Deep down in the dark pits of a place known as Dresden?s Basement, one can find where both the literal and the figurative underground music scene really is.Dresden?s Basement is located in an anonymous house in the Burlington area, and is archetypal of a straight-up do-it-yourself venue: shoebox-sized space, a ceiling dotted with cobwebs and pipes and only one tiny light bulb above the band.Stripped of the trappings of a traditional venue, Dresden?s Basement is just pure rock n? roll, and nothing else.Information on the show was sparse: one had to either find a flyer somewhere around downtown Burlington or locate the show?s Facebook event page.And even then, to get the address, one had to e-mail in advance.The manager of the show, ?L,? had good reason to keep things secretive. ?We recently got possession of this basement, and we?ve really wanted to have a show here.? L said. ?But we want things to remain as mysterious as possible. We [do not] want this to just blow up.?L, along with several others, live together in the house, and run operations to make sure everything goes smoothly. They take turns taking admission money at the door and watching security.The atmosphere at Dresden?s is something rare to normal music venues: a strong sense of community. The bands that play all have friends in the crowd of 20-to-30 people, who cram together into the tight space that is the Basement. Burlington punk band Trapper Keeper had half the audience dancing into them during their set, and shouting along to all of their songs.It is not often you see the band start their set by saying to each other, ?Eh, let?s just fool around,? and then burst into a 25 minute-long performance of hardcore punk and Brand New-esque pop rock, surrounded by friends and fans singing along to all the words in a barely-lit cellar. When Trapper Keeper announced they were playing their final song and the crowd booed, lead singer Will Rutkowski shouted, ?Hey, I have to fucking work tomorrow guys, you try and do this!?Dresden?s even has a quirky in-joke around its name: ?When I first got the house, it was previously owned by a bunch of dirty hippies,? said another owner who wished to remain nameless, ?and they left a ton of fleas.??So, we had to bomb the shit out of this place with pesticides,? he said, chuckling, ?and now we all call it Dresden, like the WWII fire-bombings.?In such a small place, the acoustics are not the best ? but it doesn?t really matter, as what counts down in the Basement is intensity, and the passionate local bands down there have it in spades. It was nearly impossible to hear what Trapper Keeper?s lyrics were, and nobody cared at all?the space was just jumping around to the grooving, heavy punk.Ferocious and fiery, attendees claimed the whole show was a night to behold. ?It was a mystical wonderwall of musical greatness, trapped in a dingy, damp basement,? first-year Skye Elkins said.Dresden?s Basement looks forward to having more shows. ?This was a test-run, but we are definitely going to not have more shows in the future,? L said. ?Maybe Halloween.?
