The Brooklyn Rock Lottery Set to Kick Off This Weekend

On Dec. 6, 25 professional musicians will meet, draw names, form one-off bands, and write new songs -- all in a span of 12 hours. If it sounds like one of the coolest things you’ve ever heard of, that’s because it is; it’s part of the fifth annual Brooklyn Rock Lottery, and this year’s culminating concert will be held at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn.

The massive list of participating artists include Sean Yeaton of Parquet Courts, Brandon Curtis of Interpol, Rick Froberg of Drive Like Jehu, Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Olly Peacock of Gomez and Ross Clark of St. Lucia (just to name a few).

Things kick off at 10AM at Baby’s All Right where the musicians will form five groups through a lottery. Once formed, the bands will disperse to practice and write songs at various locations. They have 12 hours to create three to five songs (with the option of including one cover song) and come up with a band name.

Proceeds from the show (which is already sold-out) will benefit the Harmony Program, an organization that “provides after-school music education programs in underserved communities across New York City.”

The Brooklyn Rock Lottery is inspired from the original Rock Lottery in Denton, Texas, and has since expanded to Seattle as well. If the premise of the Brooklyn Rock Lottery intrigues you, get more information on the event here.