[2] In the late 1990s, Oneida pioneered a culture of performance in nontraditional spaces throughout Brooklyn, NY, including warehouses, vacant theaters and storefronts, parking lots and garages, boats, and industrial facilities.
Their first album, A Place Called El Shaddai's, was released on New York's Turnbuckle Records in September of that year, accompanied by a nationwide tour.
Oneida continued touring relentlessly and began performing in industrial and non-traditional spaces in Brooklyn, including warehouses, lofts, and an iron foundry, giving birth over the next several years to a Brooklyn-based experimental rock scene that would find wider acclaim in the following decade.
[5] The label has released records by Dirty Faces, Parts & Labor, Oakley Hall, Home, Company, and an Oneida/Plastic Crimewave Sound split 12".
[6] Also in 2007, Oneida built and opened The Ocropolis, a recording studio/performance space on the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn occupying the basement level of the Monster Island building.
[1] Also in 2008, the band began a series of extended live improvisational performances, most notably staged at the All Tomorrow's Parties festivals in the UK and US, as well as at their own Brooklyn studio, the Ocropolis.
During these performances Oneida was joined by Mike Watt, members of Flaming Lips, Portishead, Boredoms, Yo La Tengo, Dead C, Godspeed You!