By Gary Sprengel

“The vision is really big.” You need to know that up front about bunkr.’s ambitions. You also need to know that it is a true partnership between two good friends who both wear all the hats. It was a thrill for me to sit down and interview these twentysomething entrepreneurs while sipping a complimentary and refreshing watermelon boxed water. 

bunkr.—don’t forget that period!—is located at 25 Halsey Street between Central Avenue and Bleeker Street and is the brainchild of Nick Keleshian (aka NKNX) and Joshua Garcia. You could make the case that Halsey Street has long been the beating heart of downtown Newark. The street has crackled with creativity and resilience for decades, and bunkr. fits right in for a new generation. This is a creative studio for DJs to practice, get lessons, make videos, or record a podcast. There is an auxiliary DJ station if you want to bring your own equipment. You can buy merchandise from the Nork! Project, Ground Rule Collective, and Garcia’s own Joga brand, which makes my favorite socks of all time; demand is high for bunkr. merch, which is coming soon! They also host private events and clothing pop-ups. Their monthly Sound the Alarm and Open Decks parties are open to the public. Film scouts have come knocking, too. Anything is possible inside these doors. 

Where does the bunkr. story start? Well, that depends how far you want to go back. More recently, things began percolating during that immensely troublesome pandemic we all just lived through. Keleshian and Garcia had previously learned how to use Pioneer CDJs, the standard for DJ equipment in most clubs and festivals. While the world was shut down, they got an opportunity to buy this equipment for a good price. The problem was that the only place they could play with all the fancy knobs and buttons was Keleshian’s parents’ basement. They could only play music so loud for so long into the night. They made do for a while, but when they got a call from their friend Nadus offering them a space in his new studio on Branford Place, they leapt at the opportunity. It was only at this point that the idea of a business came to mind. They reminded themselves that many DJs were in the same position they used to be in of not having access to this very expensive equipment. And just like that, in January of 2022, bunkr. was born. 

The name bunkr. came from that first space in the Branford Building. It was a 10×10 concrete windowless room with no heat, quite like a bunker. They made the first letter lowercase, dropped a vowel, and added a period to make the name cooler. It was an exciting time of growth and recognition, but they quickly realized they needed someplace bigger and more accessible to the public. They hosted their well-received Sound the Alarm series of parties outdoors at the Yard in Military Park throughout the summer of 2022 while looking for a more ideal brick-and-mortar location. After signing the lease on Halsey last November, the bunkr. boys spent two months totally renovating the space before officially opening in January.

Let’s delve further, though, into the origin stories of Keleshian, Garcia, their friendship, and their own Newark history. They both hail from West Orange and went to West Orange High School. Keleshian is just a year older than Garcia, but they did not know each other until 2014, when they met through their mutual friend Délé after Keleshian had graduated. Garcia actually spent the first couple years of his life in Newark’s Ivy Hill section. His parents met in Newark. His father still gets haircuts on Ferry Street. His first passion was designing menswear, so he went to the Fashion Institute of Technology, where room 602 was a defining experience in his young life. This was a room full of sewing machines where he would spend up to 16 hours a day with roughly twenty others, many of them foreign exchange students who spoke no English. His eyes were opened to new music and cultures, but credits his West Orange upbringing with allowing him to relate so easily to so many people different from him. 

Keleshian’s mother has worked in Newark his entire life, so he always had some exposure to it. In grammar school, he took part in a program called Write on Sports, which was life-changing for him. It was the first time he was able to be creative in an academic setting and made him originally aspire to a career in journalism. The program worked with Newark’s jazz station, WBGO. He later went to college at his first choice of Rutgers-Newark, where he got heavily involved with their campus radio station, WRNU. Keleshian and Garcia are not two outsiders; they have roots, and they consider themselves far more of Newark now than West Orange. 

WRNU became quite the focus not just for Keleshian, but Garcia and the rest of their friends. Keleshian, who started DJing when he was fifteen, convinced the station to invest in new DJ equipment, on which Garcia and other friends started honing their DJ skills. Garcia had a prior interest in DJing, but found the cost of equipment prohibitive. He began acting as Keleshian’s roadie, mastering the technical side of things long before deciding he might want to seriously consider a DJ career. 

All this time spent on the Rutgers campus gradually allowed Keleshian and Garcia to meet many people in the Newark community. This is when Burger Walla and its owner Kai Campbell entered the picture. He allowed Keleshian and Garcia to regularly DJ at the restaurant, which led to Campbell offering them the opportunity to DJ at the Yard when he bought it. But then the pandemic struck before they could move forward. In the summer of 2021, though, as the world crawled back toward normalcy, the “We Outside” party at the Yard with their friend Délé became one of the first local consistent public gatherings. Keleshian and Garcia are incredibly grateful to Campbell for all of his early support.

The bunkr. space itself is an incredible vibe. Let’s start with the signage. I’m a sign guy. For real, though. Long a fan of eye-catching signs and businesses that know how to promote themselves, it seemed perfect that I ended up working for a sign shop for four years. Keleshian and Garcia went simple and classy while covering all the bases. Black background, white and yellow lettering, facade and blade, yellow neon in the window. Signage is often the first impression you have of a business; bunkr.’s is professional and elevates the streetscape. 

Once you descend the front staircase and open the door, you are ushered into a laid back urban atmosphere largely designed by friends. Felix Pereyra made the furniture, shelving, and a fun bathroom mirror. He also made one of Garcia’s old sneakers into an art piece. @_getlostalot did all the graffiti, @showcasemontana gifted them with a painting from Barcelona, and Canga Studios designed three custom vintage posters. There is also a wall of framed photographs, lots of exposed brick, and the requisite giant disco ball. People who visit get their photo added to the guest book; I’m honored to be in there twice. Last but not least, Kermit the Frog (or is it bunkr. Bill?) serves as the mascot. 

The bunkr. story is so much more than DJs and music, though. It has quickly become one of the best places to meet new interesting people and have a great night in Newark. They come from both near and far to mingle and dance at the functions. Having been to most of them, there is never a bad vibe. It is a judgment-free zone, which says a lot to me about the example set by the owners. I only got to know Keleshian and Garcia less than eighteen months ago, and I have lost count of the genuinely good people I have met through them. During workdays (yes, this is a full-time job), all sorts of people come through, some of them learning that Newark is actually not so scary. More foot traffic in the city is always a good thing. bunkr. has done its share to both transform their block and change some perceptions of Brick City for the better. Keleshian and Garcia emphasized their love for their Halsey neighbors, who have been nothing but supportive. 

I channeled Barbara Walters at one point, asking the fellas what tree they would be. They played along with my idiotic question and actually gave me interesting answers. Garcia would be the Joshua tree, because of course he would, and I swear I did not even think of that possibility before asking. Keleshian identified with the palm, which warmed my heart, as I have had a palm tree fetish my entire life. Both trees are from warm climates and inspire thoughts of living one’s best life, which seems fitting for DJs. 

It is a very happy coincidence that bunkr. celebrated six months on Halsey Street with a giant event. They scored a prestigious spot on the inaugural North to Shore Festival’s lineup. They applied to the statewide arts festival at the very last minute, pitching a pre-party from 8pm-1am on Friday, June 23 featuring Caribbean music supplied by Max Glazer, Showcase and Garcia. The party continued on Saturday with a live-streamed pop-up featuring six DJs. Predicted thunderstorms mercifully never materialized on both nights, allowing partygoers to socialize out front when they needed a break from dancing. It was one of the hottest tickets in town. 

These young enterprising gentlemen are definitely enjoying the ride right now, but they are in no way resting on their laurels. They aim to be even more deeply rooted in Newark and NJ within a year, with the goal of a second larger location within five years. The words “world domination” were used. They would also love to expand their current space at some point. Working until they are exhausted every day, they aim to get a lot out of it. Newark is indeed for hustlers. 

Oh, one final thing. For the love of God, please don’t approach DJs with requests! Keleshian and Garcia promise that you will get your Bad Bunny. Allow the DJ to take you on a journey!

You can find bunkr. sets on YouTube, Mixcloud and SoundCloud. Follow @bunkr.bunkr on Instagram and TikTok. You can catch NKNX and Garcia DJing at Tops Diner and various other spots in North Jersey and Manhattan.

Gary Sprengel is a Harrison native who fled to Amish Country, PA to obtain his BA in communications from Elizabethtown College. He enjoys photography, craft beer, wandering urban landscapes, and country music. He wrote dating blogs under a pseudonym for about a year, and was once pulled onstage by Don Rickles in Atlantic City. He goes by the cryptic @garysprengel on Instagram and Twitter.

_{Featured photo by @asb.king}