ARENA
Arena is a cultural center and music venue in the industrialized district of Erdberg. Its beginnings hark back to 1976, when some thousand demonstrators gathered around the former St. Marx Auslandsschlachthof to save it from demolition and subsequent commercial use. While they were not able to save the huge building complex, the vast social movement did succeed in reaching the foundation of an autonomous cultural center on the smaller area of the former slaughterhouses, which represents today’s Arena. Presently Arena has integrated a wide musical spectrum to its programme for various crowds and commercial use. Yet Arena’s dictum “Love Music, Hate Fascism!” is more than a relict of old days as it is still the venue with the most punk concerts in town.
arena.co.at
Recent Session(s) at this location
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Karl Blau And Lake
“Just another day in Vienna,” says Ashley. For the filming session on the grey morning after their Vienna show the Olympia-based band Lake (here with Ashley, Andrew, Eli and Lindsay) is joined by Karl Blau, who is also from Washington, but from the smaller city Anacortes. On a huge, yet deserted open-air stage the quintet goes for the mellow “Breathing”, a song of subtle catchiness. The more the song advances, the more the scenery opens up and...more ...
May 30th, 2010 - (2 Comments) -
We Have Band
At some point while being employed at EMI and having listened to so much music, the London-based trio Darren, Dede and Thomas might have came up with the thought – “We could also have band”. And right they went to having (a) band. They played their first gig in April 2008 and are soon releasing their debut album. We Have Band’s infectious upbeat sound with polyphonic vocals (or shouts or breaths!) performed at energetic, tempting-to-dance live...more ...
November 25th, 2009 - (1 Comments) -
Pink Mountaintops
Stephen McBean is in an entertaining mood when we meet him on a late May-afternoon at the Arena venue. Pink Mountaintops is the solo project of the Vancouver-based songwriter, who also leads the psychedelic rock band Black Mountain. Everything is running a bit late, so there is not much time for doing a little acoustic session. While we are still thinking where it would be best to do the filming, Stephen has already made himself comfortable on...more ...
October 15th, 2009 - (5 Comments) -
Finally Punk
It’s a late-night show with the female punk quartet Finally Punk rocking the streets of suburbian Vienna. The band from Austin arrives tardily and a little exhausted, a string of their bass breaks during their concert and the next day will bring another long journey of driving (the girls split this duty). As we approach Erin, Stephanie, Veronica and Elizabeth after their short and sharp onstage performance of rotating instruments and voc...more ...
September 13th, 2009 - (3 Comments) -
Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls climb the attic of the concert venue Arena for an acoustic aftershow of their gig in Vienna. Beneath hung up bed-linen and a lot of other lumber Cassie, Katy and Ali set to perform “Tell The World”. As the space for filming is limited up there and the three Brooklyn-based girls are not willing to keep it to theirselves – as they sang just before – we move on to the backstage room. With simple, but captivating melodies they confess...more ...
August 10th, 2009 - (1 Comments) -
Panther
The night ended with a 70s-rock cover band. Panther mastermind Charlie Salas-Humara and drummer Joe Kelly decided to spend their after show party listening to rock classics at the tiny Arena Beisl, just a few steps away from the venue of their own show, where an aged mohican was threatening them in German while the middle aged blues band played a cover of The Who’s “Tommy”. It’s a good way to come down after a somewhat stress...more ...
May 10th, 2009 - (2 Comments) -
Crystal Antlers
From Long Beach, California to the shabby, daubed bunk beds at the Arena venue in Vienna: Crystal Antlers opened the doors of their bedroom-for-one-night for us on this early-March day and gave us an impression of what everyday life of a band on tour looks like. The setting in the bedroom – with all its political slogans and band logos scribbled on the walls and bedposts – is rather reminiscent of an advanced school trip than of the stereotypi...more ...
April 26th, 2009 - (0 Comments) -
Wavves
Nathan isn’t really prepared as we approach him during the sound check. “You want to do this now?”, he asks unbelievingly after we explained our offstage sessions concept. We have written e-mails weeks before his show in Vienna but the San Diego based Wavves mastermind is not the man for long-term planning. Spontaneously, however, he is up for almost anything, including video shoots in the snow, drinking games and excessive parties which end i...more ...
March 15th, 2009 - (6 Comments) -
Islands
The Arena Beisl, a small bar on the huge site of the Arena venue, is a place to watch punk and hardcore shows or just hang out and have a few beers. The spot for sure hasn’t seen a poppy act such as Montreal-based Islands play there. Yet, the heavy snowfall and biting coldness on this mid-February evening force singer Nick Thorburn (former singer of the not less exhilarant group The Unicorns that was dispersed some years ago) and three of his ...more ...
March 9th, 2009 - (2 Comments) -
dEUS
dEUS like to have their off-times when they are on tour. It is hard to keep the five guys from Antwerp, Belgium together in the afternoon before a show. One aims for a place to take a nap, one focuses the computer screen, and you haven’t even seen the other three. Thus, the video shoot has to be quickly done. We set everything up and tell them we’re ready; they get a few steps out of their backstage room; we record an a-cappella-plus-instrumen...more ...
December 30th, 2008 - (2 Comments) -
Daniel Johnston
Daniel has misbehaved the previous day on his European tour. “That is why he is not supposed to go to a comic book store here in Vienna,” his brother Dick Johnston explains. An exceptional punishment for an exceptional performer. Daniel Johnston is a living legend who, as a man in his late 40s, still requires assistance from his family as if he were a simple-hearted child. The tide of events in his career of endless ups and downs reveal a deep...more ...
December 8th, 2008 - (5 Comments) -
Frank Spilker Gruppe
They knew how to use the only day off in their 10-day-tour through Germany and Austria. All three members of Frank Spilker Gruppe arrived in Vienna from different directions. We don’t know exactly what bassist Max did, but singer-guitarist Frank visited his parents in the countryside and drummer Matthias went to Berlin to act a part in a friend’s movie; and he is not the only one acting in the band: Frank Spilker was the first in our hitherto ...more ...
October 13th, 2008 - (2 Comments) -
Travels
Travels are the product of a common tour from the bands Metal Hearts and Victory at Sea with Anar (Metal Hearts) and Mona (Victory at Sea) falling in love, leaving their former bands and creating a new one. Travels play sweet and intimate independent music not signed to any label. On their first European tour they faced some troubles in Italy – shows were cancelled – and therefore arrived late and hungry in freezing Vienna. Instead of settling...more ...
April 14th, 2008 - (1 Comments) -
Final Fantasy
Humming Owen Pallett is the man behind the one-man-project Final Fantasy. The violin-trained Canadian – he studied composition at the University of Toronto – kept singing by himself before and after our shooting to try out his acoustic potential. On stage his approach to pop melodies through classical compositions are punctuated by unexpected swerves. In concert Pallett uses a loop & rewind technique that he operates with his foot wh...more ...
April 6th, 2008 - (6 Comments) -
Two Gallants
There is rarely a smile on Adam Stephens’ face. The singer and guitarist of the San Francisco-based band Two Gallants – named after a short story in James Joyce’s “Dubliners” – often makes a grumpy or even angry impression during concerts. That’s not surprising, considering that Adam goes through all the emotions that make him write a song every time when he’s playing live. And Two Gallants songs are certainly not happy, with themes ranging fr...more ...
March 12th, 2008 - (8 Comments) -
Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper are easy-going guys. You just ask them if they want to play a little acoustic performance for a videoblog they have never heard of, and ten minutes later you are in the middle of doing it, with flying cartons of milk and clapping spoons around you (Two Gallants’ Adam Stephens joining them on both songs). Spontaneity seems to describe their music as well. Since 2003 they have recorded three albums and released them without a lab...more ...
December 6th, 2007 - (2 Comments)
