Ok, I edited out any names and reference to other establishments from the newspaper article.
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Ok, I edited out any names and reference to other establishments from the newspaper article.
Can't remember the joint's name, but in Aliquippa, PA, which was a former steel town. This was in the later 80's when the despair ran high. It was an afterhours club. We started at another venue, and after closing we loaded up and headed to the afterhours place. Played 2:30--5:00AM. There was a big 2'x2' round hole right in the middle of the stage, and there was, of coarse, no running water in the place.
never been there, but we could start a whole separate thread on dive VFW, American Legion, "social club" bars. What is it about those places that they have to post a sign every 4 feet saying what you can't do............that everyone does anyway?
Chick Hall's Surf Club in Bladensburg, MD. It existed from 1955 until 2012 or something close. I actually loved the place because it was a throwback Honky Tonk music bar that was country for decades but it became a Blues venue and we played there in 2008 and 2009. They had two old Shure Vocalmaster PA columns that were attached to the wall behind the stage. The only food served were questionable nachos. Don't ask for a burger. Nuff said.
The crowd followed the bands and ranged from 30 to 65. Scary bathrooms and big potholes in the parking lot. The neighborhood campaigned to have it closed down and they won. It is now a laundromat.
The crowd followed the bands and ranged from 30 to 65. Scary bathrooms and big potholes in the parking lot. The neighborhood campaigned to have it closed down and they won. It is now a laundromat.
My dad (a jazz pianist) says back in the day, Mafia gigs were great. They treated you with respect, and paid in full with cash. So, yeah, a lot like biker gigs actually.
The Spider Trap in Clio, Michigan. It was the size of my living room and they paid us in beer. We played there often because it was fun and lively, but it was disgusting and smelly and dark.
I don’t remember the name of the place, but we opened for a “brazillian metal band” (they were white kids and they had two drummers) in Indianapolis at a place that was literally crawling with cockroaches. I remember peekng in a urinal that was just straight teeming with them. That was the grossest place we ever played.
Not a dive, but we played a gig in East Lansing the night that MSU won a bball championship and got teargassed outside the club.
I don’t remember the name of the place, but we opened for a “brazillian metal band” (they were white kids and they had two drummers) in Indianapolis at a place that was literally crawling with cockroaches. I remember peekng in a urinal that was just straight teeming with them. That was the grossest place we ever played.
Not a dive, but we played a gig in East Lansing the night that MSU won a bball championship and got teargassed outside the club.
Why are most of these posts about southern New England? If you can make it here you'll make it any where, just up 95 from New York, Noo Yawk. I started doing campground gigs just to get fresh air. (Cigarette smoke makes me ill.) Can't say enough about them. No stairs, well lit, rural, easy going audience, lots of fun, no pressure. Only drawback is the mosquito attack. Power supplies vary, but jook joints suffer from that, too. You never have to squint to find the nearest exit off an outdoor stage. Can't remember the names of some of the dives that took my dues. Some have been mentioned here. The Living Room, the place that eventually became Shooters in India Point Park, some other toilet that was off of Westminster Street in Providence. Tragically, we were in negotiations to play The Station in West Warwick a few weeks before the fire. Just to be honest, there are some quality venues in and around the area but this thread isn't about them.
Thankfully, I have never had to play any bars that were too disgusting or dangerous but there is one small club in West Seattle that is a place I hope to never play again. The room is long and narrow with the bar on the side and the "stage area" in the narrow end at the back. When the band sets up at the rear of the club, which is maybe 16 feed wide, they must leave room for the patrons to walk through the center of the "stage area" to access the restrooms which are inconveniently found in a hallway right behind the band and center stage. Yes, all night long people are walking right through the band to go to the restroom and a surprisingly large amount of these inebriated folks find it necessary and downright hilarious to sing into your mics and play air guitar to amuse their friends. Our four piece group would set up with drums and bass on one side and keys and guitar on the other, leaving about a two foot pathway between for the patrons to use. The band I'm in now doesn't play places like this but the memories still haunt me.
Man, I wish I could remember. It was somewhere in a pretty crappy part of downtown (nowhere near Broadway, but south of there many blocks, kind of industrial). Mid '90s? The lady turning tricks caught a few of us outside between bands and asked if anyone had change for a 20. yeah...right. Buncha broke musicians playing for exposure that night? She just wanted to see who had a 20.
You ever play The Muse? Bars on the windows, "sound engineer" on molly, tweakers everywhere, no light in the bathroom, wet floor, bad electricity (kept getting shocked). Inspectors shut it down because of the electrical issues.
Are you talking about my joke or the support column?
post of the year IMO
This bar in Columbus called "The Treehouse", back in 2006. There was a room that was literally built around this giant tree. It was certainly a dive, the kind of place where I don't know how the Fire Marshall never shut them down. When we walked in our drummer looked around and asked "where is the stage?" And the guitarist replied "I think it's the side of the room NOT occupied by the tree." Never got paid either, but I was about 24 at the time, all I really cared about was that there were girls there and that I got to drink for free.
- Jan 26, 2014
- 768
- 1,555
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist;DNA Amplification, GHS strings
Playing metal in Chicago, there's not a lot of places to play until you make a name for yourself anyway. Played a bunch of basement DIY shows. One the sewer line leaked onto the floor every time some one flushed the toilet. Backyard shows where the toilet was the alley behind the garage. I honestly don't know how these guys had metal bands playing until 1 in the morning. Must've paid off the neighbors.
Played a dive bar called the Mutiny. They actually billed themselves as a dive bar and they were right. The sound guy was a set it and leave it kind of guy. Then he would fall asleep, I think it was the heroin. The path to the bathrooms went right through the middle of the stage. You'd be in the middle of a song and some guy would come running through and you just hoped you didn't get puked on.
Played the Exit, which is definitely a dive bar but had a good time. we didn't go on until almost two in the morning. I was plowed, but somehow played well. There was a guy there that bought one of our pins and pierced his nipple.
Played a dive bar called the Mutiny. They actually billed themselves as a dive bar and they were right. The sound guy was a set it and leave it kind of guy. Then he would fall asleep, I think it was the heroin. The path to the bathrooms went right through the middle of the stage. You'd be in the middle of a song and some guy would come running through and you just hoped you didn't get puked on.
Played the Exit, which is definitely a dive bar but had a good time. we didn't go on until almost two in the morning. I was plowed, but somehow played well. There was a guy there that bought one of our pins and pierced his nipple.
- Jan 26, 2014
- 768
- 1,555
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist;DNA Amplification, GHS strings
Bodies wrapped in tin foil hanging from the ceiling, exit was a trippy place. Never played there when they were on Wells.
Wow Weeds, played there all the time mid nineties. Still see Sergio once in a while. He hooked us up with a couple acoustic art gallery shows.
Woah! Sergio! What a character, was a time I saw him all the time. My bass player for many years was Jewish, so we'd meet up after my family Xmas parties at Weeds - I mean like 5-6 or more years we did that.
I recall art gallery shows, too; hope those come back. I kinda knew Fred Armison from those (I was actually friends with his bassist)
Ever play/know Clem from Phyllis's Musical Inn? Down Town Scotty Brown from Avalon? Mike Yerke from Metro and China Club? Sue Miller from Lounge Ax (married Tweedy - her bidness partner was D'Arcy of SP's sis)? All characters, some cooler than others.
I recall art gallery shows, too; hope those come back. I kinda knew Fred Armison from those (I was actually friends with his bassist)
Ever play/know Clem from Phyllis's Musical Inn? Down Town Scotty Brown from Avalon? Mike Yerke from Metro and China Club? Sue Miller from Lounge Ax (married Tweedy - her bidness partner was D'Arcy of SP's sis)? All characters, some cooler than others.
I had avoided this thread until now for some reason. Odd to find Chicken Bone mentioned so quickly, as it's a short drive from home. When my kids were little, we used to take the family there for wings...during the day!
I'd heard it was seedy and somewhat dangerous but the few times I went at night it wasn't bad. Weird stage, though; like the familiar shoebox rectangle but rotated 90 degrees so the audience is looking at the smaller end.
As a semi local, I naturally pitched my band. Not only did they pay lousy, but they even wanted exclusivity. It was something like if you played there (for like $200/band), you couldn't play anywhere nearby within a month before or after. Wouldn't negotiate on that issue, the pay, or the food/drink amount.
Never did play there.
It went through a "Bar Rescue" remodel but closed a year or 2 afterwards, similar to another area semi-dive, Angry Ham's. Did play there a few times and had fun.
