Josh J. Holinaty
Writers recollect the city’s most-missed venues
With the sudden departure of The Warehouse and The Underground there’s now an undeniable gap in Calgary’s club scene. After almost 26 years in business and more than a decade serving the live music needs of metalheads punks goths indie-rockers and dance fans of all strains there’s hardly a music fan in the city who doesn’t have at least one fond memory of the two clubs.
This isn’t the first time Calgary has lost a cherished venue though and it won’t be the last. Some pass the torch to new venues; a few lucky ones like the Republik and (soon enough) the King Eddy have managed to be reborn. But from blues mecca Kaos to the multitude of all-ages venues that have struggled to give the kids a place to rock out many have left permanent holes in the city’s cultural landscape. There are far too many to list but Fast Forward Weekly pays tribute to some favourites amongst the fallen. Welcome to the Well of Lost Venues.
Carpenters’ Union Hall
Calgary has seen far more than its fair share of all-ages venues come and go over the years but few seemed like more of a bummer than the loss of the previously stable Carpenters’ Union Hall. Conveniently located across the street from Kensington coffee shop The Roasterie (another popular hangout) the gymnasium-style community centre hosted countless musical highlights during its early aughts heyday ranging in heaviness from the metal-core breakdowns of Nikola Tesla and its ilk to an MTV Unplugged -inspired acoustic show of fellow Calgarians the Buzzing Bees complete with candles. Other standouts included the then-final show of the recently reunited Corta Vita (with the requisite opening banger from Edmonton faves The Wolfnote) epic sets from oddball rapper NerdX and classic rock wunderkinds The Dirty Birds plus life-changing appearances from Halifax math-rockers North of America and Portland’s Jason Anderson (a.k.a. the Wolf Colonel) singing Springsteen covers in the parking lot.
JESSE LOCKE
The National Hotel
It was a pair of rooms separated by glass swinging doors that waitresses from the bar side wouldn’t spill draft onto their terry-cloth-coated trays. Upstairs two stories of turn-of-the-century hotel rooms rumoured to endure a murder a year provided sweet spaces for making out and smoking up between sets. But better days and yellowed paint be damned no polished-up space could have soaked up Calgary’s nascent punk ethic just as no tiled dance floor could match the ancient plaid carpet for capturing hundreds of gigs of spilled beer.
By the early ’80s the National Hotel was frequented by a colourful crowd repulsed by the cover band scene prostituted at Calgary’s shinier taverns. For most of the decade the walls were layered with original unprofessional-looking band posters perfect for bouncing back sounds from favourites like Calgary’s R & B Keepers Vancouver’s Animal Slaves and the soon-to-be eastbound for glory The Now Feeling whose members later charted as Lost and Profound. Wednesday night house band Cat Ranch released its “Song for Calgary” to give the horrific ’88 Olympic song an underground prowl for its money.
The Nash was great for its unpredictability its intense concentration of fake IDs and for $2.25 Scotch and Cokes served in classic old ALCB bar glasses. Oh yeah and for giving every musician who wanted to try their hand in a band a second third and fourth chance to shine or suck.
MARY-LYNN WARDLE
The Night Gallery
Throughout the second half of the ’90s I think I walked up the Night Gallery stairs an average two or three nights per week. And it wasn’t just for the stellar local and international touring bands that hit the Gallery’s modest stage or the friendly bartenders who were more than happy to pour a Gintastic (two maybe three shots of gin plus pretty much every juice behind the bar) although the Night Gallery was certainly tops for that. For many a music fan of that era the Night Gallery felt like home. The decor from the vintage B-movie posters to the tapestries of the Kennedy brothers to the giant Ten Foot Henry by the stage was at once comforting a little creepy and mesmerizing.
But of course it was ultimately about the music. Howe Gelb Tricky Woo Les Savy Fav Alejandro Escovedo Superchunk — they all put on legendary shows there. And in a strange way they always seemed at home on the Night Gallery stage as much as we did sitting in the audience.
ELIZABETH CHORNEY-BOOTH
The Pepperpot Club
The first time I ever went to a bar to see live music was at The Pepperpot. Barely 18 years old and totally intimidated I watched The Choads from the back of the room but by the time Huevos Rancheros took the stage I’d found the guts to move up to the middle.
It proved to be my farewell to the club as well — it closed not long after that show — and since then my memories of the checkered floors the expansive dance floor and sense of community that seemed inherent in the place have only grown fonder. When my friends talk about the place they’re more complimentary to the bands that played there than to the venue itself. According to them the beer was borderline the place was small and the sound system left something to be desired. In my mind however it was a revelation. It introduced me to something I never knew existed it changed the way I looked at live music and began my lifelong love affair with the Calgary scene. I may have idealized The Pepperpot but I guess that’s because you never forget your first.
JASON LEWIS
The Westward Club
Nothing says you’re in for a good time like entering at the rear. Accessed via the parking lot of the Westward Inn now Raw Bar in the Hotel Arts The Westward Club was once a staple venue in the centrefold that was Calgary’s downtown music scene during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Upon entering the dimly lit space you would be ushered past the wary eye of promoter Wes Hegg ensconced on a barstool in his shaker-knit du jour and pass into the sprawling two-tier orange-hued oasis within. Plenty of seats to choose from a respectable amount of room to mosh on the “dance floor” and a low-slung ceiling suspended over a spottily illuminated thigh-high stage were more than we needed to ignite some of the hottest gigs this town has ever hosted. Those lucky enough to have attended legendary performances by the likes of Nirvana Pegboy The Ex and Gwar are still bragging about it.
CHRISTINE LEONARD
