Musician Mary-Alice Jester was living on a Maine island called Mount Desert — beautiful scenery, but not much of a scene.
“I was extremely isolated,” said Jester, a Berkshire native who’d lived in Northampton before heading to Maine for school. “I was trying to book music where no bands would ever come. It was hard, knowing I was from a place where there are always bands being formed and things happening.” She came back to the Valley.
In 2014 Lindsey Musielak moved to this area from Chicago, a city known for its music and comedy scene as much as for its legendary wind; for her, an inspirational venue there was the Empty Bottle, which offers live music nearly every evening.
As Musielak got to know Northampton, she wondered why there was no eclectic rock club in town with regular shows — not a restaurant or DIY space or house concert or historic music hall, but a regular old bar with a simple PA and nightly possibilities.
Musielak and Jester both have bands — the former plays in Strange Fate, the latter in Manic Pixie Dream Girl (though she said the group is in the midst of a name change) — and they found themselves working day jobs at the Iron Horse Entertainment Group. They bonded over the idea of booking at a venue in town, and got the go-ahead to have a weekly event at The Basement, a modest space hidden between Center Street, Gothic Street and a looming parking garage. They called their night Lowdown.
The two began producing shows on October 7 and it’s been a successful, growing venture. Next Wednesday’s show is their ninth multi-band night, featuring the live debut of Musielak’s new band Chemical Bags, O.D. (a band led by Sam Hadge, an avid documenter and integral part of the Valley music scene), and Jenna Weingarten. At the Basement on Wednesday at 8 p.m. “on the button.” Suggested donation of $5 – $7. The show is 21+.
“I think there’s an entire underground culture that isn’t represented in the venues around here,” Musielak said. “We want to run the gamut of genres. Mary-Alice is doing a lot of electronic and pop stuff and queer music. I’m more rock-based, I guess. I like to pull bands from Boston, New York, regional bands…do my research, get them in.”
They both pound the pavement and scour the internet to find good new bands. Jester uses DIY and online resources like Bandcamp and Facebook, where she’ll check out the schedules from venues in CT or NY and investigate the bands she doesn’t already know. Musielak finds bands by going to shows, and when she discovers a new one she loves, she scoops them up for a future Lowdown.
Their curated concerts might be stylistically cohesive one week and “an everything bagel of a gig” another, keeping the calendar diverse. One recent night showcased a trio of solo acts with a performance art bent; another brought together three touring bands that went from bedroom rock to dreamy psych-folk to melancholy country. Musielak said Smith professor Steve Waksman (also the lead guitarist in The Electric Eyes) is going to book an upcoming show. “We’re getting people involved,” she said. “It’s not just us.”
Jester recalls one of the first Lowdown nights she put together, a local triple-bill of Spacecamp, Maxi’s World and Walmart Romeo. “Those are all my friends. Being able to bring people whose music I love and give them a successful show where they feel good about it and earn money for the music they’re making, that feels really fulfilling,” Jester said.
Musielak singles out a November night featuring western MA bands New Parents, Bridge of Flowers and Fragile Rabbit as one that showed her how rewarding their venture could be. ”It was packed. People just kept coming in, people I had never seen before. I thought, ‘This is amazing. Everyone’s here having a good time, having a drink or two, there’s live music, everyone’s just hanging out talking on a Wednesday night. This is so rewarding. This is exactly what I wanted to happen.”
Lowdown is currently a Wednesday night event, though they hope to move it back to its original home of Saturday night. Keep an eye on your local listings.
“People have made comments to me after the shows, saying, ‘Oh wow, you guys have really warmed up this space. I haven’t been to the Basement in years, now I finally have a reason to do it,’” Musielak said, adding that bands have begun approaching them to ask if they can play a Lowdown gig.
“It means the word is getting out and people are really eager and excited to do this,” Musielak said. “The ball is rolling. It’s happening.”
Musician Mary-Alice Jester was living on a Maine island called Mount Desert — beautiful scenery, but not much of a scene.
“I was extremely isolated,” said Jester, a Berkshire native who’d lived in Northampton before heading to Maine for school. “I was trying to book music where no bands would ever come. It was hard, knowing I was from a place where there are always bands being formed and things happening.” She came back to the Valley.
In 2014 Lindsey Musielak moved to this area from Chicago, a city known for its music and comedy scene as much as for its legendary wind; for her, an inspirational venue there was the Empty Bottle, which offers live music nearly every evening.
As Musielak got to know Northampton, she wondered why there was no eclectic rock club in town with regular shows — not a restaurant or DIY space or house concert or historic music hall, but a regular old bar with a simple PA and nightly possibilities.
Musielak and Jester both have bands — the former plays in Strange Fate, the latter in Manic Pixie Dream Girl (though she said the group is in the midst of a name change) — and they found themselves working day jobs at the Iron Horse Entertainment Group. They bonded over the idea of booking at a venue in town, and got the go-ahead to have a weekly event at The Basement, a modest space hidden between Center Street, Gothic Street and a looming parking garage. They called their night Lowdown.
The two began producing shows on October 7 and it’s been a successful, growing venture. Next Wednesday’s show is their ninth multi-band night, featuring the live debut of Musielak’s new band Chemical Bags, O.D. (a band led by Sam Hadge, an avid documenter and integral part of the Valley music scene), and Jenna Weingarten. At the Basement on Wednesday at 8 p.m. “on the button.” Suggested donation of $5 – $7. The show is 21+.
“I think there’s an entire underground culture that isn’t represented in the venues around here,” Musielak said. “We want to run the gamut of genres. Mary-Alice is doing a lot of electronic and pop stuff and queer music. I’m more rock-based, I guess. I like to pull bands from Boston, New York, regional bands…do my research, get them in.”
They both pound the pavement and scour the internet to find good new bands. Jester uses DIY and online resources like Bandcamp and Facebook, where she’ll check out the schedules from venues in CT or NY and investigate the bands she doesn’t already know. Musielak finds bands by going to shows, and when she discovers a new one she loves, she scoops them up for a future Lowdown.
Their curated concerts might be stylistically cohesive one week and “an everything bagel of a gig” another, keeping the calendar diverse. One recent night showcased a trio of solo acts with a performance art bent; another brought together three touring bands that went from bedroom rock to dreamy psych-folk to melancholy country. Musielak said Smith professor Steve Waksman (also the lead guitarist in The Electric Eyes) is going to book an upcoming show. “We’re getting people involved,” she said. “It’s not just us.”
Jester recalls one of the first Lowdown nights she put together, a local triple-bill of Spacecamp, Maxi’s World and Walmart Romeo. “Those are all my friends. Being able to bring people whose music I love and give them a successful show where they feel good about it and earn money for the music they’re making, that feels really fulfilling,” Jester said.
Musielak singles out a November night featuring western MA bands New Parents, Bridge of Flowers and Fragile Rabbit as one that showed her how rewarding their venture could be. ”It was packed. People just kept coming in, people I had never seen before. I thought, ‘This is amazing. Everyone’s here having a good time, having a drink or two, there’s live music, everyone’s just hanging out talking on a Wednesday night. This is so rewarding. This is exactly what I wanted to happen.”
Lowdown is currently a Wednesday night event, though they hope to move it back to its original home of Saturday night. Keep an eye on your local listings.
“People have made comments to me after the shows, saying, ‘Oh wow, you guys have really warmed up this space. I haven’t been to the Basement in years, now I finally have a reason to do it,’” Musielak said, adding that bands have begun approaching them to ask if they can play a Lowdown gig.
“It means the word is getting out and people are really eager and excited to do this,” Musielak said. “The ball is rolling. It’s happening.”