Members of New York City’s metal scene are racing to rebook shows after the unexpected shutdown of Greenpoint music venue Saint Vitus Bar.
City officials arrived on the scene of New York hardcore band Mindforce’s show on Friday night and closed the club down in the middle of a set by Connecticut metalcore band Balmora. The closure forced other bands scheduled for that weekend to shift their shows to nearby venues, including TV Eye in Ridgewood, Queens and The Meadows in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
It’s both a logistical headache and a source of heartache for members of the underground music scene, for whom Saint Vitus Bar has been a reliable mainstay in an otherwise-volatile live music landscape for more than a decade.
“Stuff is shutting down all the time,” said Brooklyn resident Jon Ehlers, keyboardist for the band Splinternet, which he said will likely have to find a new home for its March 1 show originally slated for Saint Vitus. “DIY spaces come and go. But Vitus has been, since 2011 when they opened, a pretty important staple to metal.”
He added, “It’s definitely iconic.”
Friday’s closure came after repeated complaints to the city alleging that the club didn’t have the right paperwork to host large shows. Different versions of the same complaint were submitted more than a dozen times over the summer, DOB records show.
“I will continue to make this complaint on a daily basis until either the Department of Buildings performs an inspection or until Saint Vitus Bar can remedy their situation,” the complainant wrote on June 28.
Staff at Saint Vitus Bar and spokespeople for the city Department of Buildings did not immediately return requests seeking comment.
Many acts scheduled for February and March are either rescheduling their shows or waiting with bated breath to see if the club will reopen in time.
Mik Grendze, who fronts the Irvington, N.Y. death metal band Death Island, said their Feb. 21 show would be postponed until spring. He said he and…
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