A New York City Rock n Roll Mecca: The Music Building


music building NYC




Locked deep inside an unassuming Manhattan venue, a musician reminisces. “Eddie Vedder was hanging around with The Strokes one night, just hanging out drinking beer. This doesn’t happen in any place except New York City.”

Well, it is indeed a unique city; a world within a world where countless nationalities convalesce in an urban sprawl so packed with landmarks that some truly extraordinary places can be lost to the spectacular backdrop forever. Places which anywhere else on Earth would no doubt have a steady stream of wide-eyed locals flocking to its site, gazing on in wonder. The Music Building, situated not far from Times Square, is just one of those places. That unassuming Manhattan venue which since 1979 has been the mecca many an aspiring young musician has migrated to, maybe some having jumped off a Grey Hound Bus, guitar case in hand, at the nearby Port Authority Bus Depot., and whose doors today give way to a remarkable community of 69 rooms brimming with bands, students and raconteurs recounting an endless treasure trove of stories, folk tales and rock n roll mythology.

In an empty room which once belonged to Madonna, now freshly painted ruby red and with an autographed album on the wall, Alex Rude of Atom Strange, a man who more than most has played witness to that history, is still reminiscing. “The Music Building has got an insane history,” he tells the Live4ever. “I don’t want to give away how old I am because  I’ve been doing this for a long while, but I started out as a very young teenager going to see some older friends of mine who were in a band. The Music Building used to have another building out in Queens, and my friends and I all looked up to these other cats. They were all musicians and had a cool band and we’d go on the weekends with them to hang out and watch them rehearse because we were all wanting to be musicians, but they were and we were just kind of aspiring – basically we were little kids.”

To be a youngster immersed in The Music Building’s culture was, and still is, a special thing. A gateway into a world of soon-to-be legends, and of bands on the cusp of changing the world. “We got to see some really cool stuff, people like Queen Latifah and Run-DMC hanging around in The Music Building in Queens,” Alex continues. “One of the cool bands hanging around upstairs at that point was Anthrax. And it was around the time, 30 years ago, when Metallica came to New York before they got signed. They were living in Anthrax’s rehearsal space from what I understand, and I got to see them rehearse a little bit there too. Dave Mustaine got the boot from there, took the bus home, Kirk Hammett flew in, they went and made a record and 30 years later they’re the biggest metal band in history.”

After fire destroyed that Queens location, the current building became the focal point, ploughing on through changes of trend, style and fashion to cement its reputation as one of the last refuges for locally based rock bands. Today, those groups cite it as a peerless venue, one which has inspiration and history lurking in each corner, one with its own unmistakable atmosphere. “There are no buildings really like this, and there’s no real vibe in the music scene that actually evokes the same thing that The Music Building evokes,” New York-based The Blackfires explain. “It just became a lot more solidified once we moved in, we realised that we were part of a whole movement, part of a whole push to get rock n roll more recognisable in the city.”

“The whole essence of a rock band is to really get to know each other, spend a lot of time rehearsing, and really feel like you have a home, and from that basis and that comfort zone you get to create a whole sound that comes from that point. I think we’re really just at the starting point, but just meeting everyone here on a daily basis you get bands intermixing  – their feelings and their own ideals – and you get inspired by that, and you get to be a part of a movement that’s really important.”

For Anthony Mullin of The Blackfires, travelling to New York in 2008 armed with just a suitcase and a determination to integrate into the city’s music scene, The Music Building proved to be a crucial headquarters, welcoming with open arms a man who in no time at all had found where he needed to be. “I found one band in particular that were playing in The Music Building, although I didn’t know that at the time,” Anthony explains to Live4ever. “So I went for an audition and it brought me here. It’s like an apartment building except instead of living here you rent out a room, and you can play here 24/7 if you want to. So I played with them for probably about six months, and then for whatever reason we parted ways because it just wasn’t right musically.”

Just a short time later, with new band The Blackfires signed up and raring to get started, there was only one place they could think of to build their home.  “It was because of the experience here that I wanted to have a home here, because I do think it makes sense,” he continues. “You can come here whenever you want, 24 hours a day, it’s your space, you make it your own. You walk into all these different rooms and everyone paints it their own way, they put their own spin on things, and that’s what we’ve done in our room. It makes sense because you have your own room to go to write, and it motivates you too.”

However, The Music Building isn’t just home to rock bands honing their sound, working tirelessly to perfect their own ear for what they are certain to be life-affirming music. Elsewhere, you’ll find young students forging their own paths, blessed with thousands of square feet of rehearsal space and decades of influences while taking their first steps into the glittering world of rock n roll. Fantasies of the bright lights of the world famous Madison Square Garden, which looms large just four blocks south, can never be far away. As Alex Rude found out a few decades earlier, to cut your teeth at The Music Building is quite an introduction.



“There was a dude that used to stand out there basically loitering,” another occupant tells us. “And you go into the building and you go up the stairs and there’s big words like ‘cock’ on the staircase, and it’s like, ‘Oh my God’. I thought this is insane because you can’t get in the door, and because kids don’t have keys. They sell you a key here for $20, so for kids to be able to afford the keys that they’re going to lose anyway – except for the responsible ones – is actually ridiculous. So what this dude used to do, he used to show the kids how to hold the door open and let them in.” Wouldn’t you know it, a voluntary doorman.

‘No Loitering’ signs and security cameras have since been erected in an attempt to deter those ‘doormen’ from the building’s impressionable upstarts, but it seems the entrance still holds as much intrigue and unpredictability as ever – standing at the doors of The Music Building can lead to places far more unexpected than just reception. “Last summer we decided to go downstairs for a quick cigarette break,” Peter of The August Infinity explains to Live4ever. “We used to drink beer while we rehearsed so we were downstairs at the entrance sitting on the sidewalk, leaning on the wall drinking beers and smoking cigarettes, and the cops came up and said, ‘You can’t be drinking beers on the street, let me see your licenses’. So we all gave them our licenses and for some reason I had a random warrant out for my arrest, and I ended up spending three days in jail. What sucked was it was in the summertime and I was wearing a tank-top, and when they put you in the can it’s like 40 degrees in there. You know, it’s fine if you get arrested in the wintertime because you’ve got a coat, but I basically froze to death for three days! I ended up not being charged with anything, it was a clerical error.”

He’s not alone. With more than a hint of mischief, Brian from primal rockers Pui walks us through his band’s own brush with the law, thanks to a plan quietly devised and drawn up in the bowels of The Music Building. “We did a music video for a song called ‘Army Of Slaves’, half of it was filmed in the studio, and the other portion was filmed live,” he says. “We did a guerilla performance on top of a billboard in mid-town Manhattan; we decided it would be fun to play a show for all of the people standing outside Macy’s. We snuck into the building, hung speakers, brought up amps, plugged in our guitars and played. Our goal was to play a public performance and we did. Unfortunately the police didn’t appreciate it, and they were forced to arrest us. We got about three or four songs in, which was kind of funny.”

And so, like The August Infinity before them, one of The Music Building’s sons found themselves in hot water. “Our court date is next week and we’re facing I think 90 days in jail,” Brian continues. “Listen, we’re not criminals, we were playing a show. The important theme from that whole event was not to get arrested, it was to show people that they’re still alive. We snuck up to a building, we were playing 300 feet above, no railings, just hanging over the billboard and it was exhilarating. Everyone’s scared to do anything these days, to speak out against the government, to do anything. So we were making a statement that you have to do what’s out of your element, and kinda push the limits a little bit to be alive, because you get stuck in routines and that’s very dangerous. The Music Building has been a catalyst for a lot of our ideas, including this. I mean, this took loads of planning, being able to get into a building in New York City in Herald Square, without being detected, bring up gear, hang it from a billboard, and play a show, takes a lot of planning. We were able to do that all from here because we’re not far from our target performance area.”

An evening spent here is enough to reveal its magic. The stories of scoundrels, legends and arrests merely scratch at the surface of what The Music Building has witnessed over the years, but nevertheless exposes a micro-culture which some may think is a thing of the past. Indeed, to ‘Tomato’ Harfenist, The Music Building remains a symbol of true New York. Surrounded by the glitz and tourism of  Times Square and Broadway, it stands as a beacon to the beating heart of a constantly changing city. “This block and this building is one of the last places, to me, that feels like New York,” he says. “And what New York has become, especially Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen, is a whole other New York. I don’t mind that things are going to change, things are going to move around, but the personality, that’s what we love about it.”

So, when you’re next around mid-town Manhattan, being once again mesmerised by its many attractions and distractions, maybe this time try to keep an ear out for a distant, reverberating bass guitar. Keep an eye open for the figure of a dream-filled budding rock star peering out of a 9th storey window, or a band fearlessly hanging their gear from a nearby billboard. Chances are the clues will lead you to this very special building. Once there, look close enough and you may spot one of those voluntary doormen hanging around the entrance.

Signs and cameras permitting, they might even let you in.

(Dave Smith)

Find out more about The Music Building here


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