AFTR/IMG · ROOM · DEATH-BY-AUDIO · CONF VERIFIED
Death by Audio
Overview
Williamsburg DIY venue and guitar-pedal workshop co-founded by Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers, hosting noise, punk, and experimental all-ages shows from 2007 until Vice Media acquired the building in November 2014, an event documented in the 2016 film Goodnight Brooklyn.
Death by Audio occupied the first floor of a large industrial building at 49 South 2nd Street in Williamsburg (in the same waterfront warehouse complex as 285 Kent and Glasslands Gallery) taken by Oliver Ackermann and collaborators in 2005 to house the Death by Audio guitar-pedal company (founded by Ackermann in 2002) and serve as a live-work space for artists. The music venue opened in the spring of 2007 and was run by Ackermann, Matt Conboy, and Edan Wilber. The space functioned simultaneously as a recording studio, an effects-pedal factory, living quarters for artists and musicians, and a venue for noise-rock, punk, and experimental shows, typically all-ages and priced at a few dollars a ticket. Ty Segall played his first New York City show here; 24-hour drone concerts and immersive art installations featuring over 70 local artists were part of the programming mix. In its final month of operation, October–November 2014, the venue hosted Thee Oh Sees, Future Islands, Ty Segall (in tribute), Dan Deacon, Parquet Courts, Protomartyr, JEFF the Brotherhood, A Place to Bury Strangers, Deerhoof, and METZ; the last show, on November 22, 2014, was headlined by Lightning Bolt. The closure came because Vice Media had acquired the building's lease for its headquarters expansion, a displacement widely covered as emblematic of commercial development erasing DIY culture in Brooklyn. Matt Conboy's documentary 'Goodnight Brooklyn: The Story of Death by Audio' (2016, premiered at SXSW) became the primary archival record of the venue; a live compilation LP drawn from the final-month shows was also released.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
Plates fill in as scans clear rights
Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Oliver Ackermann
Owner · Lead singer and guitarist of A Place to Bury Strangers; founded the Death by Audio guitar-pedal company in 2002 and co-founded the venue space. The pedal company continues to operate out of a different Brooklyn location.
Matt Conboy
Owner · Co-founder of Death by Audio venue. Directed 'Goodnight Brooklyn: The Story of Death by Audio' (2016, premiered SXSW), the primary documentary record of the space.
Edan Wilber
Owner · Co-founder of Death by Audio venue. Gave a detailed post-closure interview to Bedford + Bowery describing the Vice Media displacement.
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