“I’d love to make it available to people in the community, rather than just me moving in and, ‘you can’t come in!'” Allen says. She’s interested in hosting smaller events in the space for community groups, and says anyone interested can reach her through the Instagram account. “I was just like, ‘No.’ No further explanation, just ‘no.'”īut Allen doesn’t want to shut people out, and seems comfortable with the odd balance of making one’s home in a place that attracts some public interest.
“I was fixing something out front one time and someone walked by and they’re like ‘oh, are you still having those parties?'” Allen recalls. (Parhamovich did not respond to a request for comment for this story.) Allen is planning a much more subdued tenure at the space. Parhamovich used the building as a living space, recording studio, and occasional venue. The incident-in which police seized money Parhamovich was planning to use for a down payment on the property-prompted the state of Wyoming to reform its civil forfeiture laws. In 2018 Parhamovich bought it after enduring an arbitrary civil forfeiture ordeal in Wyoming. Phil Parhamovich, an electronic musician who records under the name Star Monster, began renting the space from Reske in 2017. Vig sold the building to developer Jon Reske (current owner of Robinia Courtyard), who considered a few different redevelopment ideas while renting the space to another studio operation, Clutch Sound. Filmmaker and musician Wendy Schneider released a full-length documentary about the studio, The Smart Studios Story, in 2016. Artists who recorded there over the years included Killdozer, Tad, Appliances-SFB, Rainer Maria, Die Kreuzen, Sparklehorse, Smashing Pumpkins, and Fall Out Boy. Smart and co-founders Butch Vig and Steve Marker are best known for the crucial role they played in capturing the punk and noise-rock of the ’80s and ’90s-and especially a few sessions with Nirvana-though its footprint goes far beyond that. Smart Studios initially opened in 1983 at another location on East Wash before moving to 1254 in 1987. “This will be the first time in 18 years that all my family’s in one time zone even,” Allen tells Tone Madison. During the pandemic, Allen’s job with a beauty products company went remote, so she began looking. After living in Chicago, Austin, Dallas, and then L.A., Allen wanted to move back to Wisconsin and be closer to her family. “But I’m so excited to love you, you beautiful, hideous creature.” Allen knew a bit about Smart’s history but didn’t initially set out to buy this particular building. “I’m sure this journey will be more time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting than I can imagine right now,” Allen wrote on the Instagram before plunging into her work on the building.
Allen also wants to honor the building’s important place in music history and Madison history. And since November, she’s documented the ongoing renovations on Instagram. Neka Allen, a native of Kenosha, bought the two-story brick building in September and has been gradually turning it into her private residence.
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