Amid the surge of alternative venue spaces that have materialized in the local scene over the past few years, The Fuzz Factory is a name that keeps coming up time and time again.
Co-founder John Freda grew up in Northern Pinellas, where he and his band Just Satellites started booking shows at cafés and houses around Tarpon Springs and Palm Harbor. Eventually, they shuffled south to St. Petersburg, setting up shop in the Warehouse Arts District in April of 2013 and welcoming other local and small indie touring acts to the space they’d formally christened The Fuzz Factory.
“We wanted to create a place where bands that play less traditional music could come and do their thing and not have to worry about people getting pissed off and leaving or complaining ‘cause it’s too loud or it’s too weird,” Freda told me in a recent interview. The idea was to remove the commercial element and foster an environment that catered to creativity, “a place purely for the art, not for the profit.”
Word spread and the bookings took off in earnest as the connections Just Satellites made both locally and on tour coalesced with the relationships they’d cultivated with other equally active locals like Permanent Makeup. “When you’re booking these underground shows, it’s really important to build up a network with people who tour.” Unfortunately, several mitigating factors prompted Freda and Co. to seek new digs. “We could not psychologically and emotionally keep operating out of a windowless, airless warehouse in Florida,” Freda explained, adding that as the popularity of the district grew, “it just became too expensive.”
After extending the search beyond 34th Street to the eastern edge of Gulfport, Freda happened upon a shared building/warehouse space tucked away in a low-key industrial park and surrounded by auto body shops. Fuzz Factory relocated in May. “We like being in Gulfport; it’s a little more laid-back compared to the Warehouse Arts District, which is becoming pretty prime real estate.”
While the former district site was more exposed and The Fuzz Factory not necessarily a welcome presence there, “the environment at the new place — it’s much easier to relax,” said Freda. “You’re not on display for the whole city of St. Petersburg, it’s very cozy back in the alley. I think people like the off-the-beaten-trail element to it, too.”
Freda books and promotes all the shows, while partner William Kilgore runs the St. Petersburg Free Skool, which finds local folks sharing knowledge and expertise on a range of subjects, for free, on anything from animal psychology to video editing and filmmaking. The primary focus, however, is live music and touring acts. “Honestly, it kind of just happened that way,” Freda explained, crediting the network he’s established along with DODIY.org, a much-used worldwide database listing underground venues that cater to weird and experimental music. Most of the time, Freda said, “Bands just find us.”
The sounds that land at Fuzz Factory are primarily rock, punk, experimental and “everything that falls in between,” but Freda isn’t picky. “We don’t let just anyone play, but if I listen to it and I like it, I’ll book it.” Last week’s schedule featured Kentucky post-rock/post-hardcore outfit The Foxery; a locally brewed avant hip-hop showcase headed up by The Real Clash; and Boston-based noise-pop act Pariuh. Upcoming shows include a six-band lineup of primarily pop-punk and old-school emo sounds by local and Florida talent, and Krauty, minimalist electro-pop from NYC’s My Love MHz.
Just because it’s a DIY-style space doesn’t mean The Fuzz Factory does anything sloppily, nor does it feel like a space you’d be afraid to kick back in.
In fact, there’s something warm and inviting about the industrial-meets-cozy aesthetic; slick poured-concrete floors scattered with worn orange couches and battered chairs and tables, white brick walls hung with original artworks by area talents Bradley Kokay and John Lichtenstein, dark metal beams stretching across an insulated ceiling, a coed bathroom illuminated by twinkling white bulbs, and a small cluster of lights casting color-tinted hues onto a slightly raised stage — the newest Fuzz addition, constructed from wood pallets Freda picked up for $3 apiece.
The sound system might be basic — a mixer, amp and a few mains; no monitors or subwoofer yet — but it’s constantly being updated and upgraded, and the volume and variation of audible frequencies achieved is impressive. “It’s actually sounding better than it ever has.”
Every show is all-ages — “I think it’s really important to have a place where younger people are welcome” — and always a BYOB affair. “When you’re running a place like this, the easiest way to get in trouble is to sell alcohol. So we say, bring your own beer, keep it in the fridge at your own risk, and if someone takes it, that’s your problem — you put it in the fridge.”
The Fuzz Factory isn’t a profitable endeavor, but then, labors of love frequently aren’t.
“We pay out of pocket for everything … to make half the rent off the door is like a godsend. We definitely do it for the love of it.”
Upcoming shows at The Fuzz Factory:
Basebourne, Pilgrimage, Snacking, You’ll Live, Shady Nasty, Queen Anne’s Revenge, Sat., Nov. 22; Luxury Mane, Golden Coastal Grizzlies, Broken Things, UFO Sex Scene, Fri., Nov. 28; Husky Bundles (Philadelphia), Fri., Dec. 5; My Love MHz (NYC), Proxemia, Incandesced, Sat., Dec. 6; Gunther Doug (Nashville), Concord America (Atlanta), Sonic Graffiti, Sat., Dec. 19. All shows 8 p.m., $5 suggested donation, all ages, BYOB. The Fuzz Factory is located at 4934 1/2 15th Ave. S., Gulfport.
