Exile On Albemarle Rd.

I consider myself a pretty worldly person but I’ve never left Brooklyn more than around two weeks. I’m not sure what was longer, my trip to Italy when I was in Junior High School or my brief bout at sleepaway camp when I was 15,  but I’ve spent less than twenty days in a row away from my hometown of Brooklyn. I’m also a musician, I started my first band when I was fifteen in my parents’ basement on Albemarle Rd. and East 4^th street, and over ten years later, I’m still at it, practicing in that very same basement.

For an urbanite, I consider that I had a very sheltered and pleasant childhood in Kensington. I had two friends, and we spent our time watching TV, playing video games, lazy bouts of backyard basketball, at Burger King and in the summer, multiple trips to the Carvel on Church Ave. I never ever in my younger years considered that anyone would consider it cool to live in Brooklyn, and when we started the band, we never thought that there would be any real connotation to the phrase “Brooklyn band.” Live music existed almost completely in Manhattan, to us Greenwich Village was the only bubble where rock n' roll lived in NYC.

There were two places where young people could play in Kings County. The first was L’amours, a class metal/hard rock club that was (seemingly) mob-run and did well in the late 70s and 80’s, graced by then up-and-comers like The Ramones, Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins as well as local heroes like Anthrax, Type O Negative and Twisted Sister. This place would let literally anyone play, as there was no MySpace or Facebook page to prove that we were a real band. We just came up with a name and sure enough, we were listed on the bill.  It was a “pay to play” venue, which means they print out tickets and you sell them, and in the end you get your cut. We sold some 80 tickets and played our first, extremely green gig to a massive crowd, opening for Iron Priest (the tribute band that juxtaposed the material of both Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.) The headliner was supposed to be KISS Army, a KISS tribute band that cancelled last minute, disappointing a fan dressed head to toe as Ace Frehley, who turned around and got right back on the train. It is fortunate that there was no Vegan from Brooklyn to cover our shoddy debut. We went on to play showcase bills with various heavy metal, nu-metal and other kinds of metal bands (we were not metal) and open for 70s rockers Mountain and the illegitimate Dead Kennedys at the same venue.

The other place to play was The Punk Temple. This was a DIY venue located in the basement of an actual Jewish Temple in Bensonhurst and hosted what I refer to now as the unpopular types of rock music: pop punk, ska and hardcore. This was actual an awesome place where kids would come from all corners to wear Mohawks, piercings and sit on the steps. There was no alcohol allowed inside, causing kids to drink outside the venue. The place was legendary, though we never played there, I was at the last show there ever featuring the crust punk band Leftover Crack. So many kids showed up for LOC that the fire department showed up, shutting the whole operation down. I happened to be there that night and consider it one of the most exciting nights of my teenage years though I did not make it inside the venue and like most nights, it ended in Burger King.

The first time I can remember going to Williamsburg in my entire life was to see Leftover Crack at North 6^th. I was probably sixteen years old and what I remember most was waiting a solid hour at Smith & 9^th street for the G train to arrive. By the time we got off the train, once again the fire department had shown up, shutting the show down before LOC could play. Years later, I would write a song called “I Don’t Wanna Go To Williamsburg” that would be the first track on our band’s debut record.

I don’t remember exactly when indie rock took over. I often blame the film "Garden State." I remember the term “hipster” starting to be used inexplicably during high school. The wave of bands attached to Brooklyn like TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear confused me, because I’d never heard of them playing the two aforementioned venues. Some of the music I liked and some I didn’t, but it was impossible to not resent these folks, especially since I’d been here playing music the entire time. There was an MTV special in which DIY uber-booker Todd P claimed that there was no music in Brooklyn before the hipsters arrived to Williamsburg and Bushwick. For obvious reasons, I found this statement and movement infuriating.  Gentrification was making serious waves, and quickly, in Brooklyn and culture followed suit.

In 2004, I went to college at Pratt Institute, the only Brooklynite in the room 90% of the time and wore it on my sleeve. I accused my classmates of being gentrifiers and took an antagonistic attitude towards the new cool elite in Brooklyn. We started our band in 2006 and named it the Brooklyn What, so people knew we were a Brooklyn band and not a “Brooklyn Band”, and raged against the bohemian machine and opposed the Atlantic Yards Project, the symbol of the overarching change in our Borough.

Years later, my anger has subsided to a degree but I still feel very different from the other folks around, though we play Williamsburg and Bushwick without much care. Part of growing up is acceptance, I suppose. We are still not yet accepted by the tastemakers though, still practicing in my parents’ basement in Kensington.  We are still somehow outsiders in our own borough, not including in the elite of cool venues and circles, the type covered by Brooklyn Vegan and The L Magazine, but it’s a struggle worth continuing.

I’ve noticed Kensington is changing and I now know a few musicians who have moved into the neighborhood. This does not bother me. I don’t carry that torch as much anymore, it’s still a really nice place to live, just a little more young and a little more white. I am, with mixed feelings, awaiting the first person to open a trendy bar or venue on Church Ave. The place where I’m from will always be that, it may not always look or feel the same way.  I often wonder if someday, in some distant future year, will some kid attach some legitimacy or “cool points’ to be originally from Kensington?