Outer Frequencies Brings DIY Music, Ethic To Cape Cod

HARWICH – Inside Christ Episcopal Church last month, Visual Learner barrelled their way through a cathartic set of blistering punk rock. The music echoed the best of their native Minneapolis’ proud rock history, calling to mind long-championed bands such as The Replacements, Soul Asylum and Husker Du. 

As the band played, Vanessa Downing and Michael Fournier were all smiles. They, along with Fournier’s wife, Rebecca Griffin, are the team behind Outer Frequencies, which has been staging live rock shows featuring both local and touring bands in the Harwich church since May 2024.

“I don’t know if there’s a specific way to do it,” said Fournier, who by day teaches along with Griffin at Cape Cod Community College. “We just fly some flags. We cast out lines and see who’s available.”

Fournier, Griffin and Downing are all seasoned veterans of underground, DIY punk culture, having come up similarly attending shows in churches, VFW halls and other secondary live music spaces. They’re also musicians in their own right. Fournier and Griffin, who live in Yarmouth, play in the band Plaza, while Downing, a Brewster resident, recently revived her band Samuel (now Samuel S.C.) after a more than two-decade hiatus.

A longtime fan of Samuel, Fournier began following the band’s Instagram page. Eventually, he and Browning connected and became friends.

“I thought, ‘he lives on Cape Cod. I live on Cape Cod. Wait a minute,’” Downing said.

As the friendship evolved, the trio started talking over coffee about hosting concerts on Cape Cod, an area that is often bypassed by touring bands that opt for larger cities like Providence or Boston. But there was the belief that there was an audience on-Cape for the more creative, underground music they sought to support.

“We kind of, like, bonded over how great those [DIY] shows were, and how they didn’t seem to exist on Cape Cod,” Downing said. “They probably did. We know that they did back in the day. But we all have to drive to Providence or Boston to see interesting bands that suit our tastes.”

Outer Frequencies has hosted 10 events since their first show almost two years ago. Most have been held at Christ Episcopal, while most recently the group held a reading event with Damon Krukowsi, formerly of the band Galaxy 500, and author Liz Pelley.

In looking for a venue to host live music, the trio didn’t have to look beyond Christ Episcopal. Fournier and Downing met with the church’s administrator, Lisa Berman, and quickly found there were grounds for a working relationship.

“I was trying to soft shoe it a little bit,” Fournier said. “I was like, ‘we’re gonna have some bands.’ And Vanessa was like, ‘don’t listen to this guy. They’re gonna be loud. They’re gonna have Marshall stacks.’”

“The moment we met Lisa, I think Mike would agree, we knew that she was cool,” Downing said. “As we’re talking to her and explaining things, I just thought it was really best to be open and honest now rather than get in trouble later.”

Two years later, Outer Frequencies continues to slowly but successfully build a strong foundation for local and touring bands. For Griffin, who grew up going to DIY shows in central and later Western Massachusetts, it’s been encouraging to see people of all ages come out to the performances.

“It makes us feel like we’re part of something that’s bigger than us,” she said.

But beyond an adequate space to host live music, Downing said it was equally important to the Outer Frequencies team to find a space that was welcoming and inclusive.

“The other part of it too was wanting to make sure the space was going to feel welcoming and friendly to anybody that walked in the door, including us,” she said. “For myself, I’m a gay woman with a child. I’m in a gay relationship. I wanted to feel like if this is going to be our home base, my family can come here and it won’t be weird at all.”

In terms of booking shows, Fournier admits that they’ve settled on some rules as they go. Four bands on a bill is too many, they found, so they’ve settled on three per show. There’s also a pointed effort to mix touring bands with others from the Cape.

“So even if the touring band isn’t one that people know, at least the local band will bring people in,” Griffin said, adding that the low overhead of the Outer Frequencies shows allows organizers to stay competitive with what they can offer bands for pay.

Fournier, Griffin and Downing have also always been adamant about supporting local groups and charities through their shows. Ten percent of proceeds from each show are donated to a local charity. In March, a portion of the proceeds went to support the local chapter of the nonprofit Food Not Bombs.

Outer Frequencies’ next show is scheduled for May 1, again at Christ Episcopal. The bill includes Ethan Horne of Ithaca, NY; the guitar-drum duo White Pickett Fence from Philadelphia; and Lightning For My Friends, a local band featuring Tim Graham that will be performing its first show.

“Tim has perfect attendance,” Fournier said. “He does all of our fliers, the artwork for Vanessa’s band Samuel. He’s just such a supportive guy, and he started a band, and they’re going to play Outer Frequencies.”

Looking ahead, the three organizers are working to incorporate Outer Frequencies as a nonprofit, a move that would better make them eligible for grants to help keep the live music series going. Beyond that, Fournier said it’s just about continuing to support bands and bring shows to the region.

“Fugazi always talks about, if you’re a baker and you make good bread, and you sell out at the end of the day, then you’ve done a good job,” Fournier said. “It’s about having something sustainable that everyone is welcome to. If we keep doing that, that would be great.”

For more on the May 1 show, visit  Outer Frequencies on Instagram at @outerfrequencies.