Create to Destroy! Brooklyn’s Burning
Dano is doing a two-day punk event (not a fest) in NYC called Brooklyn’s Burning, featuring a ton of great bands, from UK crust legends DOOM to my favorite Oakland rockers, LECHEROUS GAZE. I met Dano through the NYC booking community, where we’d all pass shows along to each other if we couldn’t help out a band for one reason or another. Bottom line was that we tried our best to take care of all punks passing through, and Dano is still in NYC doing just that — whether through his work at the Acheron or events like this. Brooklyn’s Burning takes place September 19th and 20th. For more details, keep reading…
Why do another fest in New York when there’s NY’s Alright?
Great question! I wouldn’t really call this a fest per say. In the future it will become a more expansive multi-day, multi-show thing but for now we just wanted it to be a couple of really fun shows around the corner from each other.
Do you expect a lot of out-of-towners?
Yes! I’ve already been hit up by a bunch of people traveling in for this. DOOM was so fucking good when they toured here a few summers ago I think people will be making the effort to see them since they’re only doing a few shows in the North East this time around.
Yeah, I was lucky to see DOOM twice at Chaos in Tejas in 2011 and in Brooklyn when they passed through then. How did you come up with the idea for this two-day event?
Bill Dozer, who I help run Acheron with, and I had talked about doing something like this since the Wick was getting close to opening a year ago. It felt like a great opportunity to use two cool and punk friendly spaces to bring a bunch of bands and friends to town. Chris from the Wick approached us about that time with a similar idea so here we are. I really like that it’s only a few shows this time around. I think it will keep things relaxed and let people coming easily see all the bands they want to without running around like maniacs.
Tell us about the venues. What is the Wick? And it’s cool the Acheron is hosting, too. Are they just hosting the after gigs?
I’ve been a part of The Acheron for a few years now and it’s been really awesome to see the place grow and become more and more a part of the scene here in NYC. Growing up here there weren’t always that many proper venues that would be overly welcoming to punks and metalheads so it’s nice to see that The Acheron can be that for so many bands and members of different scenes. For Brooklyn’s Burning the plan for now is to have a show at Acheron on Friday and then an after show for the DOOM gig on Saturday.
The Wick is a newer spot right around the corner from the Acheron. It’s quite a bit bigger so works well to have a main show at followed by something more intimate at Acheron. It’s a great space though. For me one of the biggest draws is that it’s a venue of that size without being part of any corporate entity and still feels like you’re just at a big warehouse show. There’s already been a handful of punk shows there (NYs Alright in April and INFEST in June) and they’ve gone well so I think it will work great for this.
Growing up we had Coney Island High and Wetlands, which both got shut down when we were in our teens. But yeah, there was definitely a lack of “proper venues” over the past few years in NYC. I spent a ridiculous amount of time at CBGBs and ABC No Rio as a kid, but they really did have specific crowds, definitely not as diverse as the Acheron is today. So, is the fest all ages? How about the kids?
The Wick is all ages and The Acheron will be 18+.
I’m glad the Wick exists, NYC needs more all ages venues! How’d you get these amazing headliners like DOOM and HARD SKIN? Were they already going to be in the USA or did they fly out just for this?
I’ve been wanting to see DOOM again since they were here last and figured after the release of the new LP they’d be into coming over for a few shows. Luckily I was right! They’re just coming for this and a warm up gig in Philly a few days before. HARD SKIN, who continue to be the best band in the world, are thankfully always down for a good adventure. Once we had a few things lined up it didn’t take much convincing to get em to return and do a short tour afterwards.
Who is playing the fest?
DOOM, HARDSKIN, EEL, ASPECTS OF WAR, NOMAD, LECHEROUS GAZE, KICKER, CRIMSON SCARLET, and a few others that will be announced shortly.
How much is it and where can we get tickets?
It’s $20 for the six band main show at the Wick on Saturday and tickets are available here. Tickets for the Acheron shows aren’t up yet, but will be shortly.
Where is the profit going or do you just expect to break even?
The profit is going towards paying the bands. Flights aren’t cheap at the moment!
Are there going to be several tours that come out of this?
Yeah, HARDSKIN and KICKER will be doing a week long tour together following this. CRIMSON SCARLET will be on tour around this time which EEL will be joining them for a few days of. That’s it, as far as I know.
How can we best stay up to date on the fest?
We’ll be making updates on the Facebook event page and on the Acheron blog.
