In Wayne, New Jersey, young artists discouraged by the crummy job market have kept their spirits up by returning to their hometown and reviving the Wayne Firehouse, an inspirational all-ages venue of their youth. Working in partnership with local high school bands, they're using their efforts this time to help feed the hungry, calling the initiative "The Pantry Party"
Depending on the success of the show, they hope to continue the Pantry Party as an ongoing series at the firehouse. The motivation is, in part, nostalgia: to bring back a simpler time (the early 2000s), when they saw shows for the first time at local venues like the firehouse and the Knights of Columbus Hall. Bands that eventually exploded into the mainstream like Jimmy Eat World, Alkaline Trio and The Get Up Kids made pit stops at the firehouse. “It was a gateway for music in my life,” Lacherza said.
Petriello remembers his mom dropping him off at the shows, where kids dressed in ripped jeans, hoodies and studded belts slammed in mosh pits. “My mom freaked out, but it was a safe space — drug- and alcohol-free,” he said.
As all great things must come to an end, the scene eventually fizzled out.
Reviving the firehouse in 2009, the creative pair understands that music tastes have drastically changed and are now more specialized. It’s no longer just hip-hop, grunge and alternative. “With the Internet and having so much access to music, kids have such diverse taste and their own stuff they’re into,” Petriello said.
Talking to high school students, they discovered that under-18 audiences generally don’t attend local shows if they have to pay. So they came up with the idea to take $1 off the $10 admission for each can of food donated by the patrons. “We read an editorial in the newspaper how pantries are really low due to the recession,” Lacherza said. The night of the show — for the sake of art — they’ll build a pyramid out of the collected cans and then donate them to Eva’s Village in Paterson.
On a recent afternoon, sipping mugs of green tea with Lacherza in his parents’ kitchen, Petriello recalled how one of his college friends in the city asked why he didn’t just bring the project to New York, where he already had a good number of contacts. Petriello said he responded, “This is about not being in New York and competing with celebrities and the millions of shows that are already successful.”
Lacherza, who’s living with her parents while she finishes her degree at William Paterson University, added, “Everyone assumes [that] to be successful you have to change your location. We’re saying be where you are and celebrate that.”
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