The Boston DIY Music Scene: A Temporary Setback
A little over 6 months ago, thousands of avid concert goers, musicians, and artists spent Friday and Saturday nights teetering into dilapidated basements through rusting bulkheads and wrap-around staircases. Asked to pay a cover or encouraged to make a donation, these people came from all over to hear and see one thing, live music. It was crowded, hot, and alive.
The Boston music scene has witnessed a wilting of established venues for the last twenty five years. What started with The Channel filing for bankruptcy and The Rat closing in 1997, has snowballed into a rigid obstacle for local musicians just trying their best to get out and play music. When Great Scott closed their doors in 2022, there was a shift in the tides in Allston-Brighton, a neighborhood dubbed “Rock City” (and Rat City for a larger than life rodent population). Allston stood still, as it’s optimism dwindled and gentrification accelerated it’s pace.
There are still a few standing cornerstones of Boston’s music scene. Venues like O’Brien’s Pub, The Cantab Lounge, and The Silhouette still generate a cult-like following of performers, aware there are few places left for musical refuge in the authentic dive bar setting of yesteryear.
There are also the smaller spaces, some relatively new, that have stood still through the resurrection of the scene following the pandemic. Examples of these clubs include The Jungle, Union Square Tavern (formerly P.A.’s Lounge, but rebranded in 2019), and most recently, the Rockwood Music Hall (which recently announced closure). As the newer venues open, they struggle to be taken seriously as established spaces. There is real valor in trying to start a venue in the 21st century and I think more members of the local scene should applaud these venues’ efforts, instead of scrutinizing their association to gentrification.
This is what local up-and-coming artists have: a few settlements of camaraderie where loud music reigns supreme, places where we are told to turn down, and hearty waitlists conjoined at the hip for many of these spots. Popularized as a solution in the early 2000’s, “basement shows” are still a response to an ever-growing problem in the local music scene.
Due to the population density of Boston, certain neighborhoods facilitated this DIY music scene a lot better than others. There were a few sprouts of residential-based live music in Somerville, Cambridge and Arlington. But the pinnacle of DIY has been split between an established Allston - Brighton scene, as well as an emerging sound coming from Mission Hill.
These house shows have harnessed the ability of social media to find their audiences and promote shows, as well as network effectively with artists and continue to consistently grow their mutual fanbase.
The venues are alive though, and just a few months ago the local music scene in Boston was thriving. But like anything in life, it only takes a few people to ruin something for the rest.
About 4 months ago, The Boston Globe published an article written by one of their correspondents, titled “Dozens of young people have created a thriving underground concert scene. The only challenge: keeping it underground”. This article naively dived into what made this scene tick, and pulled back a curtain compromising logistics of how these venues operate, in-person and on social media.
The Berklee-related showrunners shared their opinions on what they think DIY house venues should be, a place where everything is gatekept. For a long time now, I have said there are two types of berklee students. Those who are genuine and sincere people, stay for the entire set of performers at their gig, go out to see shows in addition to the ones they play and care about the local scene around them. Then there are the other ones, usually focused on taking everything for themselves and bettering their own ego, leaving after their set, seldom attending other shows and could care less about how the scene is doing in Boston because in two years they will be either touring nationally or living in L.A. or New York. I’d say it’s fairly split amongst the student body, but unfortunately some of the enrolled could care less about where the Boston music scene will be in a year, and for those willing to give a rebuttal I’m sure are not apart of the problem, but actions speak louder than words.
This article shined a light on what DIY was, to it’s very core, in the worst way and has now sent most, if not all of the house venues into some state of endangerment. The Boston Police Department has become a recurring visitor to these venues (always fun to see staties in the pit), and it has hurt turnouts, the culture of “show-hopping” and most importantly the music of artists just trying to play out. Some of these house venues have gone on semi-temporary hiatus. Others continue against odds to coordinate shows, but with some setbacks. They’ve shortened show bills from 5 bands to 3, and have become more cautious in who they share their addresses to. And as I’ve continued to write this article, two more house venues have closed as a result of these events.
It’s upsetting and crazy to realize how much damage one article can do to a community of artists. The irony that the article even state’s in it’s initial opener “the only challenge: keeping it underground.”. I think the biggest thing my friends and I have joked about is how idiotic, the logic sounds that the journalist recognized how keeping it a secret is important, and then proceeded to explain how these shows are found and put their piece in what’s easily considered the largest Boston-based news publication.
But in a music scene that is facing some challenges and setbacks, there is a shining light. Nice: A Fest and Cuckfest are two smaller-scale local festivals that have been recurring and the latter is a really good supplement to the struggling DIY house scene. However, both of these festivals have a core caveat. Only so many bands can play and the booking is competitive. You have to be either friends with the showrunners or be popular enough to get on the bills. Popularity will always factor into music, but it doesn’t exactly allow for opportunity for teeny tiny groups to play out. As a musician myself, I don’t get bothered by the idea that popularity results in playing shows, it’s an objective fact. However, house venues can really hook up smaller groups and I mean small. I’m in a project that as of right now only has like 80 followers on social media and nothing released, but we’ve played out at a house show. That’s something that we’d have to wait months to do and network for a bill at a legitimate venue, let alone a festival.
We have a chance in Boston to grab the baton from the rest of the country’s regional music scenes. There are so many talented musicians and artists contributing to our tightly knit music community and it’s only a matter of time before the levee breaks and this scene starts to gain the momentum we’ve been waiting for in Boston since the early 90’s.