Brian Wantuch's Wasteland Studio
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Do you think you know the music studio scene in Buffalo? With the increase in the number of bands playing around the city, the recording industry is starting to pick up to cater to musicians. Musicians and technicians like Brian Mantuch have come a long way to overcome some of the hardships of ‘making it’ in Buffalo. In the past year or so there have been ton of new venues popping up all over. They include Steel Crazy, Diablo, Hardware Café, Snooty Fox, and Stillwater. It’s cool to see these bars and restaurants catering to the local musicians, and in turn the musicians are happy to help draw new crowds to places that have not been known for live music in the past.
One of the ideas (almost a reality) that Brian has been tossing around is opening a new 2000 sq.’ studio on Franklin in Allentown. This would give smaller bands the ability to secure playing space while offering recording options at the same time. If Buffalo wants to retain our musicians past a certain playing level then the music economy must reflect the growth. I sat down with Brian at Taza Café (pardon the background noise) to discuss the future of Buffalo’s music scene. Listen to his thoughts regarding the lack of 2000 seat halls, and what some options are to attract bands that are looking to play at these sized venues. He even surprised me when he mentioned that LaSalle Park could be our own version of Artpark. Duh! So what’s stopping bands from performing at the Junior League Pavilion? Buffalo may be a great incubator for bands… so how do we retain them as they continue to escalate in popularity.
Thanks to Ani DiFranco and The Goos (among others) Buffalo has been able to hold its ground when it comes to music exports. And these bands are re-investing back into the urban core. This is an industry that should be looked at as a serious industry. Promoting our local music talent is a smart way to market our region. It also draws younger people into an area. Think about it… retaining young people and helping out our city image. Those are two things that Buffalo sure needs help with, right? We’ll keep you posted on Brian’s Wasteland Recording Studio, and if you can’t wait for it to open then try him at 716-390-3494 and join in to make our music scene stronger down the road.
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Denizen
Great topic. Buffalo's music scene has waxed, waned, ebbed and flowed to various degrees over the years. Though, It's never really been able to sustain a critical mass of similarly- sounding bands needed to really formulate a nationally-recognized "scene".
When a Buffalo-based band typically becomes good enough, they will almost always relocate to a much bigger city like NYC or LA to "make it." (Chicago, Austin, and Detroit are good places to join the scene in to a smaller degree) Those two cities are the dual epicenters of this country's media and entertainment industries, so it's expected that those are the places for talented, budding bands take their music to the next level. Also, bigger cities have much larger pools of young, educated and artistic-minded people to compose potential fanbases for various alt/indie-music styles that thrive on an organic cult following.
I absolutely agree that providing performance spaces for young Buffalo bands is a necessary element to helping more of them becoming talented enough for an exposure that goes beyond a small local following. Buffalo has more than enough old industrial buildings to make great rehearsal spaces. Such a use will add a lot more culture to the city than overpriced faux "loft" units for transient professionals to briefly inhabit.
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Matthewjohnp
Check out 567 Exchange Street, there are a couple of bands there already and the rent is quite reasonable.
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