Start a Band at Ridgewood’s Red Note Studios, Bushwick!

Cristin Noonan

Food and Local Business Editor

@mightynoonmoon

Alonzo Maciel

Photo Editor

@photozo

Bushwick resident Joe Mastracchio has opened hourly rated rehearsal studios Red Note Studios smack dab on the Bushwick-Ridgewood border within the studio spaces at 1001 Irving Avenue, just down the hall from lifelong friend Nick Teodosio’s indoor golf facility Brooklyn Greens, a convenient block from the Halsey Street stop on the L train.

There are no definitive set hours at Red Note Studios and for all intents and purposes and with the exception of holidays it never closes.

Since he lives a short walk from Red Note, Mastracchio says that you can technically call him at 4:30 a.m. and though he might be a little “groggy” you can have that jam sesh at dawn.

As his New Year’s resolution, Mastracchio will be matching any paid studio time in December for free studio time in January! Maybe this matches up with your New Year’s resolution of actually practicing more, eh Bushwick musicians?

In addition to the rehearsal spaces, Mastracchio holds drum lessons ($25/half an hour and $45/hour) and has a small store where he mostly sells pedals and which is currently rocking a Christmas tree made from a drum set.

Surrounding himself with music since he was a young boy living in Connecticut, Mastracchio reveals to Bushwick Daily that he received a drum set for Christmas one year when he was five years old, commenting on how it was (obviously) “so much bigger” than Mastracchio himself.

“There was a note that said ‘Joey, Look downstairs, From: Santa’ … and the rest is history” Mastracchio smiles.

For whatever reason his parents chose to give him a drum set at such a young and impressionable age (other than the fact that Mastracchio’s parents are clearly awesome) Mastracchio jokes that he was “destined” to become a drummer.

A few years ago he had actually been pursuing a music venue along with Teodosio and another good buddy from their hometown of West Haven, Connecticut.

Though the project never came to fruition on the cusp of a changing DIY venue scene in North Brooklyn, Mastracchio has instead been working behind the scenes and has booked bands at a handful of local music venues The Well, The Paper Box, Cameo, Saint Vitus, Don Pedro, Arlene’s Grocery, Lucky 13 Saloon, and The Acheron.

Like Bushwick Daily and many of our readers, Mastracchio was heartbroken when The Acheron abruptly closed this past summer.

At Red Note he pays homage to East Williamsburg’s staple music venue by having on display a couple large speakers he snagged from their estate sale.

Today, Mastracchio boasts not only a budding business, but is a formally trained drummer, self-taught guitarist and bassist, books shows for bands, and has his very own heavy music blog The Bent Unit, which he started a few years ago as a way to put spotlights on local acts.

The two rehearsal spaces are named Audrey and Norma after the ‘90s cult classic Twin Peaks, both of which are $20 per hour, each equipped for a particular sound.

Mastracchio shaves off five dollars if your band is just two people and cuts the price in half for solo artists, which is irrefutably the most affordable hourly rehearsal space in Bushwick or Ridgewood.

During Bushwick Daily’s visit local experimental post-rock band Color Made Faces, a heavier sound than straight up pop music, was rehearsing in Audrey.

Mastracchio stresses that though the rooms may lightly be curated towards particular sounds, there’s nothing stopping a harder band from rehearsing in Audrey and vice versa.

Explaining that he will soon have shirts that read “Start A Band”, Mastracchio envisions Red Note as a place where, in particular, young bands can find their footing, which he says can be “totally overwhelming” when money is often such a precious, not easily gotten resource.

“You get to a point where you’re like ‘alright, we put a couple songs together, we’ve been playing these Tuesday night shows’ and then you hit a wall where you’re like ‘where do we go from here?’” explains Mastracchio, which he says is the point a band might consider floating money to fund having a manager or a press agent.

Not to discredit having a manager or a press agent, Mastracchio stresses the importance of just simply taking your time.

“Practice a lot, and play shows,” he suggests.

On that note: happy jamming, Bushwick!