I recently got invited to see a friends band playing in Brooklyn; nothing turns me on like live, new music, so obviously I went, bringing a date along too, (hopefully new music did the same for her as me!!)
It was at The Sweat Shop, which is an underground establishment in Williamsburg, they offer rehearsal and recording opportunities for $15-$35 per hour depending on room size and equipment you want available for use. I spoke with Talon, who has worked there for about 3 years, he along with all the other employees are musicians. He says it’s a fun and easy job, and nothing, “too crazy or out of the ordinary” really goes down, this is due to the fact that all users of The Sweat Shop have a lot of respect for it as well as for each other. To book a room or for more info go to www.thesweatshopnyc.com ask for Vanessa, she’s the Manager and she rocks. And just an FYI its’ called The Sweat Shop because “good rock n roll gets the juices flowing!”
We get there, and I am looking for a stage or at least a bar, since I didn’t know much about The Sweat Shop beforehand. Waling down a hallway with many doors on each side, I finally see a “Lonesome Mustangs” sign, which is the band I was there to see. We follow the arrows, which lead to a door. Upon entering that door, we were now in a 15 x 20 foot space, about 10-13 people sitting on the floor watching the band who is in mid-song, (we were a bit late), and another 5-7 spread between the two couches and chair. I noticed two of my co-workers, Dan and Scoot on a comfy looking couch, lucky wankers, I thought to myself. I took a seat on the carpet, my friend stayed standing. Everyone had either some beer or other drink; I quickly pulled out my secret stash of SoCo. After a mere two minutes, I realize why its called the Sweat Shop, as myself and the other three people in my very close proximity are, guess what, sweating. Go fucking figure, small space, and lots of people, huge speakers, awesome music SWEAT!
The Lonesome Mustangs are a two-man heavy-blues style band, Jarrad Hanning rocking the drums, giving it all he has to give, leaving everything in that Sweat Shop of a rehearsal studio, (he also happens to make the most awesome drumming face ever, in the entire history of drums). His additions of cowbell and tambourine to his hard playing up-tempo beats make for a great background to lead guitarist and vocalist of the band Nate Leslie, who’s mixture of blues and hardcore rips on his guitar make for a very unique smooth sound.
They did a cover/remix to Tom Waits “Way Down in the Hole,” which was great and pumped full of soul, which I liked. Not always good idea to mess with classics, but they give it wonderful justice. Also, “Stay Cool” which was written by them and had only been preformed once before, was spectacular. One of their more up-beat songs, “One Plus One,” had a different feel from the rest, but with clever lyrics, and a nice blues vibe you can realy groove with, I became an instant fan.
Before this mini-show I didn’t even know I liked heavy-blues, but apparently in the right ambiance, with the right musicians, you can learn and discover new music that turns you on.
Check out some of their soulfully rockin blues at
The Sweat Shop was also a great place for this, besides the damage to my eardrums from the floor to ceiling speakers; I really enjoyed my first experience with them. Feeling a bit dehydrated from not enough rock in my life; I will surely be back to quench my parched mouth/ears. Stay thirsty my friends.