DIY music venues have turn into sacred locations for musicians, music lovers and other people of marginalised communities. Even when they’re non permanent by nature, music scenes have blossomed in these makeshift nightclubs. Whereas some are nonetheless thriving (LA’s The Odor), others have been topic to shutdowns attributable to fast gentrification and the crackdown on underground areas following the tragic Ghost Ship hearth in Oakland, California. These efficiency and dwelling areas have been deeply beloved and guarded by the music neighborhood, however not all the time saved. Those who have shuttered are, nonetheless, fondly remembered as areas that helped launch many artists’ careers.
Listed below are a few of the most influential DIY venues that fuelled the underground music scene.
Energy Lunches
East London’s Energy Lunches was an important DIY venue for the underground music neighborhood in Dalston and a showcase for the worldwide DIY music scene at giant. The venue hosted gigs, recording periods, and numerous rehearsals, and was a launchpad for a lot of bands’ formative gigs. The 100-capacity area featured a slew of up-and-coming expertise similar to Beatrice Dillon, Vancouver punks White Lung, and UK energy electronics band Whitehouse. Sadly, on the finish of 2015, the venue closed attributable to monetary difficulties.
Shea Stadium
To not be confused with the previous dwelling of the New York Mets, Shea Stadium was a haven for the DIY artist neighborhood in Brooklyn. The East Williamsburg location functioned for eight years as a venue and rehearsal area for homegrown storage rock artists and greater acts similar to Titus Andronicus and Future Islands. After briefly closing in 2017, the venue struggled to stay in enterprise regardless of having raised funds to re-open with the correct permits. However Shea Stadium’s landlord needed to open its personal nightlife area. Whereas a brand new location for Shea Stadium stays in limbo, the defunct venue hosts an on-line archive of a few of their historic exhibits.
The Odor
Because the identify implies, The Odor was (and stays) a gritty efficiency area situated in a very desolate stretch of downtown Los Angeles. Since opening its doorways a long time in the past, The Odor stays an all-ages haven for rising bands within the punk and experimental scenes. Following within the footsteps of different LA establishments, amongst them Vex, The Masque, and Jabberjaw, The Odor additionally helped to launch the careers of native acts, together with Greatest Coast, No Age, and Health. Following the Ghost Ship hearth and elevated scrutiny by metropolis officers, the homeowners of the constructing got permission to demolish the venue, however the area was allowed to stay in enterprise.
Good Life Café
Whereas largely related to punk, DIY music venues have been additionally instrumental to the early genesis of hip-hop. Simply as Webster PAL (Police Athletic League), within the Bronx, and DJ Kool Herc’s well-known rec-room events fostered East Coast hip-hop, Good Life Café, in South LA, helped usher in a brand new period on the West Coast. The health-food market began internet hosting hip-hop showcases within the late 80s, earlier than doing weekly open-mic nights that put LA underground hip-hop on the map. This spawned a complete new experimental rap scene led by artists similar to Freestyle Fellowship, Chillin Villain Empire, Medusa, Jurassic 5, and the rap duo Figures Of Speech, certainly one of which was Academy Award-winning director Ava DuVernay, who would go on to make a documentary about Good Life, titled This Is The Life.
DIY Area For London
Traditionally, many DIY music venues operated surreptitiously and underneath the radar of legislation enforcement. Lately, nonetheless, some venues function not solely overtly however present an accessible area to artists within the gentle of day. Tucked away within the industrial part of south-east London, DIY Area For London functioned as a social middle, music venue, rehearsal area, and inventive hub. Initially run by a collective of 20-odd volunteers, it grew to incorporate over 2,500 members who pay £2 for a yearly membership. Touring bands similar to Sheer Magazine and Whole Management hosted concert events there, serving to to carry London’s DIY scene again to life throughout its run. Sadly, through the COVID-19 pandemic, it was introduced that DIY Area For London was unable to resume its lease on its unique area. As of this publication date, it’s stated to be in search of a brand new everlasting dwelling.
Safari Membership
In true do-it-yourself spirit, two enterprising teenage ladies, Shawna Kenney and Pam Gendell, determined to e book their very own punk exhibits in a former poultry-processing plant turned nightclub in Washington, DC. Regulars at CBGB’s hardcore “matinee shows” – all-ages punk exhibits held within the afternoons through the membership’s off hours – the duo have been bored with trekking as much as NYC and began the Safari Membership. The venue remained lively from 1988 till it was destroyed in a hearth ten years later. The area would turn into the nexus of the second wave of DC hardcore punk bands, together with Sick Of It All, Gorilla Biscuits, Choose, Swiz and Worlds Collide, in addition to the rising “straight edge” scene.
ARMA17
ARMA17 was certainly one of Russia’s most distinguished DIY music venues. Positioned in an enormous brick constructing of a former gasoline plant, it was dwelling to the nation’s thriving underground techno and rave scenes. The identify originated from the park the place its founders threw events till a hearth destroyed it in 2009. ARMA17’s events have been devised on a grand scale, virtually like mini-festivals with complicated stage designs and a number of dancefloors that went all night time till the venue was shut down, in 2014, attributable to a police crackdown. Since then, ARMA17’s exhibits have developed into nomadic events, held in Moscow (and elsewhere).
Rhinoceropolis
For 11 years, Rhinoceropolis was a landmark area in Denver, well known for cultivating the underground DIY scene within the metropolis the place artists similar to Thee Oh Sees, Vivian Ladies, and native favourite Pictureplane carried out. In 2016, the beloved location was shut down for issues of safety following the nationwide crackdown on DIY music venues. Like many of those areas, it doubled as a work-live studio area and was lauded as a cultural incubator for artists venturing to Center America. Since its closing, the collective has opened in a brand new area. Extra info will be discovered on their Fb web page.
285 Kent
Whereas its industrial area in Brooklyn’s (former) hippest enclave, Williamsburg, was dwelling to artistic endeavors for almost ten years, it wasn’t till DIY champion Todd Patrick (higher often known as Todd P) took the helm, in 2010, that 285 Kent grew to become the bastion of Brooklyn’s burgeoning DIY scene. The 350-capacity room functioned as a warehouse area the place folks and genres might collide, and the place R&B-tinged artists the likes of Frank Ocean and indie rock bands similar to DIIV would herald sold-out crowds. Most significantly, it’s the place artists new to the scene might domesticate a fanbase, as each present inevitably changed into a sweat fest.
MBC
All through the 80s, Toronto had its fair proportion of DIY music venues, a lot of them at official university-run amenities and artwork areas. However one of many true DIY venues was MBC, an after-hours speakeasy and an outpost of bohemian cool, reserving acts such because the newly-formed reggae-pop outfit Parachute Membership, soul man Jr Walker, and New Wave acts. CBC staffers Richard O’Brien and Patti Habib ran the venue, earlier than occurring to run the enduring BamBoo membership. Positioned in an industrial loft area in what’s now known as Liberty Village, MBC solely lasted two years, but it surely paved the best way for extra numerous efficiency areas within the metropolis.
