The Meatlocker — Attraction in Montclair

Small venue for live underground music. It's quite the contrast from the fancy boutique shops and vegan cafes that are located nearby. The Meatlocker is definitely a very important part of the music community. Small local bands and national acts pass through here. The club has two bathrooms and consists of two rooms that face the stage. There is also a side room for the waiting stage equipment. It's a no frills venue but that's really all you need for good live music. Parking is ample in the metered parking deck directly across the street. Also a pay parking lot is located behind Just Jake's off of Park. Thousands of stickers and numerous colors of graffiti fill the falls. The only place that I can compare it to is the legendary CBGB's in terms of band stickers...

I haven't been here in 10 years, so I didn't know what to expect...but in a very real sense, I knew EXACTLY what to expect. I feel like The Meatlocker has a gravitational pull that attracts the same type of person. People that would otherwise be on the margins in their respective communities. Not at The Meatlocker. The "Cheers" of Essex County, if you will.

Most of the night, I picked the safest spot in the room (a habit of mine). There was a brief moment that I relocated. Even after a shower and some 12 hours, I still smell like the dude that collided with me. I like the new addition of the carpet. I found that people were either staunchly pro-carpet or anti-carpet. No one was really carpet-neutral. Oh and the music was...

One of the world's great true underground music venues. 40 years as a rehearsal space and for the last 15 or 20, hosting six bands a night seven nights a week year-round barring the occasional catastrophe. I've seen bands from Asia the UK Eastern Europe South America and every state of the USA. Bring Your Own Everything. The extreme DIY aesthetic provides a bulletproof background for music ranging from mellow to mayhem. An archaeologist could chart the last 30 years of hardcore by lifting layer upon layer of graffiti from every square inch of the walls. Not for the faint of heart or musically incurious. The Meatlocker is a rare tarnished gem of a space that delivers authentic outsider performance art without pretense...