The Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center - South Saint Louis, MO

Saint Louis' finest, most long-lasting (17 years and counting), and arguably the best DIY venue The Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center is located in beautiful South Saint Louis on Lemp Ave, just off of Arsenal Street, blocks away from the Busch Brewery, houses a variety of musical ventures ranging from an orchestral program for inner city youth to an experimental venue at night. Performers come from a wealth of destinations covering the globe, including Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Milan, Sweden, Rome, and Beirut. Genres include but are not limited to: free improvisation, electro-acoustic, folk, hardcore, punk, post-punk, rock, math rock, noise, grind, and no-wave. Bands that frequent the Lemp are Fixed Orbit, Family Might, Midwestern monsters Native, Cloudmouth, The Reptilian, Canyons, Jordan Knecht,  Orion Pax, and At Yalta, just to name a few. A calendar of events can be found directly at the Center's website. The Lemp is run by a tight-knit group of friends on a board of directors that meet monthly to discuss the future of the Lemp, what should be changed, etc. It is headed by Mark Sarich, the brains behind the whole project, whom I will be (hopefully) interviewing for a later post. His vision is to provide a musical environment for the youth of today to access a more broad horizon on music, and get a less commercial taste of musical exploration. Mark and the rest of the Lemp board members prohibit alcohol, drugs, and reckless behavior. To assure that this creed is upheld, they are very choosy about who they allow to perform, keeping their standards intact. That being said, the importance of this venue to the Midwest, and the USA as a whole, is incredibly significant to the artists who perform there, the people who run the place, and the dedicated people who come to every show.

The Center, located at 3301 Lemp
St. Louis, MO 63118