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Last week, Red River had some new rental property open up when Spiro’s voluntarily closed its doors, and now word is out that Room 710 will likely be vacating its home across the street by the end of summer. In this week’s Chronicle, Austin Powell reports that unless some last minute deals are struck by Room 710 owner Asher Garber, then the club will be forced to declare bankruptcy and shut down by August 2. What’s most interesting about the write up on nine year old club’s difficulties, however, is where Garber seems to put a lot of the blame. While Garber acknowledges his own mistakes he’s made along the way, much of his going-out-of-business ire is directed toward the city and his Red River competitors. Not only does he say that Room 710 never recovered from the 2005 smoking ban, but he also, according to Powell, cited the apparent “battle” between Emo’s and Transmission Entertainment as squeezing out the smaller clubs from the scene.
So is the competition for booking hurting the other clubs in town? There’s no doubt that’s it’s more difficult for clubs that want to remain independent in their booking and not go through Transmission or C3 for national acts to compete, as evidenced by this week’s C3 booked shows for Little Joy and Clues at the new venue, the Independent (heh!). While we hardly think that competition is really one of the principle reasons for Room 710’s impending closure, there is something to be said for the Chronicle’s raising the question of how the booking wars are impacting the local scene. It seems to have had little trickle down to ticket prices for the fans, and the quality of touring acts passing through town and events remains exceedingly high, but it’s difficult to judge, especially in the midst of a general recession, how much it might be impacting the bars on their balance sheets. We imagine there will be more shakeups like this in the years to come as the music scene adjusts, but just hope it doesn’t become a corporate clusterfuck for booking.
It’s called capitalism people! Or have we already forgotten what that is? Get over it
“While we hardly think that competition is really one of the principle reasons for Room 710’s impending closure”
Why not?
I just took it for granted that there was a war between the two booking companies. It’s a Cain and Abel situation. A real interesting story there that deserves more press than it gets.
@DM There are several reasons why it seems to us unlikely that Room 710’s closing is due primarily to being forced out by the booking competition between C3 and Transmission. First of all, that “battle” is largely being manifested within the indie rock scene between Emo’s and Mohawk, which is generally much different than the type of music Room 710 has traditionally hosted. While Red 7 (a Transmission venue) caters to harder bands and may have had an impact, it’s still difficult to see that kind of competition as drawing so heavily from 710’s business that it would force closure - hurt, perhaps, but probably not one of the principle reasons.
Garber tells the Chronicle in the linked article above that the club lost nearly half its business when the Smoking Ordinance went into effect. That seems like a reasonable complaint, but we have to wonder why he didn’t make accommodations to bring those patrons back when he realized the new laws impacted his business so heavily. That’s a leveled playing field for all clubs in town that most adjusted to by providing outside smoking areas for their customers.
While the booking competition no doubt hurt 710 in some capacity, it hardly seems like the definitive reason behind its bankruptcy. That being said, however, as Ajay points out, there is an obvious ongoing battle for booking on Red River. Our larger question, echoing Austin Powell’s point by bringing it to the fore with 710’s closure, is whether or not it is bad for our music scene.
I find it hard to believe that the competition between C3 and Transmission is the root cause for Room 710’s troubles. It’s obvious that Red 7 has siphoned some of Room 710’s bookings (and thus patrons and money), but if Room 710 was running so lean that losing a couple of shows a month to Red 7 would crush them… well, that’s a flaw in the business plan for the business.
It would appear to me that Room 710 chose to stick with an aesthetic and scene even when that aesthetic and scene are shrinking (in Austin). I’ve got no issues with a club wanting to be the club for X scene, but if that scene begins to dry up and you don’t adapt.. well, you can lose what you love because it goes out of business or you can lose what you love because you have to fundamentally change it (partially or completely).
There probably was a period when a club booking the music that 710 books would be wildly successful. Even until a few years ago, the Back Room was in business and booking a relatively healthy metal scene with touring metal acts coming through. Unfortunately, the musical currents have shifted and the core demographic of show attendance isn’t as interested in the metal/heavy rock that 710 books vs the stuff going on at Emo’s, Beerland, and Mohawk. If you’re not getting new younger fans and your older fans are beginning to stay away because they’re getting older, have real jobs, the smoking ban, etc — you’re going to have to make a hard decision about the direction of your booking. Who am I to say that Room 710 would have been better served trying to book some indie rock 3 or 4 nights a week to pull in a bigger crowd? It wouldn’t have been Room 710 if the music was anything less than loud, abrasive, and rock.
I didn’t go to Room 710 all that often, but I always made an effort to see the shows there of bands that I really liked.. because it was refreshing to go somewhere slightly different on Red River, even if it meant stinking like an ash tray and getting emphysema. The few times I was fortunate to play there, I had a blast (even if a cockroach ran up my foot and leg the first time I stepped on the stage) and the folks who worked there were always nice.
In the end, I don’t think this is C3 and Transmission’s fault. 9 or so years is a great run for a small club. It happens.
lame, lame, lame on 710’s part. blaming other clubs and businesses for their own poor bookings and the like? i find it HARD to believe emos, c3, transmission or any of these bigger companies booking bigger touring acts have in anyway effected 710. it books local acts and big places are going after touring acts. there is no competition there and he’s looking to pass the buck. what a baby. that club has been lame every since the original owner left who also booked it (far better than it’s been booked as of late). whateeevs.
Serves them right! I have been a huge fan of the smoking ban and Room 710 deliberately ignores it! I think they even SELL cigarettes there! Hopefull the next club will be lung-friendly.
@mark well said
It’ll be interesting to see who moves in there and what happens with the space. There’s no doubt that it’s prime real estate and someone is going to run a successful bar in that spot. There’s a zero percent chance of someone just tearing down 710 to build the worlds smallest condo building (next to the best alley for drug deals in Austin, no less).
My hope is that the rent isn’t so astronomically high that another music venue can move in. It’s a great layout for a venue where you don’t HAVE to charge cover to see bands, because of the front room and the horseshoe shape. A little sound dampening material to make it not such a loud cinderblock room and a fresh coat of paint and it could be successful in no time.
Here’s my offer to whomever moves in next: I’ll help you book it. You don’t need C3 or Transmission to get hungry local bands into your club. You just need to start shows at a reasonable hour on week nights, you need to know when to just have a jukebox playing with no bands (or close the doors for a night or two early in the week), and be reliable to the bands in terms of replying to emails. It isn’t rocket science.
I never played 710 but I’d like to thank them. One night we had a gig at Beerland and had arrived to unload our gear. Parking was tight so we parked illegally and unloaded our gear quickly on to Beerland’s doorstep (a LOT of equipment). Our drummer set off with the van to find a parking space. The Beerland door guy (who said they would be there) was, of course, not on time or not answering our repeated knocks. We debated what to do. Loading the equipment and unloading again later looked like the only option. The door guy at 710 saw our plight and signaled us over. He said we could store our gear inside their club until the Beerland door guy arrived. Wow! We had a ton of stuff and it took up a lot of space in Room 710 but they didn’t complain a bit. So, thanks guys! Sorry to hear you’re going out of business.