BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – For a punk like Kelly Sorbel, giving back to the community and supporting younger fellow punks is as important as his own creative expression. Wearing many hats as an organizer for Make.Shift Art Space in Bellingham gives Sorbel the opportunity to nurture the local DIY space for future generations.
Sorbel first moved up to Bellingham around in 2001 as part of a ska-punk band after high school. He lived in the Bellingham area for the next few years, participating in several musical projects, working as a visual artist and paying rent through a bakery job.
“It’s really scary to get out of a trade job. I was a baker, and the money was secure, and I didn’t understand or have the support [on] how to transition into the creative sector, because it was just so all or nothing,” Sorbel said.
Sorbel moved to Seattle for 11 years after his initial stint in Bellingham, before migrating to Mount Vernon and eventually landing back in Whatcom County to attend college in his late 30s. He started at Whatcom Community College before transferring to Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College. This resulted in an interdisciplinary degree, concentrating on the intersection of anthropology, travel and punk from a cultural perspective.
“I worked with an anthropologist that was in an old punk band, and found folklore and went down this academic road,” he said. “[I] really just took the time to get into the arts in general, and then practical application of events and field work and working with folks. You know, sensitive, cultural work.”
When Sorbel found himself starting his life over at age 40, he wanted to leave the food industry and work with the degree that he obtained.
As he wrapped college, Sorbel applied to work as a Venue Director at the Make.Shift Art Space. He was tasked with booking shows for Make.Shift’s all-ages basement space on Flora Street. He became more entrenched in the work at the non-profit when he began overseeing the upstairs art gallery.
“They created a new position where I’m the operations director. So, I facilitate three programs and then help out wherever else needs to be done, from cleaning bathrooms to helping guide internships to talking to the city or whatever we do,” he said.
The role as operations director oversees many things at Make.Shift, with Sorbel bouncing in any given day from wall-mounting a gallery show to meeting with someone interning in audio production to booking an act for the basement. About three times a week, he starts his day with a drum session—something he likens to going to the gym.
In addition to the Make.Shift, Sorbel works as a booker for The Shakedown, another venue in Bellingham. He also does freelance work as an engineer for a studio on Marine Drive, recording primarily punk, metal and hardcore acts. In his personal time, he is an artist and lives in the Bow-Alger area with his partner and fellow artist Jess Bonin with their cat and dog.
Access to music spaces for teenagers is limited in Bellingham after several house show venues shuttered in the last couple years and many affordable music shows happen behind a metaphorical, age-restricted rope. The Make.Shift has been one of those inclusive spaces, according to Sorbel.
“I think there are a lot of places like Make.Shift that have been bubbling for 15 to 20 years, or folks in that Rock-and-Roll DIY generation that have been bubbling for 15 to 20 years that are ready to see that change, or become the weird, adult professional that they didn’t realize they would be doing the advocating for the scene,” he said.
Third places is a sociology theory of an environment outside of home or work or school that provides an opportunity for engagement outside the obligatory constraints that come with the aforementioned places.
“Inherently, you create these friendships and bonds with folks that come to a third space because they want their life to be different, and they’re looking for something different and have no idea what it is,” Sorbel said.
All-ages venues at non-profits like Make.Shift offer an educational space for musicians just starting out. As Sorbel has found at his job, he has to teach young musicians the ropes of operating as a touring musician according to established, decades-old etiquette.
“The amount of technology dependence, money dependence, how do we go on tour without staying inside every day, budgeting for Airbnbs and hotels and projects, those things are completely new, and it really threw the [inherent system off], which I think is problematic. [We’re] here to share how things work for folks is, prior to the pandemic, it’s fairly understood that you don’t play the same town in the same two weeks, or something like that,” he said.
“People don’t bring their own equipment anymore. There’s a huge ‘I don’t want to bring my stuff.’ Like all the young drummers under 30, nobody’s bringing shit. They’re not going to bring a single thing. And there’s a lot more reliance on somebody else,” Sorbel said.
DIY shows are at the core of how Sorbel started out in the music scene and continues to operate. Passing on the history of that do-it-yourself attitude to younger generations embeds itself in how he books shows and mentors interns.
“I wrote two recommendation letters for someone’s grad school applications,” he said. “I’m passionate. If I could do that all day, I just do that and run our para education, para social program or something, but we just get it in there where we can do it, because we got to make sure we have end results for folks to say, ‘I did this with my life, and I had an internship with a man and he wasn’t crazy,’ like that can be [what] can change it all.”
We are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.
