Kae Diaz on Creating DIY Spaces and Rejecting the Boys Club

If you've been to any of Raleigh, North Carolina's queer venues, or a local punk show with more than two women in it, or any Girls Rock NC event in the last three years, you've probably come across Kae Diaz. Kae is a singer, a drummer, a ukulele player, a bartender, a photographer, and in general a pillar of the local queer DIY scene. They play the electric ukulele and drums in an indie rock project called Fruit Snack, and as it happens, we are actually currently both in a punk country band called Severed Fingers. I recently went to visit Kae and talk about finding collaborators, what the music scene is like in the Mojave desert where they grew up, and the challenges of creating a space for the art you want to see.

Just a warning, we do mention alcohol and some other, mostly fun, adult topics.

This profile is a collaboration with the Durham Beat. Read the full interview transcript and see photos that I took of Kae at home over on their website: https://durhambeat.com/2019/01/13/artist-profile-kae-diaz/