Here come the four words many live-music junkies in Miami never wanted to hear: Studio A is closing. Rumors of its demise had plagued the venue practically since its opening in spring 2006, but staff has confirmed that after two years of live shows and alternative club nights, it's shutting its doors for good. When exactly that will happen or what will become of the shows it had booked through June, remains unclear.
As Miami’s only mid-size music venue (with a capacity of around 600), it single-handedly ushered in a new era in the city's flagging live scene. In recent years, Miami always lost to the better-equipped city of Fort Lauderdale and its surrounding suburbs. The venue presented on-the-verge acts like M.I.A., KRS-One, Brazilian Girls, Avenue D, Tokyo Police, Of Montreal, Justice, and Cat Power, as well as established bands wanting to play a more intimate setting, like Maroon 5. At one time it hosted the now-defunct weekly Revolver party, as well as other nights of clubland past such as Plastik Fantastik, Misfit, and SceneWolf.
Most recently its longest-running weekly club night was a commercial hip-hop party on Sunday nights, which abruptly ended after a shooting inside the club in the early hours of April 15 left one patron dead.
The venue started out as a venture by a group of New Yorkers with ties to South Florida who were looking to give Miami a great live music venue, that would also serve as a place to hang out once the show was over. In a Miami New Times article published on March 9, 2006, cofounder Georgie Seville said, “We’ll have live music in a consistent stream, but it’ll also be a dance club. We want it to be a hangout for all things alternative in Miami.”
Within the first few weeks of being opened, the group wisely contacted a group of native Miamians that could add instant credibility to the venue, including Lara “Diamante” Coppola, Joshua Menendez, Carmel Ophir, Lauren “Lolo” Reskin, and Jose Ortiz’s Supermarket Creative Agency. Later through its run, other notable contributors included Diego Martinelli and Barbara Basti and Aramis Lorie of Poplife. However, it seemed like the venue always had a constant revolving door of managers, staff, and promoters.
The problem was Studio A never seemed to have found its footing in area -- the so-called "Park West" club district in and around NE 11th Street -- increasingly dominated by an afterhours club scene. Several attempts were made to establish an afterhours party at the club, but without an outdoor space similar to that of Nocturnal or Space, all failed.
Now, the burning question is what will happen to the club's upcoming scheduled shows? Uh Huh Her, Yo Majesty, and a Ladytron-Datarock double bill were just some of the more anticipated events booked for the coming weeks. With no comment yet from management, it’s uncertain if any of these will still take place.
