Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Lamour ("The Rock Capital of Brooklyn") re opens in Staten Island, NY

"You went to L'amour Saturday night
Red nails and lipstick dressed two sizes two tight
His tongue down your throat
His hand up your skirt
Yeah I'm a man
But it still hurts"-Type O Negative-Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity

Yes, it's official, as mentioned in a previous journal entry (Notes from the New York Extreme Metal Underground) Lamour ("The Rock Capital of Brooklyn") is re opening this time in Staten Island, New York. It's just how to get to the new Lamour's: Ferry, subway? The new Lamour's is way out in Staten Island.

Yes, there were other venues in Staten Island and Queens too. Namely, Castle Heights,(closed in 2002) which was built like a European Castle (Queens, NY). Also, Coney Island High which has been closed for quite some time.  

If you read the newspaper article in the "Metro" about Lamour's closing back in the 90's, it can be somewhat misleading. The story is, a stage diver was PUSHED off the stage by a bouncer, sustaining lethal injuries resulting in death. Lamour's closed again in early 2004 as local bands opened for national and international acts on a second stage in a separate room.

However, LAMOUR's is legendary for being the premier live music venue for hard rock, metal and extreme metal bands on the East coast of the USA. Legendary bands such as METALLICA, SLAYER, TESTAMENT, TWISTED SISTER, DIMMU BORGIR, CHILDREN OF BODOM, CANNIBAL CORPSE, DYING FETUS, TYPE O NEGATIVE, ANTHRAX, BIOHAZARD, LIFE OF AGONY,OVERKILL, IMMORTAL, CARNIVORE, either got their start, or played their first ever NYC appearance at Lamour's.

When I booked and helped out local bands in the PAST, Lamour's has been very accommodating and supportive of local bands.
I'm sure everyone in the NYDM (New York Death Metal) association/scene will be supporting the re-opening of Lamour's and so am I. What's the alternative? Your (or MY) local bar scene riddled with drugs, violence, awful DJ's and horrid "bands", crack heads, smelly alcoholics, wannabees riddled with Hepititus.. Lamour's Rocks and OWNS.

The good news from The Metro and Blabbermouth.net: 

Metal mecca reborn on Staten Island

by amy zimmer / metro new york

STATEN ISLAND. For heavy metal fans, Mecca wasnt at CBGB. It was out in Bay Ridge at a place called L’Amour.

The club ruled the scene in the mid-80s before closing down in 1995 after a teenager was killed diving into a mosh pit. This summer, after years of fits and starts, it has reopened on Arthur Kill Road in Rossville.

L’Amour is probablythe most famous heavy metal club in the world,” said DJ Alex Kayne, who worked at the Brooklyn club from 1980 to 1995, and spins at the new space.

“Busloads of kids were going to Brooklyn,” Kayne said, from places like Boston and Maryland to see White Lion, Metallica and Motorhead. “On the West Coast, you had the Roxy and Whisky a Go Go. On the East Coast, it was L’Amour.”

Kayne writing a bookabout the club with heavy metal historian Ian Christe and using images from legendary rock photographer Frank White. He hopes to release it on Nov. 1, 2008 — 30 years after the club opened.

“It started as a dyed in the wool, John Travolta, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ discotheque,” Kayne said. “They started doing rock on Thursday nights as a goof, but by the end of the year, the rock kids scared the dancers off the floor.”

Tom Cassidy, 37, started going to the club when he was 16 and has a L’Amour tribute page on MySpace.

“I met my wife there, though that’s something we still fight about,” he said. “I said we met in 1989 at the Faith No More show, but she said, ‘No way.’ She would have been drooling too hard over the lead singer.”

L’Amour “was the place to be,” Cassidy said. “They had national acts, whatever rock ’n’ roll you wanted. Iron Maiden. Kiss. Twisted Sister played there on a weekly basis until they got big in 1984. Anthrax. Biohazard. You’d put on your tight jeans, do your hair, because you knew there would be 500 single girls that were easy.”

Cassidy and his wife recently went to the new L’Amour to see Mike Tramp, and are already looking for a baby sitter to watch their 5-year-old so they can see L.A. Guns this month.

The tight jeans, however, “were many cheeseburgers ago.”


Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal- \m/ -l-