A Rock Venue Where You Might Not Expect It

If you're looking for Brookline's newest rock venue, try flipping to channel 3. On the right night, you might catch one of three rock shows filmed live in Brookline over the last several months.

One Saturday night a month, the studios of Brookline Access Television have been transformed into a rock venue where fans of all ages – there's no alcohol – can groove to the tunes of bands running the gamut from 1960's garage rock to avant-garde experimental noise. Wanna-be roadies can also volunteer to operate the studio's TV equipment and edit the footage afterwards.

With fewer Brookline bars hosting live performances, the new $1.9 million television studio has suddenly become one of the only regular rock venues in town. Last Saturday, 1960's rocker George Kinney performed, with Lifepartners, a rock and roll band, and the more psychedelic Mmoss.

Andy McBain, community programmer at BATV and organizer of the hands-on music shows, said the performance attracted around 30 people, mostly in their 20's, with a few from the older crowd, who came to see Kinney.

"It was a lot of fun," McBain said. He said the show also drew about 15 volunteer crew members who worked the equipment.

All proceeds from tickets (which cost around $5) go to the bands, and fans of all ages are welcome. McBain said these aspects allow everyone to enjoy small shows in a clean environment where the focus can be on quality music. 

"There's lots of bands around here that might have a hard time getting booked at one venue because they're a little off the beaten path," McBain said.

"It's great to have an all-ages venue in Boston. There aren't many."

McBain said he especially likes giving unusual bands a chance to perform, like psychadelic and avant-garde, art-noise bands.

"There is an audience for it. You might not get 300 but you might get 75," he said.

And so far the response has been good. McBain said last month's show drew 100 attendees.

One show, featuring a well-known band from New York, sold out, but instead of turning fans away, BATV let them operate the cameras and sound equipment.

Peter Zawadski, BATV's executive director, said the performances are one of the things he envisioned when the station moved into new 10,000-square-foot studio space last year. Located on the top floor of the Unified Arts Building on Tappan Street, the facility includes two full television studios, computer lab, conference room and 24-seat theater.

"The goal is to become a community multimedia technology center," he said.

He said the concerts allow people to come see the studios, as well as learn to operate equipment and participate in the process of making television.

"We're not going to turn anybody away when they want to volunteer," Zawadski said.

Zawadski said volunteers do everything from audio engineering to set design. They can also help edit the footage after the shows are over.

McBain, who began editing Saturday night's footage earlier this week, said the videos can eventually be found on the BATV website and on YouTube. He said he has also noticed that one band put the BATV video on their MySpace page.

"We're trying to push the boundaries of what typical community access television is," Zawadski said.