"the rise and fall of The Shank" (the Brooklyn venue)

Spank Rock & Amanda Blank @ The Shank in March (by Tod Seelie)

“What went on inside soon became the stuff of legend, so much so that very few revelers were willing to go on the record for this story, even to admit they’d visited The Shank. Engel declined to comment specifically on The Shank’s reputation as a drug den, but admitted to the obvious: “We weren’t exactly policing things.” Prerequisite hedonisms aside, the vast, windowless space seemed to radiate depravity from its very walls, from its unmarked entrance to the plank patrons had to traverse over murky waters to get to the much-abused bathrooms. “I bought the same jeans twice,” explained Telli Gramz, also of Ninjasonik. “I like dirty white jeans, but these just got destroyed. The Shank will fuck your shit up.”…

…According to many people I spoke to, the club’s real decline started when Engel asked [Jonathan] Toubin to take a Saturday off and booked a one-off party thrown by promoters Bikes in the Kitchen. The evening began with sets from local party fixtures like Juiceboxxx, Ninjasonik and Team Robespierre, and culminated in a performance by Spank Rock and Amanda Blank.”… [NY Press]

A performance by Spank Rock and Amanda Blank and Ninjasonik also marked the end (of the day on the second stage) of this year’s Siren Festival. Video of Lightspeed Champion (with a guest from We Are Scientists) playing at the recent Jon Wiley benefit at the Shank, and some other videos, below…