By Ron Shapella
The composer of the song “Down in the Basement” — the one with the refrain “that’s where it’s at” — could have been inspired by Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon, on the corner of South Broad and Market streets.
That’s where the basement is an established Trenton music venue and for the past decade has served as a stop off for regional, national, and even international independent or underground rock musicians. The space attracts a steady core of regulars and locals attending the growing downtown events such as the Punk Rock Flea Market and the Pork Roll Festival.
Greg Kline, 32, who books shows and tends bar at Joe’s, explains it all. “I cater to touring bands and set up shows around them. It’s just getting better and better. Bookings have picked up in the last two years. We’re getting national and international bands. I like to do everything, but it is a lot of punk bands, hardcore bands, and a lot of hip-hop groups,” says Kline, a Lawrence native who has lived in Trenton for the last 10 years.
Raymond Strife and Dean Durbin (aka D Durbs) “book a lot of the hip hop shows,” he says.
The hip-hop and punk shows attract steady crowds, Kline says. A recent Night Birds show was “one of the wilder shows in a long time,” says Kline.
That is saying something, considering that Kline mentions an outfit called “the Murder Junkies” that appeared at Joe’s. In Trenton, the buzz lingers about the New York City group’s drummer allegedly performing nude, and exploration of body cavities with a less well known drumming device.
The members of the Night Birds, by comparison, are model citizens. Punk rock has never been a G-rated musical genre, but the Night Birds, who formed with musicians from the New York and New Jersey areas, are purveyors of muscular punk rock music that is uplifting by comparison to the Murder Junkies.
Kline and David Locane, who also books groups at Joe’s, says the basement also shows films that are unlikely to be offered on Netflix or at the local AMC theater, such as Filmage, the story of the mercurial 1970s Los Angeles punk band the Descendants.
Locane — who grew up in Trenton, married last year, and now lives in Ewingville — says Filmage was shown on the 100-inch screen at Joe’s.
“We were the second showing in New Jersey,” he says. “It was a great movie, really well done. We definitely have a lot of things that you would normally have to go to New York or Philly to see. It’s a pretty unique experience.”
Locane said where the basement once catered to the art crowd, it now attracts music lovers and craft beer lovers.”
The listing of craft beers at Joes is respectable, especially for those who may subscribe to Beer Advocate magazine. Situated as it always has been across South Broad Street from the Mercer County Courthouse, Joe’s also offers a lunchtime menu of grilled dishes that appeal to the tassel-loafered crowd.
Local deejays also regularly spin the latest in the basement at Joe’s. Locane says admission for bands is kept reasonable at $5 to $6, although Murder Junkies cost $10 for the privilege.
“We try to keep it as cheap as possible,” Locane says. “Whatever we charge at the door is exactly what we need to pay the band. I’m confident saying we are a rare breed in doing that. We started doing live music there about 12 years ago. Slowly but surely, it has come together.”
Though Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon has a long history of jazz presentations and featured some of the mainstays of the Trenton jazz scene, it’s clear that the current configuration of a newer set is generating a scene of its own in the basement — where it does seem to be where it is at.
Coming up
Neshaminy Creek Brewing presents the bands Restorations (from Philadelphia), Banquets (Jersey City), and Aspiga (Collingswood), Friday, Sept. 5, 9 p.m.
The Fifth “Banging in the Basement” event, with D.I. Okside, Rob Carney (central New Jersey), Biz Mighty (Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania), Miles, the Electro Organic Refuse Orchestra, and host Fats Da Don (Hightstown), Saturday, Sept. 13, 10 p.m.,
You Vandal (Gainesville, Florida), Friday, Sept. 19, 9 p.m.
Gameday Regulars (Bronx, New York), Wednesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m.
Not The Bees (Union, New Jersey), Friday, Sept. 26, 9 p.m.
Altercation Punk Comedy Tour with underground comics Jay Whitecotton (San Antonio, Texas), Junior Stopka (Chicago), Joe Staats (Austin, Texas), Kristen Becker (Buffalo, New York), Nick Lavallee (Manchester, New Hampshire), and more, Saturday, Oct. 18, 9 p.m.
Mill Hill Basement at Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon, 300 S. Broad St., Trenton. For more information, go to the Millhill Basement Facebook page, Reverbnation at reverbnation.com/venue/millhillbasement or call 609-989-1600.
The door to the basement at Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon.,
