Located on Mary Lane, The 512 is a DIY music venue created by Auburn students in 2022. What started as a Halloween party at a townhouse has transformed into a community center and hub for live music in east Alabama.
During her sophomore year of college, Sally Little, senior in commercial voice, created The 512 with her roommate at the time, Ashley Spencer. The pair decided to host an open-invite, free Halloween show featuring their friends’ bands at their home. After the party’s success, the two continued to host more frequent shows.
“We realized there's all of this untapped personality and excitement for music right here in Auburn,” Little said. “There are people outside of the cookie-cutter, southern expectations in Auburn, which was completely mind blowing.”
Little admitted that she disliked Auburn her freshman year until she discovered the local music scene. Little is also in two bands, serving as lead vocals for Lunar Parque, as well as lead vocals and bass for Pink Noire. Her home now serves as a community hub for those who may feel unwelcome at Auburn’s more popular spaces.
“The DIY scene has been around for like ten years at least," Little said. "It just kind of ebbs and flows, and it's dependent on if there are people in the scene that are willing to give up their house for a night or for a weekend, and it's really hard as a college student to find the energy and get into the flow.”
Since Spencer’s graduation, Little has been responsible for The 512’s management, artist bookings, social media, marketing and bookkeeping. Her current roommates Gerrit Notch, senior in music technology and composition, and John Evans, senior in compositional technology, also work to support The 512, and they will be taking over Little’s role when she graduates in December.
“[The 512] shines through, because it's accessible. It's comfortable. It's a community, and it's a shared space for people to connect on like their shared interests,” Little said. “The fact that you even use the verbiage of ‘The 512 shining through’ is crazy, because I don't really think about it that way. It's just like, ‘Oh, it's my house.’”
Notch, who is in the band Carmine Sun, met Little during his freshman year in a guitar ensemble. Through his budding friendships with Little and Spencer, Notch eventually moved to The 512, which he described as a “haven” for local music and community.
“On face value, Auburn doesn't seem like it's gonna have anything really artistic. That was one of my biggest fears, that I was gonna be kind of just yearning for more and needing to leave Auburn frequently to kind of find expression and community,” Notch said. “I felt like I kind of just struck diamond almost and like somewhere that I wasn't even really thinking I would find anything like that.”
Notch has supported The 512 by bouncing, sound engineering and managing hospitality for guests and artists, as well as solely masterminding and running shows when Little is unable to work.
Auburn’s music scene has a strong southern influence and indie-rock style, while the DIY scene of other surrounding cities feature more hardcore and metal bands. Notch believes The 512 is provided with more creative freedom in selecting artists due to Auburn’s lack of venues, and he hopes to keep including groups of different genres like R&B and electronic more often to diversify The 512’s lineups.
Notch believes Auburn has begun to prioritize the music industry, pointing towards examples like AubFest, The Lucky Man Studio, The Sound Wall and local bars in Opelika like John Emerald Distilling Company and Rock 'N Roll Pinball. However, a large body of local musicians in Auburn are college students, who are constantly cycling out of the scene as they graduate.
“I think it's for the better, because the more comfortable you are, the less growth is happening,” Little said, regarding students cycling out of the DIY scene. “It's good to have new people coming in every year. It's good to have that group of people that is uncomfortable . . . because then they have a chance to grow.”
Currently, The 512 owners are in search of a third roommate to replace Little, hopefully prolonging the legacy of The 512 for years to come. Each group of graduating musicians entrusts the evolution and expansion of Auburn’s DIY community to a new crowd of fresh faces.
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Jennifer Santiago, sophomore double majoring in political science and history, currently serves as the Newsletter Editor for The Auburn Plainsman. Since joining The Plainsman in the fall of 2024, she has previously served as a news writer and the Lifestyle Editor.
