Y-Rock on XPN\u201d<\/a> which was discontinued in 2010.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen they discontinued that, I kind of took stock and I said \u2018Well, they do a great job of focusing on the Philadelphia music scene\u2019 and I thought it would be great to do a series focused on the Lehigh Valley, where I\u2019m from, focused on all those bands,\u201d McGroggan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tape Swap began as a radio show on WMUH located on the campus of Muhlenberg College in Allentown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After some trial and error, they settled on recording live sessions of local bands in Mulchane\u2019s studio and airing them on the show, as well as putting them on the Tape Swap website.<\/p>\n
In the over 10 years of operation, Tape Swap has featured local D.I.Y bands spanning genres from punk rock to psychedelic rock to anti-folk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was raised in the Lehigh Valley and growing up, the impression I got was that there wasn\u2019t a whole lot going on here music wise,\u201d McGroggan said. \u201cWhen I met Matt Molchane and I started looking into doing Tape Swap radio, he opened up a world to me that really let me know there actually was stuff going on here. I just didn\u2019t know about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGroggan said Tape Swap radio has expanded beyond being just a radio show, and has expanded to meet the needs of the community.<\/p>\n
In collaboration with local illustrators for cover art, Tape Swap ran physical cassette releases for many of their live recordings, until it became too much for their small team.<\/p>\n
The station began hosting live shows in 2014, starting at the Fun House and expanding their venue options to a stage at the Allentown Arts Fest from 2014 to 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery show that we threw also raised money for community causes, and we raised over $20,000 for causes with our shows over the years, which we\u2019re pretty proud of,\u201d McGroggin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Giving back to the community is a central aspect of the D.I.Y scene for Leo Motolese, a member of the band \u201cFelt Rite\u201d and operator of the The Slop Sink, a D.I.Y venue ran out of his backyard where all profits from the shows go to the performing artists.<\/p>\n
Motolese said the name is derived from an old utility sink in the house where the shows are held, which was full of old paint and other gunk.<\/p>\n
The Slop Sink began serious operations last year in 2025, but Motolese has been involved in the D.I.Y community for around 10 years, even playing shows in the basements of Lehigh students with his band when he was 18 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Motolese said the local D.I.Y scene is deeply supportive, with venues like the Icehouse, Funhouse and National Sokols, hosting shows for bands to perform in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see a new band, or friends that just started a new group, everybody is pushing them to keep doing their thing,\u201d Motolese said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The community forged by the D.I.Y scene was evident during the first show Motolese ever put on at the Slop Sink, when Lit Coffee Roasters, a South Side coffee shop, took bands and the crowd in when the show got rained out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the new venue, Motolese said he wants to provide a space for intimate shows, inspiring people to come play who may be nervous to do so otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love getting people together personally, you know,\u201d Motolese said. \u201cThose conversations that happen in the moment, the laughs shared, and the funny pictures that come out of it. Either we want people to go and find more art or go and share their art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The connections made in the D.I.Y music scene in Bethlehem have been foundational to many figures in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say punk rock saved my life more times than I can count, and that\u2019s part of why I still do what I do,\u201d Chris Regec, founder and operator of the Lehigh Valley Apparel Company said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Regec said he started printing T-shirts and booking shows in 2001, wanting to get involved in the D.I.Y scene despite\u00a0 not playing any instrument or being in any band.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since Regec was introduced to punk music by his cousins in the late 90\u2019s and early 2000\u2019s, he said the D.I.Y scene both locally and nationally has changed. Regec said there\u2019s more money involved, provoking a more career oriented mindset for some, but not for all.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically there\u2019s not been money in this and I think a lot of people that do it, will do it for the same reason I do, which is it\u2019s not about the money,\u201d Regec said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McGroggan said post-covid, the scene has also seen an influx of young people populating shows and forming bands since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new blood, the young minds and hearts are always what keeps these things alive,\u201d Regec said. \u201cEvery show there\u2019s somebody there that I\u2019m old enough to be their dad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Regec said while the Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations have expanded as an operation to more than just printing shirts \u2014 booking shows, putting out records, signing paychecks \u2014he still does what makes the most sense to him, and that\u2019s what makes the company\u00a0 what it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also said what he ultimately learned as an individual from the D.I.Y community is that every decision, choice and action matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do in our lifetime defines our value I think, and that\u2019s not productivity or money,\u201d Regec said. \u201cIt\u2019s if you made your community better, because if you did that\u2019s a life well lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motolese and McGroggan echoed similar sentiments, saying the effort they\u2019ve put into the D.I.Y scene has been reciprocated in support from their peers and a more robust community for everyone to participate in and enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it feels like I\u2019m sitting around a campfire with my friends, and I think that not only means a lot to me, but it means a lot to everyone,\u201d Motolese said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music is more than just pleasure for Bethlehem\u2019s D.I.Y music scene \u2014 it\u2019s community, connection and expression. Shamus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49122,119,121,120,153,1197],"class_list":["post-297067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-6-min-read","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-bethlehem","tag-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}