About The Bunker has 17 rehearsal rooms, recording studio, & offers music industry training, band management, a music magazine, & a record label

The original Bunker was born as a youth project in 1982 but moved and finally settled in it's current home in 1983. Housed in the same building which once hosted gigs by The Clash and Billy Bragg, 29 Stockton Rd has a history synonymous with the creation of music in the North East.

It was from The Bunker that Leatherface led their earth shattering assault on the alternative charts in the late 80s / early 90s, unwittingly sealing their fate as the grand masters of the Sunderland music scene, with their DIY approach to music making and an uncompromising attitude influencing a city full of kids who had been used to seeing and hearing records and bands who had no semblance to their own living circumstances.

The late 90's almost saw the end of The Bunker, after local government officials decided that the only place in the city that had constantly supported grass-roots music and art was not worth funding any longer.

Enter two lads who’d misspent their youth playing in countless bands within The Bunker walls, it was re-opened in 2000. Within a year or so the local scene was again flourishing, and with the emergence of bands like The Futureheads and The Golden Virgins, The Bunker Magazine began in an effort to support and promote what was obviously the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the musical life of the city.

The Bunker is ran by Monumental Music Community Interest Company. Our objectives are as follows:

a) To deliver training, development and career guidance on a range of music related topics, regardless of background.

b) To engage hard to reach learners, who may otherwise not consider education/training as a route to employment.

c) To provide advice, support and information to help people use music for a postive outcome or follow music careers, who would otherwise not have the confidence or motivation to follow the more conventional routes.

d) To run music related projects for people from minority groups or problematic backgrounds, creating learning opportunities and a path into further education or employment.

e) To provide free rehearsal and recording facilities for those people from Sunderland who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

f) To create a medium that will recognise talent at grass routes level within the City of Sunderland, and provide next step consultancy for anyone displaying talent but would not know what to do next.

g) To raise awareness and tackle cultural barriers through interactive music projects.

h) To explore and use the healing properties of music to help the recuperation or treatment of people suffing from illness or disability.

i) To provide music training and projects merely for the fun of the participation which, in turn, encourages people to investigate music further.

More Information

official web site