It’s a great community for us to work together and support art and music.”
The label rebranded a few months ago, switching to the cohesive title Babe City from the former Chimes Records. There’s not a lot of myth surrounding the label’s genesis, Lillis says—rather, they quickly converged and did the damn thing: started making records.
“That’s pretty much where all of our focus is these days,” he says, “promoting our bands and the shows at the house and the artists that we have on the label.”
In the last year, Babe City shook hands with six artists that meet one very specific criterion: There’s “something special” about them.
“We all have to believe that it’s something that we want to invest our resources in,” says Erik Strander, a Babe City co-founder. “If we’re all on board we put it out, but we’re open to a lot of different types of music.”
And they have their roster as collateral: a group of post-punk Staten Islanders; a local outfit that expounds the world with some dance-y indie pop; four dudes that have a serious knack for dream-pop beats; and more.
On Saturday, three of Babe City’s best—Young Rapids, The Sea Life, and Den-Mate—will play the 9:30 bash alongside D.C. pop-punk legeneds The Max Levine Ensemble (who are celebrating their own 15-year anniversary) and The El Mansouris, an experimental pop quintet. Strander sees the anniversary show as 9:30’s open invite to D.C.’s growing independent scene—the music connoisseurs attending slightly seedy basement shows instead of stadium blowouts.
“I think that at 9:30 Club, they want to work with a little bit more of the local focus like they did in the ’90s,” Stander says. “[The club] has a very rich history of working with local bands and local music.”
Lillis adds: “It’s a way to give back and just have fun in one of the most iconic venues in the country.”
The show is this Saturday—doors open at 8 p.m. Get your tickets here.
