Photo by Pati Laylle
Audio By Carbonatix
The South Florida underground isn’t going anywhere if Rachel Lili has anything to say about it.
The Kendall-raised DJ and founder of Good Company — a “Miami-based events collective that takes pride in cultivating authentic and thoughtfully curated experiences” — is set to put a giant exclamation point on that premise with Indie Underground, a two-day “superlocal” music and arts festival to be held at Churchill’s Pub on Aug. 28 and 29 featuring more than forty South Florida bands, DJs, artists, and vendors, including Folktale San Pedro, Century Park West, Cherry Soul, Yung Americans, Blind Fish, and many, many more. Oh, and with two-day passes starting at $13.34 in a city where that usually doesn’t cover parking, this is most decidedly a fest for the people.
There will also be a raffle that will include gift cards to Dale Zine and Sweat Records as well as a grand prize of passes to III Points. Proceeds from the event will benefit Guitars Over Guns, an “innovative art-based youth development organization…using the power of music, mentorship, and the arts to unlock possibilities for the young people society is failing to reach.”
“It made me happy how many people were down to participate for something that is designed to give back to the community in a real way,” Lili tells New Times. “Especially now with the arts being defunded in so many ways across the city and state. But I wasn’t necessarily surprised because underground artists understand that we have to be there for each other, that if we don’t lift each other up, no one will.”
It would be easy to trace the festival back to the first Good Company show back in January of 2025 — held in Lili’s backyard, no less — but the origins actually stretch back considerably further. Indeed, indie music and DIY promotion are literally in Lili’s blood: Her father was a local psych rock musician who had a warehouse venue called — wait for it — Indie Underground. “I’ve been around music my whole life,” she says. “Growing up in the scene, going to house shows in Kendall — it made me who I am.”
So, when in late 2024 she looked at a scene that had a surplus of diverse, creatively restless talent and a deepening deficit of cultural infrastructure — remember, this is before Las Rosas or Churchill’s had reopened; when Gramps and Bar Nancy (now both sadly gone) were keeping the flame alive — she felt an obligation to step up. “I started to worry the live music scene was dying,” Lili says. “So, I decided to start throwing my own shows.” She named the collective after her founding ethos: “I had a previous experience booking shows with a different collective that didn’t go great,” she says. “I thought, ‘If I’m ever going to do events again, I’m going to only work in good company — from artists to vendors to venues.’”
Which brings us to the aforementioned inaugural Good Company show in Lili’s own backyard. “That was important as a statement for multiple reasons,” she says. “House shows are important for up-and-coming-artists, but also culturally for feeling more connected to local music and hanging out with like-minded people in relaxed environments. It makes the music and art feel more like a part of your real life.”
And if you build the sort of foundation Good Company has, you can grow the scope of events in an ethical and organic way: In this case, the modest acorn that became the mighty Indie Underground oak was planted when local alt-rock band Dancers Die reached out to Lili about setting up a show, she was into it. When the band presented its list of potential openers, and she looked at her own wish list of artists she wanted to book, however, the idea of a larger end-of-summer fest arrived like a bolt from the blue. If she was going to do something bigger, she wanted it to be about something more than entertainment. Enter Guitars Over Guns.
“It’s really cool that Indie Underground, also a fundraiser for Guitars over Guns, while simultaneously feeding into our dreams as artists as well,” one of the fest’s performers, Blue Mystic, tells New Times. “There was a period when it felt like Miami’s live music scene almost disappeared, and I think as an artistic community, we felt that pressure. As someone who grew up in a troubled home, art was always my lifeline and my way to cope. I believe in music, art, and the youth, and in creating more opportunities for live music so the next generation continues to have a place to express themselves, connect, and be heard.”
As for the future, Lili wants Good Company to remain intentional about its events but also serve as a mirror of a naturally evolving scene. “I’m trying to just maintain that same attitude I’ve had from the beginning and just see where it continues to go.”
Indie Underground. With Folktale San Pedro, Century Park West, Cherry Soul, Yung Americans, and others. 6 p.m. Friday, August 28, and Saturday, August 29 at Churchill’s Pub, 5501 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami; churchillspub.com. Tickets cost $13.34 via Dice.
