Black Lung Society: Ogden’s Haven for Subculture

In the aftermath of the closure of many local venues during the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lung Society formed to curate an inclusive space for all ages to enjoy local music. “I just dove into this head first and got really lucky for a while, and I’m super willing to just try different stuff,” says owner Julius Gray. 

“I want everybody to be able to come and enjoy themselves and just appreciate local music and the DIY scene and people who are like-minded and really strong on DIY and backing our local community.”

After the closure of his beloved favorite venue, Gold Blood Collective, Gray felt motivated to start a DIY project of his own. “I want everybody to be able to come and enjoy themselves and just appreciate local music and the DIY scene and people who are like-minded and really strong on DIY and backing our local community,” says Gray. 

Along with keeping the DIY scene alive, Black Lung Society has created a community with a space for all big and small bands to perform with the same common goal: to have a good time.

“I want it to be a neutral place where everybody can just come and enjoy themselves—no matter who they are, politics aside,” Gray says.  

With the opening of the Black Lung Society in 2021, this venue has successfully created a space that is inclusive to all—its website mentions the venue is proudly free of drugs and alcohol. Gray lists some of the long-term goals and his vision: “I would love to be a staple place … We’ve just been around for a long time. I think more importantly, just being a place of community—that’s kind of always been the main goal,” he says. 

Black Lung Society previously resided in Salt lake City but relocated to Ogden in fall 2023 to keep its legacy going. The venue still thrives, housing local DIY bands and hosting more hardcore shows. One of Gray’s hardships has been getting Ogden locals involved. 

Opening a venue in a new location came with its own set of challenges. Gray had to obtain specific licenses, zoning permits and permission from other businesses around the area, but it was all worth it once the city approved. Gray has made this a space to make memories for many people.

“I would love to be a staple place … We’ve just been around for a long time. I think more importantly, just being a place of community—that’s kind of always been the main goal.”

“I remember Cudney brought lasagna and Solo cups, and people started serving lasagna on stage. It was the funniest shit I’ve ever seen,” he says. Some of his favorite acts that have been booked at Black Lung Society included SPY and No Cure. 

“Then there was this band I had never heard of called Paddlest,” Gray says. “I believe they’re from Rhode Island, and we didn’t sell too many tickets online up until day of, and then they started selling like crazy. And dude, this place was actually incredibly packed. It was [at] our Salt Lake City location, and it was wall to wall; people were stage diving.”

Gray says that Black Lung Society has never been about money but instead about being a place to host local bands and continue to build a community around music. Black Lung Society continues to serve our underground and, with no end in sight, has effectively kept going. “I’m a reasonable person in a position to help certain bands, but I like to just make booking really fucking easy,” Gray says. For booking information, check out their website blacklungsociety.com. Follow Black Lung on Instagram at @blacklungsociety to keep up with current events hosted weekly.

Graphic Designer: Bruce Whitesides

Walk us through how you created this layout. What inspired you when designing it?

I’ve been focusing a lot on just using black, white and a single accent color for my designs.  Something about limiting the color palette/style helps to break me out of my head and put things on paper.  For this design I breathed in Black Lung Society‘s website and socials to get a feel for what their brand should feel like, and tried to imitate that feeling while adding some of myself into the mix.  

Tell us about your design background. How has your style evolved over time?

I actually started as a 3D animator and randomly fell upon design.  Since then [my style has] gone from eclectic to minimalism but it’s now slowly returning to chaos.

What are some of your design inspirations or influences? 

Most of mine are character designers and artists like Kim Jung-gi, Chris Oatley, Loish, Cory Loftis and Ian McQue, among others. Animation and motion design are some of my strongest influences and trying to replicate a breathing, moving style into a static image is always fun!

 What does your graphic design process usually look like? 

Create, erase, create, look at it cross-eyed, then erase… but really, I normally think of [a] thumbnail and design something tens or hundreds of times before I finally get a pig I like enough to put lipstick on it.

What is your favorite aspect of graphic design?

Finding inspiration in the mundane. My phone is filled with pictures of random signs, fonts, textures, etc. Graphic design lets me use something else, something basic to create something entirely new—and that’s pretty cool! I generally avoid socials like a plague, so if you really need me you can just light the Bat signal and I’ll come running!

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