Mapping the South Bay’s Underground: How a Scene Thrives Online and Off

By Indi Tejeda

EDITORIAL

1/14/26

Collage by Indi Tejeda

San Jose’s underground music community is alive, even if it isn’t always visible. Nestled between tech campuses and suburban sprawl, a constellation of punk bands, folk collectives, bedroom producers, and DIY organizers continues to adapt, reinvent, and flourish. By 2025, the scene pulses as much through digital channels as through the city’s unconventional venues, with music circulating on social media, archival sites, and hybrid spaces that come alive after dark.

Grassroots initiatives such as San Jose Rocks have spent years documenting the South Bay’s sprawling musical past, capturing everything from early punk shows to intimate folk performances in garages and backrooms. The scene is defined not by stability but by reinvention. When venues close or become too expensive, artists and organizers find another way forward, through pop-up shows, reimagined spaces, or new digital platforms. Heavy Lemon, a collective spotlighted by Metro Silicon Valley in November 2025, exemplifies this spirit.

Founder Chris Gough describes the organization: "Heavy Lemon as a platform is really just a handful of passionate people who happen to be musicians that figured out when we threw our own shows it was more fun and beneficial to artists than trying to work with a corporate promoter. Our goal is to make live music accessible to people of all ages while supporting local businesses by inviting local and touring musicians to perform in San Jose/Bay Area in spaces like a coffee shop or dim sum restaurant. We are a primarily volunteer staffed organization that wants to deliver a safe and fun local DIY show experience and create an ecosystem where musicians and artists are compensated fairly."

Chris sees himself as a facilitator, connecting the different elements that make a healthy music scene.

"I personally see my role as a facilitator of sorts, connecting all of the different elements of what I think makes a healthy music scene (new bands, bands on tour, new art, spaces that are sustainable etc) and then making sure that those events are staffed and promoted enough for the show to be successful. I work with a small team of friends who also want to see a healthy music scene in the South Bay. This also includes connecting with other like-minded organizations around the Bay Area and San Jose and finding ways of supporting and coordinating with each other. Heavy Lemon is an embodiment of DIY/Independent music philosophy for me, and so as Head Lemon it's important to me to instill those values in what we are trying to do."

History in Motion: Resilience and Reinvention

Digital and Physical Crossroads: The Spaces Music Calls Home

High costs and inconsistent infrastructure have pushed the South Bay’s underground scene to blend digital coordination with flexible physical spaces. Bookings happen through DMs, flyers circulate on Instagram, and shows are promoted via Discord, Reddit threads, and community-maintained calendars.

Chris emphasizes that curation is about more than logistics; it’s about taste, excitement, and fairness to artists."The most important question I ask myself when setting up a bill for an event is: would I go to this show? Would I enjoy seeing these bands? It's important to me on a taste level and a practical level to book bands that I would enjoy seeing live otherwise it's impossible for me to get behind it. If I personally am not excited about a band then I don't think it's fair to any of the parties involved to put them on a bill. There are many other factors that go into those decisions on how we curate, but mostly I just want it to be fun for show goers and artists both, a win-win scenario."

Hybrid spaces like Jade Cathay, a dim-sum restaurant by day and punk venue by night, illustrate the ingenuity of local organizers. Other cafés and galleries double as performance spaces, clearing tables for makeshift stages and fostering creativity in unexpected places.

Underground in Action: Venues, Collectives, and Recent Highlights

The Caravan Lounge continues to anchor downtown San Jose’s DIY ecosystem, hosting punk, rock, and alternative acts, including touring groups like The Hellflowers. Heavy Lemon organizes three to four shows per month across cafés, restaurants, bars, and gallery spaces, maintaining a “no one turned away for lack of funds” ethos.

Chris highlights the South Bay’s flourishing musical output:

"I think out of all the different parts of the Bay Area with the most happening musically, the South Bay and San Jose in particular has been producing some of the best bands in the last five years. It is so humbling and wholesome to hear from touring bands that San Jose was their favorite stop, and year after year all the different genres and communities throughout San Jose are flourishing. I am very proud that Heavy Lemon is a small part of that, and proud that our events allow up and coming artists a way to perform for their friends and fans. There is a lot of magic in the Bay Area and I love that San Jose plays its part. I love San Francisco and I love the East Bay. I'm glad that we have many friends all over this beautiful place. The Bay Area music scene is the best in the United States of America."

Beyond hosting shows, Heavy Lemon emphasizes community involvement and DIY participation. "We are always looking out for people that want to get involved in volunteering to help with door duties, sound system set up/tear down, and graphic design… There's always plenty of ways to help squeeze the ol lemon, as they say."

This approach illustrates how Heavy Lemon’s events are designed not just as concerts but as hands-on cultural experiences, where attendees can actively contribute to the scene.

Adaptation as Survival

Rising costs, shifting nightlife patterns, and ongoing gentrification have made traditional venue models difficult to sustain. Flexibility has become essential. Hybrid spaces, independent promoters, and digitally coordinated shows allow music to thrive outside commercial structures. Online platforms give emerging artists a way to share work and build community without financial barriers, while local organizers ensure shows remain accessible and inclusive. Large-scale commercial concerts cannot replicate the intimacy or experimentation of grassroots events. The coexistence of DIY and mainstream spaces paints a fuller portrait of the South Bay’s cultural landscape, one where underground artists still have room to innovate.

Why Documentation Matters

Preserving the South Bay’s underground history, through flyers, demos, digital archives, or stories of reimagined venues, ensures fleeting but meaningful moments aren’t lost. The work of The Caravan Lounge, Jade Cathay, Heavy Lemon, and countless organizers demonstrates a simple truth: the underground scene is not just surviving but continually reasserting itself. Meaningful art doesn’t require permission, only intention, space, and a community willing to build something together.