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Last night, my home away from home, Soundstation Records in Westfield, NJ was completely destroyed in a fire that spread from a nearby catering business. I would not be half the musician/music that I am now had it not been for the blind recommendations of the owners Bob and Liz. They really did everything they could to make sure you found something interesting that you would enjoy. I have been shopping there since 2003-2004, and this really is like losing a relative.

Nothing was salvaged. They lost their entire stock of CDs and posters, but most importantly the history. Soundstation has been an independent family-owned business since the '80s, and the store really reflected it. It was a place you could walk into to just relax and chat after a bad day. I was just in there on Thursday, and I'm still in denial that I will never see it again. The entire strip in which they were located is to be demolished in three days.

Mid-last year, they decided to open the store up as a DIY venue for shows 1-2 times a month, due to there being no real stress-free place to play in the area. I was privileged enough to play there twice (and actually had my face bashed open by my bandmate's headstock at the last one), and I'm heartbroken to know that I will never have the chance to play there again.

Every little bit counts. Soon we'll have a compilation available of all of the bands that played there available as well.

http://www.indiegogo.com/helpsoundstation

Here are some videos of a few of the bands playing at Soundstation over the last year:
Exemption
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2l5zHoqoTo[/youtube]

Shayfer James
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBE67sMbgeI[/youtube]

A Fucking Elephant
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1T6tUMmQ8[/youtube]

MOFODiSHU
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMRizV_WKI[/youtube]

The Ciem Show
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESllbqN1Qfs[/youtube]

Disobey
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq2A8w1W2Eg[/youtube]

That's terrible. Looks like it was an awesome shop. Wishing for a full recovery.

andtheLiquidmen wrote:Last night, my home away from home, Soundstation Records in Westfield, NJ was completely destroyed in a fire that spread from a nearby catering business. I would not be half the musician/music that I am now had it not been for the blind recommendations of the owners Bob and Liz. They really did everything they could to make sure you found something interesting that you would enjoy. I have been shopping there since 2003-2004, and this really is like losing a relative.

Nothing was salvaged. They lost their entire stock of CDs and posters, but most importantly the history. Soundstation has been an independent family-owned business since the '80s, and the store really reflected it. It was a place you could walk into to just relax and chat after a bad day. I was just in there on Thursday, and I'm still in denial that I will never see it again. The entire strip in which they were located is to be demolished in three days.

Mid-last year, they decided to open the store up as a DIY venue for shows 1-2 times a month, due to there being no real stress-free place to play in the area. I was privileged enough to play there twice (and actually had my face bashed open by my bandmate's headstock at the last one), and I'm heartbroken to know that I will never have the chance to play there again.

Every little bit counts. Soon we'll have a compilation available of all of the bands that played there available as well.

http://www.indiegogo.com/helpsoundstation

Crap, that's terrible. I hate hearing about crap like that. I assume they had it all insured?

bigchiefbc wrote:Crap, that's terrible. I hate hearing about crap like that. I assume they had it all insured?

From what I understand, nope.

then that is their fucking fault. What business owner dosent have insurance?

let's keep it positive, yo!

whether insured or not (and obviously it's a poor decision to NOT be insured) it still sucks HUGE BALLS getting your business burned up and the sad fact is that there are very few mom and pop record and/or music stores alive and well... seeing any of them go is tragic.

my condolences to them...

Agree'd Bri,....insured or not it's still a tragedy.

I'm wondering and I'm not expert on business coverage,....but if the fire started in a catering company next door,....would the caterer's insurance be liable for the fire destroying adjoining businesses?

warwick.hoy wrote:I'm wondering and I'm not expert on business coverage,....but if the fire started in a catering company next door,....would the caterer's insurance be liable for the fire destroying adjoining businesses?

That popped into my mind as well. Even if it does though, the insurance company will fight tooth and nail to not pay up, and who knows if these folks will be able to pay a lawyer to represent them.

Definitely sucks to hear of a good place being lost for any reason, let alone a disaster like this.

mrmtzion wrote:then that is their fucking fault. What business owner dosent have insurance?

Well if you want to be a presumptuous dick, fine. I would suggest you read some of the comments on the IndieGoGo page though. Maybe it would help to make a little bit of sense as to why we care.

They dropped their fire coverage a few months ago so they could put more money into stocking their shelves, and thus afford to do all of the awesome things that they do.

One of the other businesses in the strip that were destroyed DID have coverage, and as of today they're going to be lucky if they can get a small pittance of what was destroyed.

The fire spread from the catering business, and collapsed the roof of Soundstation only after taking out the two businesses between them. Most of the damage that was done to Soundstation (other than the roof caving in) was done by the firemen in efforts to put it out. The fire hadn't actually gotten into the store. It was burning inside of the walls, but never actually engulfed the store itself.


There's going to be a string of benefit shows in the coming months in the NJ area. I'll probably be bumping this thread once everything is confirmed. If any of you are available/in the area, it would be fucking great to meet up.


Most importantly, thank you all for your kind words, and if any of you have been able to even donate a couple of dollars, thank you even more for that.

hclapp219 wrote:

warwick.hoy wrote:I'm wondering and I'm not expert on business coverage,....but if the fire started in a catering company next door,....would the caterer's insurance be liable for the fire destroying adjoining businesses?

That popped into my mind as well. Even if it does though, the insurance company will fight tooth and nail to not pay up, and who knows if these folks will be able to pay a lawyer to represent them.

I bet their are tons of lawyers who'd gladly take a case like that. The store owners will get PAID if they go about it the right way.

Jero wrote:

hclapp219 wrote:

warwick.hoy wrote:I'm wondering and I'm not expert on business coverage,....but if the fire started in a catering company next door,....would the caterer's insurance be liable for the fire destroying adjoining businesses?

That popped into my mind as well. Even if it does though, the insurance company will fight tooth and nail to not pay up, and who knows if these folks will be able to pay a lawyer to represent them.

I bet their are tons of lawyers who'd gladly take a case like that. The store owners will get PAID if they go about it the right way.

First off, my condolences. Here in Portland we are spoiled by all of the rad record shops that we have here (Anthem, Jackpot, Everyday Music, 2nd Ave. ect) My heart goes out to the shop keepers.

From a business stand point, you are by law required to have insurance. Now as for what terms of compensation that the store will receive will be determined if the catering company was negligent in causing the fire. Depending on what the fire department says they could take the building owner and catering company to a civil court. But this will be months after the blaze, not to mention all of the legal fees and time lost that are the cost of going down that route.

Again I hope they fall back on their feet.

Right now we're waiting for the results of the various fire inspectors. Due the catering business being recently re-wired, the blame hasn't seemed to settle on any particular party yet. It may rest on the catering company, the landlord, the electrical company, or the town itself. Once that's determined, hopefully there will be some clear direction to go. Once I know more I'll post updated.

For the time being, please share the donation page anywhere you can. http://www.soundstationnj.com now redirects to the IndieGoGo page for your convenience.