Five days before Thanksgiving, the adored Brooklyn indie rock venue Death By Audio shut its doors after seven years. When DBA's founders announced its demise in September, they did not explain why they were suddenly closing, and they declined comment when we stated what everyone knew to be true: that they were being pushed out to make room for Vice's new offices. But in a new interview, DBA founder Edan Wilbur explains exactly what happens when Vice consumes your building.

The interview is with NYMag's local blog Bedford + Bowery, and it answers some of the questions we've long had about the mechanisms and process of Vice taking over 75,000 feet of space in Williamsburg.

For instance, here is Wilbur on the only time he spoke with Vice directly:

The only time Vice was in touch with us was that day when we had the meeting in September, and we agreed to leave at the end of November. No problem. We didn't want to make waves because we felt that if we gave any shit to Vice they would just squash us like a bug.

But they were like, "What's it going to take to get you out today?" And I was like, look, I've got two months of shows booked and these personal relationships mean a lot to me, and I want to make sure all the shows happen.

According to Wilbur, he was in contact almost exclusively with the building's landlords, and matters pertaining to Death By Audio were complicated by the venue's management not having a copy of the original lease.

As we reported, Vice wasn't exactly an active participant in the day-to-day negotiations regarding DBA and its neighbors vacating their spaces. But, according to Wilbur, Vice—or representatives of the company, at least—figured out a way to come off as assholes anyway.

We [almost] had the censorship of [our art show.] Some rich dick who was another contractor came over and just started yelling at us and threatening to call the cops and the Department of Buildings on us right there. Our art show had some crazy art, and I'm sure parts of it weren't up to code.

But this guy threatened to have us shut down. And we were just like, "Who the fuck is this guy?" Turns out he was just friends with the guys at Vice and he decided to come in and swing his dick around or something. But whatever, we made it through to the end and I'm happy about it.

Wilbur then relays an experience that is familiar to us: ground-level Vice employees feeling sheepish about their company's expansion while its executives pretend as if it's not happening.

When it came time for someone to take the blame, all these lower-rung people at Vice decided to contact me and tell me how sorry they were that somebody in their company was doing this. And I was like, who's going to take the blame? Because no one wanted to take the blame. And then it got to the point where that guy came in and started harassing us [about the art show] and he was like, "Well how can you blame Shane [Smith]? It wasn't his decision."

And I was just like now, wait, the head of Vice is just going to pass the buck? Like you can't do that, you really can't do that.

Wilbur and interviewer Nicole Disser also touch on the construction that took place above DBA and an adjacent circus school while they were still occupying those spaces. Wilbur talks about incessant hammering and a general lack of respect by the construction crews in DBA's final weeks. This aligns with what a member of the circus school told us it was going through: namely that construction dropped soot and various debris into their space during scheduled classes.

This past weekend Vice celebrated its 20th birthday with a concert that featured artists like Jarvis Cocker, Stephen Malkmus and Lil Wayne. Jonah Hill also covered Drake's "Marvin's Room," which features a prominent line that goes "I'll start hating only if you make me."