Tier 3 (nightclub)
Tier 3 (aka TR3) was an influential but short lived 300-capacity no wave art nightclub, founded by Hilary Jaeger in 1979, located at 225 West Broadway in downtown TriBeCa, Manhattan. Tier 3 was a major venue in the city's TriBeCa underground music and counterculture post-punk art scene, along with the Mudd Club.[1] Live performances showcased punk rock, no wave, ska, noise music, free jazz, new wave and experimental music.[2]
Besides Hilary Jaeger, who booked the bands and ran Tier 3 (initially giving 100% of the door money to the bands), the DJs were Bob Gurevics and Simeon Gallu. The Lounge Lizards had one of their first gigs at Tier 3[3] and Lindzee Smith occasionally showed films of the No Wave Cinema on the third floor.[4]
On the second floor, art and photography shows were hung. Kiki Smith, of Colab, painted a mural there.[5] The third floor had a dance area lit by a disco ball and a DJ booth that Jean-Michel Basquiat had painted. Basquiat also painted a mural on the wall between the bar room and the music room on the first floor, that had only a 10" stage, due to the low ceilings throughout. This low stage offered an intimate, face to face, relationship between musicians and the audience.
Due mainly to substance abuse issues, Tier 3 closed in December 1980. Jaeger and her crew quit Tier 3 in December 1980 at around the same time the club received an eviction notice.[6]
Musical groups who performed at Tier 3
- DNA
- Rhys Chatham
- Bush Tetras
- Boris Policeband
- Glenn Branca
- Madness
- Liquid Liquid
- The Slits
- World Saxophone Quartet
- Z'EV
- ESG
- The dB's
- Stimulators
- 8 Eyed Spy with Lydia Lunch
- The Raybeats
- Oliver Lake
- The Raincoats
- Robin Crutchfield's Dark Days
- Lounge Lizards
- Joseph Bowie
- Luther Thomas
- The Pop Group
- Delta 5
- Young Marble Giants
- Y Pants
- A Certain Ratio
- Bauhaus
Notes
- Alan Moore and Marc Miller, eds., ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery (Colab 1985)
- Marc Masters (2007), No Wave London, Black Dog Publishing
- Carlo McCormick, The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984, Princeton University Press, 2006
- Andy Schwartz, "RIP Tier 3", Perfect Sound Forever, 2008
References
- Carlo McCormick, "The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984", 06
- Marc Masters, (2007) No Wave London, Black Dog Publishing
- Marc Masters, (2007) No Wave London, Black Dog Publishing
- "RIP Tier 3", Andy Schwartz,Perfect Sound Forever 2008
- Carlo McCormick, "The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984", 06
- "RIP Tier 3", Andy Schwartz,Perfect Sound Forever 2008