Goathead Collective launches concert series on south side
IN ANTICIPATION OF THE FIRST
two concerts happening this weekend at their new space on the South Side of town, I had the opportunity to talk with Mika Lee and Jeff Englehart, formerly of Mercury House, about their new Goathead Collective. Formed alongside woodworker Lauren Genutis, the space at 1350 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur #6 primarily holds the respective workshops of the collective’s three members. That being said, they intend to continue offering art shows, community workshops and pop-up music events at fairly regular intervals — much like they did at their former northside location.
Located just across the road from Soldado’s, another recently launched southside music space, the Goathead Collective’s center of operations is divided into four quadrants: three for the individual members’ workshops and one for the aforementioned community events. Lee’s workshop is the center of activity for the sewing work she does for Centinela Traditional Arts in Chimayó. Genutis’ workshop holds a neatly-organized wood shop and fabrication studio. Englehart’s quadrant of the space holds his recently opened Goathead Bicycle Shop. Having worked at the Taos Cycling Shop for 9 years before its closing in 2023, Englehart is excited to be offering his repair services in his own space for the first time. Once or twice a month, they intend to open up the collective’s headquarters for concerts and art shows.
Richard Aufrichtig: In my mind, this is the next iteration of Mercury House. I’m curious if you could tell the story of why that space came to an end, and what the metamorphosis was that led to this new version with a new name, with you two emerging as the leaders.
Mika Lee: I mean, the circumstances of us having to leave El Prado was kind of out of our control. But, it felt okay, because we immediately found this space. So, the transition was pretty smooth. It was pretty much just me, Jeff and Lauren at the Mercury House at the time anyway. It was actually pretty exciting, because this space makes more sense for what we’re doing. It has a better flow.
Jeff Englehart: Yeah, I mean, this was a pretty seamless transition. Our property manager at the old space went out of his way to help us secure a new location, because he saw what we were doing and he liked it.
RA: How would you describe the musical networks that y’all are tapped into as a venue?
ML: Well, Jeff has a long history of doing Monotone.
JE: Yeah, my friend Bobby Joe, who moved to Lawrence, Kansas, with his wife about five years ago, we started Monotone Productions here in Taos probably 12 years ago. We’ve been doing it for a long time. When he left, I inherited Monotone and just kept it running. I’m in two bands here: Terra Damnata and Poor Man’s Blood. And, the bonus of being in two bands that tour fairly regularly is that it gives you connections to a broader network of venues and artists all over the country and all over the world. We’ve hosted a lot of bands in Taos over the years, and when you meet these people, it’s kind of like punk ethos. Y’know, it goes back to the very beginning of punk rock in United States history. Bands back then would be on pay phones calling to make sure that they could play a house show. Then, they’d network. That machine has been running ever since. Ever since I was a kid it’s been like that. So, if you’re part of the punk movement, you just become plugged into DIY venues all over the country. And, even squats in Europe — we help European artists come out here and help book their tours. It comes with being involved with a movement for a long enough time. You make friends, I wouldn’t even call them associates. You make really solid friendships, connections with people all over. And, then Mika also has experience with music promotion, so when we met our mutual interests and skills collided.
ML: I’ve been in New Mexico for five years, and I have more connections with folk and singer-songwriter musicians, so I do a lot of those shows. We also have a big connection with Ren’s Den, which is a small DIY venue in Albuquerque. They’re kind of our sister venue. They’ve been sending awesome bands and musicians, and on the 15th one of the owners of Ren’s Den, Angelo, is actually playing a noise set under the name Vacio.
JE: It’s great having connections to other DIY venues like that, and it’s also awesome that after COVID it seemed like there was this explosion or renaissance in Taos of underground music starting to pop up. All of a sudden we went from having no options to books shows to having a lot. Finally being able to secure our own space with our own vision was also huge. Whether it was Mercury House or this new Goathead space, it’s nice to know that we don’t have to grovel for stages anymore. It’s a huge relief. There’s no shortage of bands that want to come through. Every week, we probably get three or four requests.