Immersed Zine

Interview by Gunar Saxum + Photos by @watsonyomind

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What’s the first thing you think of when you see think of this town? Golfing, vacation, tourists, overpriced crap on a dusty shelf? In the last two years, a DIY collective named Myrtle Beach Shows has been working tirelessly to give the city a new reason for people to talk about MB: hardcore and punk shows.

Caustin Sutton, frontman for MB-based metalcore outfit Hymns of Blasphemy and one of the minds behind MBS, details what the scene here used to be like: 

“I’m very proud about the Myrtle Beach music scene over the last year and a half. I’ve been booking shows on and off since late 2011 and honestly, I feel like the scene is better than ever. Prior to covid, if there were any promoters in Myrtle Beach booking shows, they didn’t care if another promoter in town was booking a similar show on the same date/time frame. Why book a hardcore show when there is already a hardcore show going on in town, you know? It made no sense, and instead of having one killer show, it would turn into two wack ass shows with shitty attendance. Shows back then were averaging MAYBE 50-75 with a really good show hitting a little over 100. Of course there were special shows when old heads would come out and book something with their homies that would do very well, but otherwise there was a lot of stepping on toes.”

Having spent a few pandemic years with hardly any DIY shows being booked, and attendance being abysmal, a change was brewing. Caustin recalls this in the genesis of Myrtle Beach Shows:

“So MBS started after Devin Hopkins booked a pop-punk show at The Brickhouse Lounge in January, 2023 that had 90 heads. A week later, James Uzzel had a punk show he booked for local act Circuit (now Corrupt Faith) at Fresh Brewed Coffee House with 150 paid attendees, majority of which were high-school kids we had never seen before. The three of us talked, decided to join forces and I started booking shows again. The first “official” MBS show was March 11th at NXT LVL FIT (now-defunct gym) with Hymns of Blasphemy, Circuit, Nawcera, Merciful Release, with Brandon Richie/PUSCH from Pennsylvania hopping on last minute. I went balls to the wall with promo after finding out that another local band booked a show at Fresh Brewed Coffee House on the same date. I was making memes daily for social media and passing out as many flyers as I could to promote that show. All in all, I passed out 1,200 flyers to local businesses and even put some on windshields at a corporate venue up the road. We had 200 paid before the first band even started, and ended with 240 paid at the end of the night. That is still my favorite show I’ve ever played. I think the novelty of the gym venue and the first “heavy” all ages show in the DIY scene is what made it so special. We tried to recreate that at the gym a few times, but it just never hit as well as it did that first time.”

Touring bands are taking notice too, with the likes of Mychildren Mybride, Heavens Die, Gridiron, and Maul all booking stops here. Caustin elaborated, saying:

“Things are just so much better now in my opinion. Instead of multiple promoters working against each other, Devin, James and I wanted to start booking shows together and the formula has been working pretty well! We brought Ryan Grainger (Fragile Life Records) into the mix in 2024 and shows have been growing ever since.”

And it hasn’t just been an effort to get people to shows for an audience. Each person behind MBS is also in their own musical projects, and realized that there were not enough local bands to justify more shows. They can’t play every gig they book, of course. The solution? They created a spreadsheet on a google drive where someone could list their name, contact info, what instrument they play, and what kind of music they want to play. Within 6 months of the spreadsheet being online, there were over 30 musicians listed and groups had already begun to form. This writer can personally attest to starting two bands directly because of using the spreadsheet to find people, and multiple others can say the same. 

Recently, they’ve been doing collaborations with Fragile Life Records and For The Freaks, another DIY collective operating out of Columbia, SC, and with our very own Immersed Magazine. These efforts, bridging communities and getting local bands out of town for shows, is at the forefront of the MBS ethos. And it’s only going to get bigger and better in the future. Speaking on what’s in store, Caustin shared: 

“My goals with continuing to book shows after all these years is really just to make that the music scene is still active and to encourage new people to attend shows, and and ultimately enable them to start booking their own shows in the future. I never had a “passing of the torch” moment from old heads when I first started booking shows, so now I’m trying to do that myself for the next generation. Every show we have there are more and more new faces. Eventually these kids are going to want to book shows for themselves. Hopefully that will happen soon.”

At the end of the day, we’re all just weird people looking for community and a way to air our grievances with this world, and maybe have a little fun along the way, clout chasing and streaming numbers be damned. Our closing statement from Caustin captures this sentiment perfectly:

“Myrtle Beach might not be an A-Market, B-Market or even C-Market for touring bands, but I don’t care in the slightest. These shows have minimal stress, and everyone has a good time. That’s what matters the most to me.”

May 22, 2025