[music]
The rise and fall of indie venues in 2012 by Kate Whittle
People bitch all the time about how the music scene in their town used to be better. Clue: It never was. It just seemed like that while you were the carefree 20-something pounding 40s and chasing tail. Scenes ebb and flow, venues close and open, bands quit and new ones form. Nostalgia mostly serves to hold us back. So let us not be overly nostalgic for the Lab, even though it would be easy. Missoula’s preeminent punk house—a show venue, anarchist collective and living space—lasted about 10 years hosting local and out-oftown miscreants blasting loud and irreverent noises. A spacious, multi-bedroom home, by the end it was health-hazard grimy and the yard was strewn with broken bottles. Punk houses are wonderful things, as long as you don’t live there. It serves as both the show venue and the afterparty, all rolled into one filthy package. The Lab ended this summer when the property company kicked out the tenants to renovate it, and the last hurrah was a riotous Total Fest afterparty with several bands, including Brain Tumors, Guantanamo Bay-
watch, Tenement, Funeral and the Twilight, that went into the morning hours. While the Lab is kaput, two venues have really come into their own. First, Zoo City Apparel, which offers earlier, all-ages shows in an expansive space. The host of killer bands that graced Zoo City this year included Mike Watt and the Missingmen and Thee Oh Sees on back-toback nights. A rare week goes by that a touring band or Thursday night residency isn’t going down at the “Ole Beck” VFW on Main Street, home of the mighty 32-ounce dad can and some of the most welcoming (and forgiving) bar staff in town. The VFW hosted one show that stands out in particular, a one-off punk covers tribute in May starring the Total Combined Weight fellas doing Minor Threat’s discography. All kinds of riffraff showed up, lured by the timeless appeal of ’80s hardcore, and packed the VFW with dancing and sweaty bodies. They then partied into the wee hours afterward. If you had, say, just moved back to town a few days prior and were powerfully reminded how welcoming and friendly this town can be, it was all the better.
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Partying down at the Top Hat’s closing night by Jed Nussbaum
Cigarette Burlesque Girls perform at the Top Hat.
I don’t remember the first band I saw at the Top Hat. All I remember is that I was an 18-year-old newbie to Missoula, I danced my lily-white ass off, and I went back to my dorm room covered in sweat and smelling like somebody coughed up a pack of cigarettes all over me. I used the same early arrival, backdoor entry technique (sorry kids, but they’ve wised up to that trick since then) to see countless bands in the years before I reached legal drinking age. The changes the Garr family made to their father’s bar over the past few years have been dramatic. This year, the dance floor was again expanded and a cozy smoking patio added in the back alley. The bar filled up early for First Friday DIY Bazaars and basement galleries—including an exhibition of the family’s collection of Jay Rummel works. The focus, though, remained on the music, and some of the year’s best shows were at the Top Hat. Lynx spun a seductive web of exotic electronic noises for the Pisces party in March. Charlie Parr’s possessed, soul-baring moans made the entire audience hold their breath
in rapt attention one moment and stomp through the soles of their shoes at another. The Melvins’ September stop on their world-record tour was too short for the ticket price, but remained the heaviest, loudest show I’ve ever seen in that venue. The Garrs sold the Top Hat to an entrepreneur named Nick Checota this fall, who closed the bar in November for renovations. My band, Dodgy Mountain Men, was privileged to play the closing “Clear the Kegs” party, an event that stands out as one of the best nights of my life. Over 700 people came through the door to dance, drink and catch a final glimpse of the end of an era for the iconic bar. Tap lines ran dry early on but people stayed to soak up every last moment. The view from the stage—the sweat and smiles of the people that have defined the venue’s character over the years—was exhilarating. Tobacco-stained sentimentality and far-flung rumors about the proposed remodel aside, if that same spirit filters back through the doors in March to support live music, the heart and soul of the Top Hat will remain alive and well.
Healthy New Year! missoulanews.com • December 27 – January 3, 2013 [21]