Bay Area Music Venues Decrescendo

By Allison Pheteplace

I remember my first visit to San Francisco. Being from Louisville, Kentucky, where the only thing slower than the nightlife was the local dialect, what made San Francisco so fascinating was the immeasurable amount of culture I found myself immersed in. I would argue this is what draws most people to the city. Once I procured a steady source of income, San Francisco’s culture was at my disposal. In one night I could take in a good dinner, drinks, and a local concert.

However, the recent economic downturn and the loss of said income has gotten me wrapped up in my own financial woes—so wrapped up, in fact, that I somehow missed the closure of one of my favorite local music venues. Something, I fear, that too many of us who loved it missed.

Chosen by Playboy as one of the Ten Best Venues in America, 12 Galaxies was a venue large enough for touring bands like Deerhoof or Ryan Adams, and yet small enough to welcome a local band like mine, The Holy Kiss. After five years of business on Mission Street in San Francisco, 12 Galaxies was facing a less-reliable audience turnout, and a rent hike of 150 percent.

“At the end it really felt like all the forces in the world were poised to squeeze us out of there,” said Robert Levy, co-owner of the venue. “I could really feel the stranglehold of the economy hurting our shows. With gas at $4 a gallon over the summer, I think people's excess income for going out to see shows took a big hit.”

But Levy, believing in the local music scene, kept his doors open to smaller, local bands as well the bigger touring acts.

“Our concentration was on trying to showcase bands on the rise, and hopefully helping them grow until they were selling out the space,” he said. “But when you are trying to take risks as a venue, and the consumer's budget is forcing them to not take risks, your venue will suffer.”

The closure of 12 Galaxies led me to wonder about the health of other music venues in the Bay Area. Was this a solitary event, or was the economy hitting other venues as well?

Tony B., booker for The Hemlock—a venue/bar located on Polk Street— agrees that the economy is having an impact.

“Rising gas prices make it prohibitively expensive for up-and-coming bands to go on tour, bands that used to be able to scrape by on the margin,” he explained. “As a result of higher gas prices, booking agents wind up asking for higher financial guarantees for their artists, and then we’re in the position of charging more money for our shows, or having to decide that the risk isn’t worth it. And then the audience has to decide if the higher ticket price is worth it. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.”

They are able to survive, however, partly because of the unique layout of the space. Upon entering the establishment, you find yourself in the bar. Wander to the back area, and you’ll see an entrance to the music room.

“The bar and the live music room have a separate but symbiotic relationship,” he explains. “Our venue is different from most others in that it’s free to get into the bar itself and we only charge money if you want to be in the music room to see the show. That our music room is of an intimate size enables us to take chances on acts that are not yet commercially viable at larger venues. Sometimes we have a hit show, sometimes we have a dud show, and sometimes it’s in the middle. But over the course of a week, month, year, it seems to balance out.”

And then there is the story of The Uptown—a one-of-a-kind venue located on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. After going out of business, the 300-capacity venue was bought and renovated by Larry Trujillo, who is also the owner of The Blank Club in San Jose and founder of Zero Magazine.

“All businesses across the board have been affected by the economy,” Trujillo said. “During periods such as this, we vary our schedule and genres, as to not milk any one particular group excessively. We also try to drop our door cover as low as we can for respective events, and always do drink specials.”

Café Du Nord, located on Market Street in San Francisco, is also getting by despite the economy.

“No one is completely unaffected,” said Terra Renau, booker for the club, “and of course we have to raise prices once in a while to offset the rising costs of living in the city. But overall, we have managed to keep pricing reasonable for shows, offer the bulk of the money to the bands from the ticket sales and do a solid business at the bar.”

Conan Neutron, former singer of the local band Replicator, retired music writer for publications such as the SF Bay Guardian and Performer Magazine, and show promoter who organized events such as Bands Against Bush and the Noiserock Picnics, said one idea that is working for some venues is offering free shows.

“As an example,” he said, “Spaceland in L.A. has monthly residencies for fairly popular bands where the shows are free, but people come out in droves and the bar makes money. Why? For some reason, the mindset of paying 6 to 8 dollars at the door is an upfront cost, while the amount spent drinking, and such, is a back-end cost. What ends up happening is the bands play to a bigger audience and get paid out of the bar. The venue makes bank at the bar, the customer saw a ‘free show,’ and everybody wins.”

So even though many of these venues are feeling the effects of economy, we shouldn’t panic thinking the music culture we so love in the Bay Area is dying out, because as Terra Renau from Café Du Nord put it, “people still need inspiration, even in economically challenging times.”