Death By Audio

The best venue in NYC has closed. :(

Intimate space with
Some amazing graffiti
And really great vibes

When we first arrived, there were only 8 or so people huddled around outside. however when the line started forming it was basically all the way to the end of the block and just got longer. It was dead inside at first and then packed. The crowd had awesome energy and all of the bands I saw were so on point. Everything was pretty grimy, so if you’re a cleanfreak this might not be the place for you (have the floors ever been cleaned) but the art on the walls is really cool and I had a fucking blast.
Sadly, this establishment will be closing down within a week. but if you’re considering heading out to a show before then, GO FOR IT!
The most fun I’ve had in months.

This place is great. A friend and I went on Thursday for the first time, and we were impressed — especially by the guy who told us (after giving us dinner recommendations in the area — go to Vanessa’s on Bedford) that he’s been working there for six years. Six years in this place! The artwork in both rooms is fantastic — we noticed something new every time we looked around. Lots of detail. The bands sounded great — this is technically speaking, music-​wise a couple of the acts we saw left much to be desired. We loved that everything was so obviously DIY. This place knows what it’s doing, and is doing it well. Definitely plan on going back at some point!

Very stripped down venue. You walk into the room with the small stage and then there’s another room with merch table, bathroom and a few raggedy couches you can sit on. Very bare, but the walls have interesting graffiti,
The crowd is the more pbr, leather jacket flannel type. Definitely no frat boys coming down to this place. It’s a shit hole but a shit hole i don’t mind coming to. Good bands and good sound keep me coming back.

Cool underground music venue. Graffiti on the walls are awesome.
The drinks are cheap and served from a table in the rear.

Pretty honest club. Small but sound was decent. Interesting back area. Bar tucked in behind the two toilet stalls. Drinks a bit pricey but it’s W-​burg.

A good space for shows. The sound quality is okay, there’s a minimal but acceptable bar in the back, and there are some pretty gross bathrooms. Having the second room in the back is always nice in case you want to have a conversation with someone but don’t want to try to talk over the music.

A bit of a walk from the train, but its worth it for the bands and art work. Not for the bathroom so much which I would avoid at all costs because the rats definitely don’t.
Never more than $ 8 cover, drinks are decent priced and its dark and sweaty enough in the two rooms that you can dance how you dance by yourself in the kitchen and not feel ashamed in the least. It’s a basement in all senses (and smells) of the word. Your ears may bleed, but they’ll thank you later for the good underground music that you won’t hear anyplace else.

A DIY venue that I don’t want to see burn down. DBA is a Great place to see a show. The only downfall is there is smoking allowed inside so I go home smelling like grandpas ashtray.

Like the basement of the house that belonged to that old man down the street your parents warned you about back in the 70s, Death by Audio survives on the warmth of young bodies huddled together through fear and revulsion, with some extra strength hair gel thrown in the mix. You can’t beat the prices, though even at $ 3.00 for a whiskey, I’d have expected a slightly more generous pour in my specimen cup (probably recycled from a nearby medical lab – smelled faintly of urine, as did everything else).
The «bar» area is stylishly decorated with several chairs and sofas made possible through the generous support of an abandoned Dodge Caravan.
I am too old by several decades for an establishment of this type, but the beauty of Death by Audio is that once you’ve pounded back a few whiskeys and shared a joint with your son and puked on yourself, you fit in just like everyone else. Based on other reviews, I dressed in attire that I wouldn’t mind getting vomit on or losing entirely. Little did I know the vomit would be my own. It’s always the one you least suspect.

Pretty decent DIY venue. Bathrooms rival The Abbey’s for worst in the neighborhood. If you’re trying to quit smoking, I recommend that you don’t go here. What a hassle THAT was. Upside: $ 4 beers and good music.

I have never had so many strangers’ bodily excretia on me in one place.*
I’ve never been one for the word «hipster,» which I find generally dismissive and hypocritical for superficial reasons (when there are so many personal ones to be easily found), but… Hipsters can’t hold their booze or drugs. No fewer than three people near me at a recent show spewed on or in front of the stage, and that doesn’t take into account the guy (perilously close) behind me having what seemed to be an earnest conversation with one of the pukers-​to-​be on the merits of pissing into his PBR can so he didn’t lose his spot near the stage.
Love the venue. Love the music. I never want to be in a biohazardous splash zone again.
*Fortunately, only my boots, which were licked clean by some dog tied to a rail outside a coffeeshop the next morning.

In all of the places I have seen up-​and-​coming bands play in… Death By Audio stands out as the best shitty venue of them all. This place is a hidden gem… so nondescript that I had to make sure I had the address right, and literally «follow the music» into the building.
After paying my 7 bucks at the door, you walk through a hallway filled with pipes with an odd smell of dust and mold to a small room with tiles that are half hanging from the ceiling, and amazing graffiti artwork that stretches across all 4 walls. A small door to a backroom is to the left… where everyone hangs out between shows to smoke, shoot the shit, and grab drinks from the small «bar» in the back.
The backroom between shows is filled to brim with band members, friends, and folks there to see the show. It’s the first time I have seen anyone smoking indoors during a show in a long, long time… which made me nostalgic for some reason, even though I don’t smoke.
The «bar» was a party table with a super nice «bartender» serving PBR and Brooklyn Lagers for absolutely cheap prices: 3 or 4 bucks a can or bottle. An assortment of liquors is available as well for cheap.
Most bands that play here appear to be up-​and-​coming, so if you’re looking to keep up on being the person your friends hear about new bands from… you should consider coming here often. All 4 bands that played were great in their own way, and the show seemed to flow along nicely. Since the venue is so small… it makes for a very intimate relationship between crowd and band, which I absolutely love. The sound system… fucking amazing sound, and the technician worked through sound issues without blinking an eye.
The crowd was a nice mix of young and old, and not at all a hipster scene like I am used to in Minneapolis. Very refreshing, and made for a highly enjoyable night.
Special props to the people I asked about the nearest place to catch a cab from… your help was greatly appreciated. The next time I am in New York City I will be seeing if there are any shows happening at this place. It rocks, and is a very special place in Brooklyn.

the 12 point «is this a shitty venue?» checklist.
?
–did someone cooler than you tell you about the place
–did it take awhile to find the entrance
–is the door guy clearly on something
–will a few dirty coins get you some alcohol
–is there exposed installation fiberglass anywhere
–are you surprised that theres running water in the bathroom
–is there more ‘art’ in that bathroom than there is at the met
–are several patrons (not so) discretely smoking joints
–did the musicians set up their own shit
–did they have few technical difficulties during their sets
–did the word ‘hipster’ never get uttered
–despite smelling like burnt asshole afterward, did you have a good time
death by audio gets a yes from me on all counts, so in my best estimates, its a grade A certified shitty venue.
kudos!

This is the shittiest place you’ll ever go to. A hidden dungeon of music culture whose bathrooms are more than questionable and whose drink selection consists of beer, whiskey and wine, Death by Audio is the ultimate hipster underground music spot. I’m talkin’ funky an fresh acts that play until midnight on a Monday just because. This space is for the true lovers of underground music.
Hidden by a non-​descript grey door, you pay $ 7 to the grimy cashier and walk through a winding hall and through a set of curtains to the stage area. Cold cement walls painted with varying pieces of art work from stenciled flowers to grotesquely animated caricatures, and chairs that vary from an old bench from a van to chairs that were once white and have turned grey, (sans legs of course) you’d think why would anyone even bother coming here? I mean the ceiling above the stage is crumbling above each acts head but once you experienced Death by Audio you’ll never ask why again.
I regained my appreciation for someones ability to master an instrument during my 4 hour visit to Death by Audio on Monday night. It amazed me to watch drummers and guitarists bang there heads, jump and immerse themselves in their performance not missing one beat or note. The best was the country rock band where I felt like I was at a ho-​down made for New Yorkers.
Though the cigarette smoke is disgusting (is it really still cool to smoke cigarettes?!) all of Death by Audio’s ailments are pieces of its shitty charm and flavor. Believe it or not I’d consider going back only for a super secret awesome DJ dance party but even then I wouldn’t pee in the bathroom.

Picture it: Omaha, Nebraska. The late 1990s. One of 2 all-​ages punk rock venues. Me, in high school. Surrounded by cigarette smoke and the cool kids. Cheap, amazing lineups. Totally my favorite place ever, where I spent most weekends and the rare, curfew-​defying weeknight.
Flash forward to today, in the BK. If I was in high school, I’d fucking love this place, because it is a beer-​selling facsimile of my favorite place ever™ at 17 years of age. However, as an elderly woman, I could do without contracting contact-​emphysema and getting the long-​eye from some glassy-​eyed 19 year old in full ironic smackdown gear (read: kulat-​style lederhosen, massive fake glasses, a half top reading «Gold’s Gym», a cardigan made out of hair, neon green high heels, tube socks, etc.). When you’re a grownup, see, you go to shows to see the fucking band and maybe have a beer, not smoke crack in the bathroom while staging an impromptu one-​person erotic photoshoot with your iPhone, puke on yourself, break curfew (OMGLOLWTF!!!), and appoint yourself The World’s Most Aggressive Judge of Coolness and Hipsterdom, 2010.
What was I saying?
Right. Good bands, crazy cheap cover and beer, flashbacks to when you gave a shit about what other people thought/​were wearing, free emphysema with purchase.

The
Key to
DIY
Is the crowd’s heart
And the bands giving it their all. Or booze.

The club (which, by the way, should be renamed into «Death By Lung Cancer») looks just like any other unmarked warehouse hidden away among similar industrial detritus. Quite possibly this is the kind of place where terrible things are done by mobsters at night.
However, the inside is a lot more terrifying: the charmless concrete box is filled with chain-​smoking hipsters ironically drinking PBR.
If, by encasing the two lone toilets in the back into flimsy simulacrum of stalls, the owners attempted to contain the toilet-​wall art, they failed miserably: the club’s walls are covered with the kind of decoration you expect to find in a high-​school bathroom.
Overall, this club is probably a hoot for anybody just old enough to no longer have a curfew, but most definitely a dubious value proposition for the rest of the population, good music notwithstanding.

I’m not sure if Death By Audio is like ‘Fight Club’ (i.e. the first rule of Fight Club is don’t talk about Fight Club), but I’ll throw caution to the wind and join the other seven reviewers. Even if we acknowledge its existence, actually finding it will still be hard enough.
Put simply, Death By Audio is the opposite of everything I hate about the New York live music scene:
1.) The venue is all ages.
2.) Cheap show prices ($ 6ish).
3.) The two shows I’ve been to were run by Entertainment For Everyone and they were run perfectly. Sets never went past 30 minutes and changeovers were 15 – 20 minutes at the most. I can’t stand watching almost any band for more than 30 minutes (even ones I love) and the short sets leave me feeling more open and positive about the whole lineup. The fact that they run their shows on time and efficiently is also completely unlike shows at any of the other Brooklyn performance spaces (Market Hotel, Silent Barn).
4.) There is a welcoming camaraderie about the crowd. I wouldn’t feel comfortable chatting with a random person at Mercury Lounge or Bowery Ballroom, but the crowd at Death By Audio has an extremely welcoming vibe. This also probably has a lot to do with why #5 happens…
5.) People actually watch bands they have never heard. Holy shit! Anyone that has spent time in NYC knows that a room will go from full to empty to full as the sets go by. One band can be playing to 100 people and the next band can play to 10. People at Death By Audio actually stick around and watch the bands they didn’t show up to see. Maybe it is the location, maybe kids under 21 have nowhere else to be, but it is a seriously big deal. Bands playing the normal NYC-​scene and dealing with the full/​empty dynamic have next to no chance of building a fan base and that does nothing for fostering the music scene.
The only thing I can say about Death By Audio that isn’t so cool is that they allow smoking. I’m not exactly sure how smoking is «DIY», but what can you do?