The eyes behind the New Brunswick basement scene
Underneath the rigid streets of the spirited college town that is New Brunswick, lies a vibrant community that celebrates the joys of hosting live band shows in house basements.
The New Brunswick basement scene has a special flavor of rebellion and thrill that makes it a quintessential piece of music and university history.
The scene has historically been a radical space for emerging artists, Rutgers students, and New Brunswick community members with many bands having found their grounds in these sweaty and packed basements.
While the scene has years of historical moments, facts and figures, it’s the people that can be the most interesting: Who are they and why do they still choose to keep this scene alive?
I spoke to Bhuvan Dave, showrunner at The Crypt, Kenia Hale, bass player and vocalist for Speakeasy, and Beck McCabe, a showgoer, to see the different lenses through which this scene has continued to keep its tradition and passion.
The Crypt, a basement show venue located at a house behind the College Avenue campus, has held more than 30 shows since it launched two years ago as venues shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bhuvan Dave, a showrunner who helped launch The Crypt and School of Arts and Sciences senior, said he was inspired to open a show venue after watching his sophomore-year roommate play shows with his band. “We all love house parties and we saw basement shows as a way to kind of get away from the frat party ‘status quo’, that Rutgers usually is,” Dave said.
Beck McCabe, frequent showgoer and Mason Gross School of the Arts junior, also finds this community a great alternative to Greek life party culture noting that the scene is accepting and empowering to people like herself who identify with LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
There’s a lot to do to prepare for each show. Dave and his 4 housemates have to coordinate the bill, buy supplies like propane for outdoor heaters, clean the house, hire a bartender and buy drinks.
“I have to give a special shout-out to the Crypts friends and family,” Dave says. “We’re super grateful to have such a loving group of friends to help us do something so outrageous.” McCabe appreciates the care and consideration show runners put into making showgoers like her comfortable.
While Dave’s show running became an integral part of his college experience, Kenia Hale’s entrance to the scene started after graduating from Yale and moving to New Brunswick for work. After connecting with a fellow black queer woman at a show, they recognized the lack of black voices and spaces as well as unwelcoming spirits in the scene.
They soon formed their band, Speakeasy, to make spaces “welcoming and centering, black, brown, queer trans peoples in our bodies,” says Hale. Their music focuses on being anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and anti-racist, seeing mosh pits as “liberated zones” to “show people that another world is possible.”
“There’s this new narrative that it’s a white people thing and that Black people aren’t welcome in these spaces,” Hale says. “So we fight to create the music and space that honors that legacy and that future.”
While the basement scene community strives to stand out of the mainstream, McCabe points out that it can lead to people having elitist mindsets and having an alienating “coolness” competition. “I think regardless of how you dress or create or whether you spend more time with your sorority or in art classes, you should be just as entitled to have a place in such a wonderfully creative community.”
Hale finds this space outside the mainstream to be the most powerful part, not having to ask for permission to create art. Some of Hale’s most cherished moments performing with Speakeasy include participating in Strikestock, a musical event held during the historic Rutgers faculty strike in April 2023, as well as the global strike event in April 2024 organized by the Rutgers Endowment Justice Collective to advocate for Rutgers’ divestment from Israeli apartheid.
The liveliness of the scene comes with its own set of consequences — one threat has always been the police. Most show posters warn: “No cops, No phobes, no jerks.” Many shows can quickly get shut down.
“Cops have told me that they only give noise complaints when they get a complaint from a neighbor,” Dave said. “If they don’t see anything outrageously illegal, they don’t seem to care.” Other venues have not been so lucky Dave notes.
Regardless of police opposition, these shows have persevered since the 80s and continue to create special memories for so many showrunners, showgoers, and performers. McCabe says she has many special memories from The Crypt, especially the warm feelings of seeing familiar faces every weekend.
Dave hopes that his time as a showrunner has allowed showgoers like McCabe to have great experiences at The Crypt that they will look back to fondly when reminiscing about college days. “We’ve all made lifelong connections through the crypt that makes all the bullshit and the chaos so worth it,” Dave said.
