Basements

The day after I submit this to the La Palabra editing staff I will be running sound at a New Brunswick basement that’s having their first show. It’s a magical thing. I’m ambivalent at best when it comes to children, but there are three things I get all warm and fuzzy and excited about the births of: 1. puppies, 2. new bands featuring either friends of mine and/or members who we’re previously in now defunct bands I was a fan of and 3. show venues especially house show venues. This new place will be called The Zoo. I’m hoping it will flourish. I hope that this will be the first of many great shows there and it will come be looked at with the same fond regard I have for all of my favorite basements that came before it. In hopes of putting out some positive vibes let’s think about and discuss some of our favorite previous ones. Granted this is a zine article, so it’s gonna be a pretty one sided conversation. But if you write something about your favorites and send it to me as a response, I totally promise to read it. Also please note there were many more than the five I list here, but there’s only so much space I can take up per issue and these were the first ones that came to mind while I pounded this out real fast at work. The Silo – This will always hold a special place for me as it was my first introduction to basement shows back in the summer of 2000. It was called the Silo because it’s where The Atomic Missiles lived, but I’m pretty sure, some, if not all of Mohawk Barbie lived there too. Got to see Worthless play there, and a select few got to see some of The Ergs earliest performances there. The walls were all white and covered in graffiti sort of similar to early Fresh Prince music videos. The Parlor – You can’t talk about New Brunswick basements and leave this place out. This was my, and I’m sure most of my peers’, favorite show basement ever. The Ergs, Hunchback and Screaming Females, the holy trinity of the 2000’s New Brunswick scene all played here regularly. Many times some combination of them or even all three played on the same bill. It was also the first place I ever saw Lemuria. I played there about a dozen times over the years, mostly with Kohuff, but occasionally solo or sitting in with other friends’ bands. It feels like it was around for a really long time, but actually only existed from 2005-2008. The Manor – This place had the highest ceilings of any basement I’ve ever played/attended shows in. Standing at about 6 foot even, that was always a giant plus for me. There was always an awesome party vibe about the place. When bands weren’t playing people were still down in the basement dancing to whatever was being played through the p.a. or occasionally just singing songs and jumping around together even though no band or house music was on. Also this was one of the only places I ever got to see some drunken bare lady parts at a basement show as opposed to the grossly disproportional amounts of dongs and dude ass one would usually be subjected to. Not that those weren’t also regularly present though. 97 Commercial – As far as I know this place never got a name and just went by its address. This was the smallest of all the basements I ever went to shows in. The p.a. speakers had to rest on top of the guitar and bass amps, and if you were to fall over while rocking out you were definitely more likely to hit the wall well before the floor. But, there were mattresses on all the walls which made for a fun asylum padded room type feel which both cut down on injuries and helped muffle sound. Prior to the advent of The Parlor this is where I would always see my Ohio pals Delay. Nick Nolte’s House Of Ribs – I’m pretty sure there were only ever two shows here. I was privileged enough to play at one of them. It’s a damn shame cuz this was an awesome space with a lot of potential. I figure it deserved some print space, as it’s for sure an unsung hero of house show history. I may decide to talk about more basements I’ve loved in the future if I can’t think of anything else to discuss. I also know all of these existed within the same decade and readers older than myself will probably argue there were places in the 80’s and 90’s that were better. Hell Bouncing Souls and Inspecter 7 used to live in New Brunswick and I’m sure they had to play somewhere, but I’m too young to have any recollection of it. Either way I had fun reminiscing about my heyday last decade, and hope there’s many more great house show memories for years to come. Best of luck to The Zoo. May it be a proud addition to the legacy of the many great basements before it and an inspiration for the ones to come. Scuff