Take it from Michelle Blackwell and Gerald Lattimore, two accomplished go-go artists who told me they rarely — if ever — play to stone-faced audiences here.

“Being in the crowd is a really unique experience when it comes to go-go,” Blackwell told me. “D.C. go-go crowds are, like, the opposite of subdued.”

That’s just one of many insights Blackwell dispensed during our conversation at her home in Maryland. The vocalist and band manager talked about the one thing go-go audiences never do — take a guess! — and how she took a stand against violence at her concerts, even when it ruffled feathers.

When Lattimore arrived at the house mid-conversation, we dug even deeper: A keyboardist in one of the most influential go-go groups ever, Junkyard Band, he dished on the unspoken rules and trade secrets of playing go-go music in and around D.C.

Here are snippets from our conversation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

On the one thing go-go audiences never do:

Michelle Blackwell: The only thing that D.C. go-go audiences don’t do is clap. It’s probably just because the songs never end, so they’re not accustomed to the song stopping and then you clap. The music never ends [at a go-go show]. It starts, and 45 minutes later, then it ends. But between songs, the beat’s riding, and it transitions into the next song. So there’s no applause.

On discouraging violence at go-go shows:

MB: Whenever we went into a new venue, I always had a meeting with the security team to make sure that they understood that there were certain procedures we wanted them to follow. First, being, we didn’t allow any men [up front]. That front line has to be women. Because guys tend to be more rowdy sometimes, especially if they’ve been drinking.

Michelle Blackwell

And this was one of the things that I probably wasn’t the most popular for, but if there was a certain group of people that were always starting things — because we were so close with our crowd, we kind of knew who everybody was — we would ban them. They would be pissed off in the beginning, but they would come back and act like they had some sense.

So they kind of knew when they were coming to see [my group] WHAT? Band that that’s not something that we condone. You wanna puff your chest out, this was not the place for it. And I didn’t allow our band members to talk about guns and violence on the stage.

On Junkyard Band’s anti-fighting policy: 

Gerald Lattimore: One of our philosophies is one fight, good night. We have done that — we have literally stopped a show and that was it. People were mad.

But you can almost point to somebody and tell [who’s going to be a problem at a show]. Once we click the sticks, you can almost tell which section of the crowd that’s giving off the most energy. If you see a crowd bouncing around and they real hard and aggressive, why not place the security right there to calm it down?

“You’ve got the national acts now incorporating [go-go] music in their sets. You got Erykah Badu onstage singing ‘Sardines.'” —Gerald Lattimore of Junkyard Band

On how out-of-town audiences have responded to go-go: 

GL: Out of town, they treat you like celebrities. They want autographs, take pictures. And you can tell they don’t get the music that often. I’ll give you an example. We played in Danville, Virginia. I never even heard of Danville, Virginia. We played at this spot, it was about 600 people there. Where they come from? I don’t know. Our talker was like, “This might be one of them nights. These people might go crazy.” We did one song — “Loose Booty” — and the whole crowd sung [along]. I’m talking about all different races. It was wall to wall.

Out of town, they bring a strong energy. You go to towns that’s five or six hours away from D.C., they probably never been to D.C. But they probably get DJs that play the go-go, and they just be waiting on a band to come. And when they finally do show up, man, you talking epic crowds.

It’s almost like the whole world is shut down. In they neighborhood, the town is closed. Junkyard’s in town. Already closed the gas stations, we ain’t selling anymore Smoky Bites at the 7-11, everything is closed. We will open up the 7-11s and the Sheetz when the show is over with. It’s like, they just spent all they tax money, they EBT card is empty, they just bought they — I’m trying to tell you. They spent the child support check, the kids didn’t get no milk, they bought they fresh clothes, fresh ‘do… It’s crazy.

On the power of call and response:

MB: We have our secret weapon. That is [our] secret weapon.

GL: [Listen to this clip] Think about it. Chuck Brown had a lot of songs. But what the first thing [people say] when Chuck hit the stage? chicka-chicka-chicka. “Wind me up, Chuck!” chicka-chicka-chicka. He ain’t got to say nothing. He could be tuning the guitar. That’s all they wanna hear. He can literally do that, and say it, and leave. … Don’t come back on. People swear they got their money’s worth.

MB: He wouldn’t have done that, though.

On how go-go bands can fail to energize their audiences:

MB: That’s the role of the lead talker — to engage with the crowd and to get that call and response. But not all lead talkers are built the same.

You have some bands where the front line is so busy — have you ever seen a rap concert where 20 people are on the stage, and everybody has a mic, and it’s just chaotic? Some bands can be like that, too. Nothing grinds my gears [more] than a busy front line. … If it’s too busy on the front line, and it’s not enough intimacy between the lead talker and the crowd, and they have all these distractions, you can lose them.

On competition between go-go bands:

MB: It can be overly competitive… If there’s more than one band on the card, sometimes you can have a little bit of sabotage going on.

GL: Cut certain monitors off —

MB: Yeah, right. Your monitors won’t be on, cords will be cut — oh, oh! It can get a little cutthroat.

GL: Just an example, let’s say Junk and the WHAT? Band was to perform together. And let’s say they were to play first, and let’s say we was to cut their system down — cut the monitor, ’cause we would say, it’s our crowd. We don’t want them crankin’ hard in front of our Southeast crowd.

MB: We’ve never done that…. But it happens. … and there are certain bands that are actually known for doing it.

GL: And it’s crazy how it is — it’s like automatic goin’ in. If you know you playing with a certain band, you already know. You just get your money and leave, ’cause there’s nothing you can do about it.

On the optimal environment for a go-go show: 

MB: When it’s a lot of women, number one. Because guys follow girls. If a guy walks into a club and the ratio of women to men is higher, they know that they’re gonna have a better time, because women aren’t that aggressive. They’re there to party, generally, and have a good time.

GL: Because I’m a musician, the first thing I wanna know is… whose system in there? ‘Cause it could be wall-to-wall packed, and it’s one of them sorry systems, we ready to leave anyway.

MB: So the ideal situation is if the sound system is on point, if there’s a good ratio of women to men in the club, if the club itself is nice and they have friendly bartenders —

GL: And [the drinks] don’t be watered down for $20… They be like, “Man I just paid $20 and I feel nothing.”

MB: I have a song called “Party Mode.” ‘Cause that’s the best way to describe it. There’s no tension. Everybody’s happy. You can almost walk into a party sometimes and also see the energy of the crowd, too, and say, “This is gonna be a good night because everybody’s in a pleasant mood.”

GL: This is when you really know it’s good. When you pull up, people in line dancing. [Excited voice] “Oh that’s my joint!” They don’t even wanna get pat down, they already paid, they don’t care. A hundred dollars? Take it all. They just wanna run in. They don’t even want the change.

MB: I don’t know about that —

GL: I went a little live with that one, but I’m just saying.

MB: He is crazy.

GL: [What I’m saying is] that it sounds so good that they just want to get in there. They been in line, they partying, they hear the music, they ready to get in there. ‘Cause one thing about go-go — it’s not a DJ. So if you miss your song, that’s it. You won’t hear it again that night.

On D.C. audiences’ preference for live bands (versus DJs): 

MB: Because it’s a go-go town — let’s just say you’re at the Howard and it’s an R&B act. [The crowd is] probably not going be jumping around as much, because they’re used to live entertainment here. Here, it’s kinda like, “Look, I’ve seen a lot, and by the way, where’s your band? Because I’m used to live instruments.”

GL: Go-go has spoiled D.C.

MB: Yeah, we want live instruments… This one [referring to Gerald] — let us go somewhere, it’s not a band onstage.

GL: I am mad. I am sick. I feel like I need to see a manager. ‘Cause I feel like you just took my money.

MB: [Listen to this clip] Some national acts, when they come here, they want to perform with a band.

GL: Then you’ve got the national acts now incorporating our music in their set. You got Erykah Badu onstage singing “Sardines.”

MB: They’re hip. … They know the little tricks of the trade.

GL: They know the tricks of the trade. You gonna come to D.C., if you don’t have a go-go on the stage with you, you’d better play some of it. Unless you just got a bunch of hits — or unless you old-school, of course. Old school, R&B — they don’t need it. The Whispers, Frankie Beverly, all that, they gonna play what they come to play. They not getting up there crankin’ no go-go. You not gonna hear Frankie Beverly say, “Tell me what you feel like doin’, y’all!” And throw the mic out there. [Laughs] Frankie ain’t doing that.

Top photo by Flickr user Eva Rinaldi used under a Creative Commons license.

Twenty years after Home Alive was established (and four years after Zapata’s killer was sentenced to 37 years in prison), Leah Michaels and Rozz Therrien decided to track the organization’s growth in a film. The project sprouted out of an oral-history assignment for a class at the University of Washington, and went on to become the full-length documentary “Rock, Rage, and Self-Defense: An Oral History of Seattle’s Home Alive,” showing Sunday at Black Cat. The film features the musicians, artists and supporters who made Home Alive thrive and those who have taken up the torch today. Bandwidth spoke to Therrien and Michaels about the film.

Note: All responses reflect the views of Leah Michaels and Rozz Therrien and not those of Home Alive.

Bandwidth: How did you two come together to work on this project?

Rozz Therrien and Leah Michaels: The project came out of an old project for a history class. We were friends since Day One of freshman year, and the class was all about building scenes and communities and looking specifically at music communities. So it started with oral-history projects and we were each assigned different [Home Alive] founders by chance. We did the interviews and they were so wonderful and fantastic and we were truly inspired. But we wanted to know more. … so we decided to make a documentary. We went into the project naïve about how long it would take and the cost, which ended up being a beautiful thing.

B: What steps did you take to get the film on the road and have screenings all over the country?

RT and LM: We finished the film in September of 2013. The film premiered in October in Austin at a music conference for women called Meowcon. We applied to that and got in, and through our screening there, people suggested some really good ideas. We put a post on our blog that said, “Anyone interested in hosting a screening? Let us know.” And Laina Dawes wrote this awesome article about us for Bitch Magazine that also asked people to email us if they were interested in having a screening. That’s how most of our tour got set up.

B How seriously do you think violence against women is taken in rock music? Do you consider it a problem at live shows?

RT and LM: We think the violence against women at live shows reflects the artist who is performing. The artists either stand for the violence or they don’t. Standing on stage, they have the full view of what is going on in the audience. There is a sense of social responsibility that the band and the audience possess. That being said, violence is still an issue at many shows.

B: I’m sure you’re familiar with Bikini Kill’s “Girls to the front” practice [which encourages women to stand in front of the stage or band at shows]. Some modern punk bands still exercise this. Is this an effective tool against violence?

RT and LM: The “girls to the front” practice is meant to create a safe space for women at shows, and the practice can prevent violence. With that being said, it does not change the conversation as a whole, or challenge the space, the venue, as a whole. If this helps people feel more empowered and safe at shows, then it is effective.

There’s always a victim-blaming discussion like, “Why was she wearing that?” and not “Why do people rape? Why do people assault?”

B: Do you think violent lyrics are a part of the problem of violence against women? How much is it just freedom of speech?

RT and LM: Violence against women in song lyrics or in the media now has some kind of normalcy. People think it’s normal for women to be catcalled or for women to be called bitches and hoes. …I think there has to be a larger, more complicated discussion about artistic expression and violence against women.

It’s hard to talk about artistic expression when you’re degrading people in general and most of the time it happens to be women. There has to be a larger conversation about why, when we degrade people, we call them bitches; or in rap battles people throwing out “rape,” which is not OK. It’s like, why do we go there? It’s an issue because it’s so normal and so engrained. You listen to song lyrics that say “I’m gonna slip your panties to the side” but you don’t really hear women saying that in popular media. It’s something that needs to be talked about in the larger conversation. Sometimes you hear a lyric that’s really disturbing. What’s the line between allowing free speech and then talking about how the media really is impacting violence?

B: Regarding the White House’s recent PSA on sexual assault, do you think this type of rhetoric that involves “It’s happening to our sisters and daughters” is helpful?

RT and LM: Since we’ve been on the road, we haven’t seen the PSA, so we can’t really comment on that. But part of our goal with this film was to talk about sexual violence and violence that are happening in communities, which is why we were so inspired by Home Alive—making acts of violence community responsibilities and taking control. These aren’t isolated incidents; they’re all interconnected. So alliedship is super important. There’s always a victim-blaming discussion like, “Why was she wearing that?” and not “Why do people rape? Why do people assault?” Those questions aren’t being asking in the larger context regarding violence with the frequency they should be. We all live together in communities so we need to be able to support each other and bring each other up in communities.

We definitely support alliedship because it’s about violence prevention and education in general… We aren’t the only ones who need to be educated on violence prevention. It’s men as well. It’s also not just about heterosexual relationships—it’s violence for anybody. That means that violence-prevention education needs to be shared and these discussions need to be had with everyone.

B: What do you think Home Alive would look like if it began in 2014 instead of 1993?

RT and LM: We thought about that question quite a bit when we were conducting our interviews for the film. Now, having completed the film, we think it would look similar to its current incarnation—that is, not having a physical space, but having the curriculum and other resources online for free. The organization would have used social media to organize in their community, but also to inspire others outside of Seattle. When it formed in 1993, Home Alive inspired other community organizations, but with the Internet it could have reached a larger public more quickly.

B: Have there been any unexpected outcomes of the film’s release?

RT and LM: Thankfully, we’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback. We started this project because we thought the story of Home Alive and their message of “you are worth defending” should be shared to continue conversations around violence prevention and sexual violence. We’ve come to realize that these resources are needed now more than ever. Violence and sexual-violence prevention are still hotly debated topics.