For the better part of the past couple years, Bruar Falls was the bright new youngin' of the Williamsburg perculator venues, the spot across from the sleaze that is Trash Bar where you could see young good bands blasting away many nights of the week. It seemed like the next ambitious step from the great minds who brought us the Lower East Side's Cake Shop, and while many of us in Brooklyn may have sat through some quiet shows at the place, it never seemed short of a nice weekend blowout. (A personal favorite of mine from a little while back: A Noveller release show that also starred Talk Normal, C Spencer Yeh, and Ducktails.)
However, it looks like Bruars days are very numbered, with the doors slated to close permanently at the end of the month. As says co-owner Andy Bodor:
We opened with nothing but optimism and excitement, after designing and building our ideal combination of a local jukebox bar with a stage to showcase all the great bands coming out of Brooklyn. It was soon apparent to us, however, that people in Williamsburg have lots of other options to see bands. We love and are inspired by these places, but really, between loft/warehouse parties and D.I.Y spots, where you can bring in your own cheap beer, smoke inside and hit on the same people…we totally understand why it’s hard to spend money at your local legit small club. It is difficult not to be a bit jealous of their freedom, but we have always worked hard to be in for the long haul.
Bodor also mentions “the classic creative differences issue, plus the fact that we had to maintain a hard-to-honor midnight curfew” as two contributing factors to the closure, along with the fact that the soundest financial decision for the Cake Shop crew was to shutter Bruar Falls with an eye towards bigger things, including booking larger-scale shows at bigger venues (look out for “Cakeshop/Capeshok Presents” on the top of flyers soon), as well as taking “the Cake Shop club experience to another area of the world” in late 2012.
Until then, support Bruar Falls for their final month of shows, a schedule of which can be viewed over at their website.
