If you’re involved with local arts in any way, whether it’s music, poetry or paintings/mixed media/drawing, then Industry in Huntington should be on your radar.
When you walk in to the lounge located at 344 New York Ave. in Huntington, you are immediately inundated with local art and talent.
According to Industry’s website, it began as a flea market in 2018.
“Curation attracted artists and, the flea market took on an art guild,” the website’s “about” page stated. “Music and musicians followed course and we’d all been drinking and making merry the whole time to boot, we just weren’t charging ourselves for the privilege. Once we got our bar in place the funds generated from our gatherings (art shows, music concerts, whiskey tastings, live sketch nights, dance nights) helped fund a place where artists could congregate, display and grow. Many people signed up as ‘patrons’ and their monthly dues go towards supporting the arts.”
To this day, Industry is still filled with antiques you can buy and art you can hoard. It’s almost a little overwhelming.
After you step up to the bar and order yourself a drink, there’s plenty of comfy places you can sit and contemplate all the art on the walls.
The atmosphere feels calm and quiet, until the event starts.
Industry hosts events almost every night it’s open, which is Wednesday to Sunday. There’s open mics, art shows and plenty of live shows from local bands.
On May 19, the band Ignius, formerly Intent, hosted a celebration in honor of it’s album “Crash Landing,” featuring fellow local bands Evil Sweet and Out of Pocket. It was one of their last performances under the name Intent.
First, Evil Sweet took to the stage, tuning up their instruments and doing mic checks. Once they officially started their show, the area in front of the stage became crowded with friends of the band, as well as music lovers. The funky tempo of the music inspired plenty of dancing.
During the show, the lead singer of Ignius, Raad Khan, brought Long Island Weekly outside for an interview with all five members: Maxwell Peters (drummer), Jon McGrath (guitarist), Brett Siegel (bassist), Khan and Kevin Gaughan (guitarist). The music from inside the club echoed outside from the back door as we were all surrounded by the business of Huntington, an exciting night for sure.
The show is a culmination of what happens when artists meet and decide to collaborate on a project together. And it certainly hopes that the members of the band share in their humor.
First, Khan and McGrath met through an open mic that McGrath’s girlfriend was attending.
“John’s girlfriend ended up being at the open mic and she said ‘hey, do you need a band? Because you sound pretty good and I have friends of mine that are in a band and their singer just left,’” Khan said. “[McGrath] and I met at a Guitar Center, jammed on the acoustic section and I met up with the rest of the guys, which aren’t in the band anymore. People quit and we started recruiting other people.”
Eventually Peters, who organizes Planet of Sound Promotions, a local promotion and booking collective, got involved. Khan said Peters had booked them a gig, but then their drummer had quit. Luckily, Peters was happy to offer his own drumming skills.
“I thought it would just be one show, but it turned into many,” Peters said. “And now we’re at our record release show.”
“And then on top of that, there was this Canadian guy,” McGrath said.
The “Canadian” guy was Gaughan, who is actually from Buffalo, NY. Gaughan was recruited for a jam after the members of the band enjoyed an acoustic show he was doing at one of Peter’s open mics.
And Siegel got involved after attending one of the band’s show on a date in East Setauket. He had driven all the way from Wantagh.
“He goes ‘I don’t know, I might play base,’” McGrath said. “Guy’s a phenomenal bassist. Shows up, completes the whole thing.”
While they each have different styles and tastes in music, their skills have aligned themselves with each other pretty well.
Gaughan has been playing guitar since he was a kid, escalating in his interest through folk and 60s music at age 16. Later, he began exploring grunge, metal, jazz, blues and whatever crossed his path.
Khan was born and raised in Bangladesh. His family often listened to Bengali folk music. “But I still remember this one time my friend showed me a Metallica song, and I was like ‘I have to learn guitar immediately,’” Khan said. “That’s what got me into playing guitar. And then I saw a Michael Jackson video, and that made me want to be a performer. That’s what got me into learning how to sing, how to play guitar. I joined a few bands back home, and once I came to America I started a band in college, in Pennsylvania. And I moved to Long Island about two years ago, started on the open mics, and met these guys.”
Siegel said he grew up listening to classic rock, and later became interested in psychedelic jam bands. “My life is basically live music and concerts,” Siegel said. “I never been in a band before this, and I’ve always just loved playing for fun and live music and experimenting.”
McGrath has been playing guitar for about four years.
“I was also raised by my grandmother who was like 100, so that’s all she listened to; Stevie Ray… Albert King, you know, the classics,” McGrath said. “So that’s what got me into it. So I was like I have to do something. I’m Italian. I where the chain. Can’t be a rapper. Might as well be a guitarist.”
Peters comes from a whole family of musicians. His dad is a drummer, his mother a singer and clarinetist. He’s the oldest of four fellow musicians as well. Initially he was inspired by bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and as he grew older Nirvana and Green Day.
“I’ve been in like 30 bands,” Peters said. “And I have to say this is the most fun one I’ve ever been in.”
Once it was show time, they all got up there and simply wowed the audience. It got crowded, and people were dancing, singing along and were having a great time.
