Din has just wrapped up a finale to a weeklong run of shows that brought nine bands to Ft. Loko, the Edgewood row house where she lives and books small concerts. The former American University student lives in the three-bedroom residence with two roommates, but she runs the shows herself. For Saturday’s event, she sets up the basement, ushers in the crowd gathered in the backyard, runs sound and points attendees to a stash of earplugs.

“I just hope there’s no moshing around that pipe,” Din says, patting a vertical water pipe fixed in the center of the basement.

At age 21, Din is one of the youngest female show promoters in D.C. Recently, she’s also been one of the DIY community’s most ambitious, hosting five events in May and three in the past week alone. That kind of volume is bold for a house venue. Nearby DIY basement The Dougout booked three shows this month; indie-rock band Paperhaus, which runs a Petworth house venue by the same name, lists only two May shows on its Facebook page.

Ft. Loko is the latest addition to a group of DIY venues located within a few blocks of each other in Eckington and Edgewood, and collaboration among the neighboring spaces is key to its functionality. Lights borrowed from art loft Hole In The Sky are clipped to a ceiling beam. The mini-PA system comes courtesy of The Dougout.

Din cites her own basement show-going as a major reason for renting the place. “When I looked at the house, [hosting shows] was one of the foremost thoughts in my mind,” says Din. “I know the community, and I know that planning and coordinating is a really integral part of it. And that’s a role I’m willing to play.”

April was a tough month for nontraditional venues in D.C. After two years, Columbia Heights performance and gallery space The Dunes was barred from renewing its lease. A management transition drove Tenleytown restaurant Casa Fiesta out of the punk-show business altogether.

When she read that Casa Fiesta was stamping out shows, Din immediately contacted Tenley Empire—the collective that booked gigs at the restaurant—to try and salvage the remaining dates. She agreed to move three concerts to Ft. Loko, doubling the number of shows she had lined up for the month.

“Reaching out was just an instinctual reaction since I had the capability and like the music that they usually bring in,” says Din. “They’re really nice guys and you can tell how much they really love bringing people together around music, so of course I want to help them any way I can.”

Ft. Loko possesses the same scrappy domestic charm that typifies many basement venues: Christmas lights hang from the ceiling, an Ikea carpet doubles as a drum rug and the flush of a toilet upstairs reverberates downstairs. But Din’s space was a welcome relief to Tenley Empire.

“Without her offering up her home, [the shows] would’ve probably had to be canceled,” says Tenley booker Ryan Zellman. Alex Edelmann, who orchestrated Saturday’s garage-pop lineup, says he appreciates Din’s open mind. “It’s super nice that she’s down to host weird hardcore shows,” he says.

Din is aware of how strained relations can become between house venues and their neighbors, so she strategizes to avoid flare-ups that could endanger the space’s future.

“Longevity is the real threat to DIY venues, so you gotta be smart,” Din says. Before her string of shows last week, Din knocked on doors down the block, delivering cookies and handing out her cellphone number. She even offered one concerned neighbor her basement as a music practice space for her neighbor’s son.

“I wanted to communicate that it’s not about partying or money, and it’s bringing the community art and music,” says Din. “Hopefully they’ll respect that more than other vices.”

But like many house venues, Ft. Loko’s situation with neighbors is tenuous. Although there’s been no police intervention, one neighbor claimed to have seen a show attendee defecate in his yard. The chance of earning a lousy reputation upsets Din.

“You don’t want to antagonize the neighbors,” said Din. “You’ve got to let them know it’s not a bunch of [terrible] people who’ve come to ruin your night.”

As Saturday’s show winds down, the bands thank Din and hawk tapes and T-shirts. Show-goers linger in the backyard, keeping their voices respectfully low. Din says that a lot of kids who come to Ft. Loko know the drill: Stay reasonably quiet or risk the space.

Din says she’s happy that this week’s string of shows is over—and she may go to another house party once everyone has left.

But she won’t get too much downtime. Ft. Loko has another show in less than two weeks.

Photos top to bottom: The Sea Life at Ft. Loko by Michael Andrade; Sharon Din courtesy of Sharon Din

Damaged City Fest
Thursday, April 10 to Sunday, April 13 at the Dougout, St. Stephen’s Church, The Pinch, and Dance Institute of Washington

The Damaged City Fest, D.C.’s DIY punk extravaganza, returns for its second year this weekend, boasting a jam-packed lineup at St. Stephen’s in Columbia Heights on Friday night and all day Saturday, plus a pre-show tonight at The Dougout, after-shows at the Pinch and a Sunday matinee at the Dance Institute of Washington. The lineup is insanely packed, from California powerviolence pioneers Infest to D.C.’s Priests and Give, but the real draw—especially for locals—is a reunion of Government Issue‘s 1980 lineup, featuring John Stabb, Jon Barry, and Brian Gay, performing early demos and the “Legless Bull” EP. Presales are now all sold out, but there will be a few tickets available at the door (tip: get there early!).

Title Tracks, Passing Phases, Cane & the Sticks
Friday, April 11 at Comet Ping Pong, $10-plus donation

After the passing of Windian Records founder Travis Jackson in January, there have been a number of benefit shows for his wife and 1-year-old son. This is another (so donate freely at the door!), featuring John Davis’ power-pop project Title Tracks, pop-punkers Passing Phases, and fuzzy rockers Cane & the Sticks.

Vanguard Festival
Saturday, April 12 at Union Arts, $20

Put on by the noise-embracing collective Select DC, the inaugural Vanguard Festival brings together artists, producers and DJs to showcase “outstanding explorations, tastes, and talent.” Highlights include electronics guru John Wiese (who in addition to his own projects has also toured with Sunn O))) and performed with Wolf Eyes), Earcave/Peoples Potential Unlimited founder Andrew Morgan (who put together this exclusive mix for Bandwidth), ex-Black Eyes member Ital, and local electronic duo Protect-U.

Tereu Tereu, J. Flax & the Heart Attacks, Mattress Financial
Saturday, April 12 at the Beehive, by donation

If you missed Tereu Tereu‘s headlining show at the Black Cat a few months ago, here’s your chance to see this offbeat rock band play a much more intimate venue. Also performing are Norfolk surf-punkers J. Flax & the Heart Attacks and a Two Inch Astronaut solo project called Mattress Financial.

Over N Out, The Oddities, Threads, Arkestry
Saturday, April 12 at the Electric Maid, $5

Despite having a fairly active concert calendar, the Electric Maid always seems to slip under the radar. Reacquaint yourself with the Takoma Park space for this pop-punk/emo/hardcore lineup featuring Baltimore’s Over N Out, D.C.’s The Oddities, West Virginia’s The Threads, and D.C.’s Arkestry.

GoldLink and Lakim
Saturday, April 12 at U Street Music Hall, $15

Who is GoldLink? While the Virginia-based MC has released a string of increasingly promising recordings—culminating recently with his new EP “The God Complex”—he’s remained anonymous. In a recent interview with Bandwidth, the “future bounce” artist wouldn’t divulge his plans for Saturday’s release show, which you’d think would involve donning a mask à la MF Doom. Then again, maybe this will mark the first time he lets fans see behind the veil. (Ally Schweitzer)

Warning: This track contains explicit lyrics.

Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder, Gorguts, Noisem and Coke Bust
Sunday, April 13 at The Fillmore Silver Spring, $26.50

This tour, sponsored by Decibel Magazine, puts together two death-metal bands who released comeback albums last year: Carcass, whose “Surgical Steel” was the group’s first album in 17 years, and Canada’s Gorguts, whose excellent “Colored Sands” broke the group’s 12-year silence. Michigan melodic death-metal band The Black Dahlia Murder and Baltimore’s death/thrash youngsters Noisem are also along for the ride. As an added bonus, if you don’t get enough Coke Bust at the Damaged City after-party Friday at the Pinch, this is your chance to see them again on a significantly larger stage.

Beds, Sellout Youth, Curse Words
Wednesday, April 16 at CD Cellar Arlington, by donation

Shows at a record store are always awesome because you have time to browse between bands. This show is a benefit for the DIY festival Fest Too, happening in June at the Lab in Alexandria, and the bands performing are Sterling, Va., emo-punk outfit Beds (who are apparently basketball fans, given that one track on their “Michael Jordan” EP is called “Dunking on Patrick Ewing”), Alexandria’s garagey Sellout Youth and D.C. punks Curse Words.

Cloud Nothings, Ryley Walker
Wednesday, April 16 at Black Cat, $15

Cloud Nothings’ “I’m Not Part Of Me” is one of this year’s catchiest rock anthems. But instead of sticking it on the A side, the band made it the final track on its recent third album, “Here and Nowhere Else” (out now on D.C.’s own Carpark Records). Getting there is no slog—the album is full of good cuts—but once you’re there, you’ll probably understand why they made you wait. (Ally Schweitzer)

These and other show listings can be found on ShowListDC.

So what’s the most essential listening? I cobbled together what I consider a few of the scene’s highlights, from garage purists to unabashed punk rockers.

Mine is a very incomplete list, of course. Numerous other great bands pepper the local scene with all kinds of variations on garage-hued punk: Thee Lolitas, Foul Swoops, The Shirks, The Sniffs, Sunwolf, and surely others. Do you have a favorite local garage-ish band? Drop us a line in the comments.

Teen Liver

House-show veterans Teen Liver play a brand of rock ‘n’ roll that’s more than the sum of its parts—or maybe, more appropriately, less. The band’s cassette-only full-length plays like a surf-rock soundtrack of a CBGB-era punk documentary narrated by Lux Interior. The result is the most purebred garage punk in the city—which, like good writing, looks easier than it really is. Teen Liver plays Comet Ping Pong April 23.

Nice Breeze

Nice Breeze’s rollicking version of surf punk is so infallibly simple and lo-fi, it sounds like it could have been plucked out of a ’60s beach flick and dropped into Soundcloud. Never mind that the lyrics to “Transparency” are about pseudo science; on that track, Nice Breeze’s sound is all saltwater and sunshine. Nice Breeze plays Galaxy Hut March 30.

The Tender Thrill

If you like your garage rock pure, clean and crooning, The Tender Thrill should be in your earbuds. At times, the band can make The Standells and The Sonics sound like fist-in-the-air punks. But at its best—like on “One and Only One” from its self-titled 2012 LP—the band shows up with enough blues and barroom jangle to get the jackets off and the whiskey pouring.

Passing Phases

Without getting into the credentials of pop punk—possibly the most misapplied genre in all rock music—Passing Phases is as pop punk as the D.C. garage-revival scene gets. On its “Endless Autumn” LP, the band laces its sneering vocals and frank lyrics with pop hooks and a near-constant midtempo punk beat that pumps life through the whole record. It’s a beautiful thing. Passing Phases sounds both old and new, in better quantities and ratios than many of their garage-rock contemporaries. It may be the best the city has to offer. Passing Phases plays Comet Ping Pong April 11.

The Doozies

I don’t hear a lot of burger in The Doozies’ “cheeseburger rock,” but I do hear a lot of Bay Area: The Doozies, brothers in fuzzy garage-pop, sound like they should be jamming with The Mantles and Thee Oh Sees. On last year’s “Cooked Out,” they also dropped one of my favorite local rock songs, the hummable “A Doctor,” which you probably would need if you crushed as many cheeseburgers as these dudes probably do. (Ally Schweitzer)

Highway Cross

If there’s a Venn diagram of garage-punk, Highway Cross falls in the punk circle. But I look at D.C.’s scene as a big tent, and even Northern Virginia punk rockers are welcome. On Highway Cross’ two 7-inches, the latest released last April, their tracks walk a line between straight-up punk rock and the kind of early ’80s garage punk that opened the door to a new era of weird punk offshoots, including revivalist rockabilly. “Suspicion Police,” from 2011, is Exhibit A here—it’s a hard-charging, punk swinger with hints of of X-Ray Spex and The Buzzcocks. Highway Cross plays Smash! March 27 and Black Cat April 26.

Crumms

At some point, I’d like someone to explain to me the kinship between underground garage rock and the campy, B-horror movie aesthetic that has pervaded in punk and rockabilly for decades. Not that Crumms are an amalgam of that—the band is not schticky! I repeat, not a schtick!—but it does deliver D.C.’s most faithful take on The Fuzztones’ haunted-house surf punk. There’s also some serious darkness to Crumms’ jangle: On “Obituaries,” from the group’s February demo, the band embarks on a full minute of boogeyman guitar wails before kicking into a minute-and-a-half of speedy surf rock with distorted vocals. Crumms play Smash! March 27 and the Dougout March 29.