Who you are depends on where you club. Hey kids! Summer's here and
the time is right for dancing on the floor; KINGS AND QUEENS OF CLUBS
Publication title: Edmonton
Pages: C1/ FRONT
Publication date: May
22, 1998
Not counting bingo emporiums, the local lanes or pizza
joints, there are at least 200 lounges, clubs and pubs in Edmonton where you can wet your whistle or
get your groove on.
Deciding which one(s) to frequent can be the biggest
decision you'll make all summer.
There's the smoky Guinness-and-gab scene on Whyte Avenue . There's
a myriad of Top 40, rock, alternative and underground dance clubs from Fort Road to 34th Avenue , from
the big mall to downtown. There are more monstrous country bars than even Calgary has, for God's
sake.
So, what'll it be? How do you decide?
And what are club owners doing to get you in the door?
"Edmonton
has a very cutthroat, competitive club scene. If you want people to choose you,
you have to do things to set yourself apart," says 20-year-old Gerald
Shvartsman, the marketing manager at West Edmonton Mall's KAOS nightclub.
"If you don't offer something new, you die."
What the city's clubs offer depends.
Some, like downtown's Lush and Whyte Avenue 's Rebar, offer a sort of
hazy hipness, the implicit promise that if you go, people will peg you as edgy
and cool.
Others (your Barry T's, your Club Malibus, your Greenhouses)
promise cheap-ish drinks, Top 40 tunes and ample opportunity to hook up.
Shvartsman's club and the recently opened Nashville 's
Electric Roadhouse offer size and the illusion that, if you squint, you could
be in Toronto , or even New York .
"That's exactly what we're going for. We want to give
people here a Toronto /New York/ Europe feel, because they deserve it," Shvartsman
says.
"We want to give them something they can't get anywhere
else in Edmonton ."
Other club managers' mandates are a bit more specific. Wayne
Jones, general manager of The Rev and Lush, the live room and dance club
sharing the old Citadel Theatre space, says their focus has always been on two
things.
"Our niche has always been based around drink specials
and alternative music. People who come to dance at Lush or see bands at The Rev
are more in tune with music. They care about it a bit more."
Angie Roos, a Lush regular and University of Alberta
The club has three levels and a pair of dance floors
connected by a warren of stairs and hallways. Vintage furniture and fixtures
occupy every spare corner.
"There's totally different music, a totally different
crowd and a totally different vibe in each section. It's more diverse; if you
don't like what they're playing in one part, for sure you'll like what's
happening in the other," Roos says.
"And if you don't like that, you can go next door to
The Rev to catch a band, which adds another dimension to it."
The Rev has continued to book live acts even though Jones
estimates crowds have dropped 50 per cent over the past couple of years.
"It's the cyclical nature of how the business works.
Kids are more into dance music now, they're more into electronica," he
says.
"But we still do live. You have to do live. It brings
credibility to the club. And it'll turn around. It's bottomed out and is even
coming back a bit."
Fans of the Sidetrack Cafe, Edmonton 's live music mainstay, would argue
that it never left their favourite haunt. The venerable club on the downtown's
edge offers bands seven nights a week.
Deb Anders, a Friday night regular at the Sidetrack for the
past year, says she was hooked when she caught Saskatoon 's Wide Mouth Mason at the club last
April.
"To see a band like that in an intimate venue like that
was amazing," says Anders, a 38-year-old bank employee.
"The music is usually pretty darn good. The blues
stuff, the rock'n'roll, it's a great variety. I'm not at all into the dance
clubs so this has become the place."
Some places -- Edmonton 's
martini bars and pubs -- can't always afford live music or huge lights and
sound systems as a draw. They have to rely on atmosphere, character and loyal
patrons like Kevin Grywul to pack their joints.
Grywul and a group of five or six friends have made Mickey
Finn's Tap House on Whyte Avenue
their regular haunt for years.
"We started going when it wasn't popular yet, got to
know the staff and they treated us right so we kept going. We didn't go because
it was trendy. It was more of a clubhouse to us than a bar," said the
29-year-old.
Grywul says his group are more talkers than dancers, which
fits Mickey Finn's laid-back, draft-at-the-ready, stools-and-tables atmosphere
perfectly.
"We're not into country. We tried KAOS but we never
really liked it there. And we're almost 30 so we're a bit old for Club Malibu.
Mickey Finn's just became the place. We've had some great times there."
He recalls one night when one of the pub's regulars bet that
he could pour two ashtrays into his beer and slam the whole mix.
"He said he needed money to make his rent. He had to
bolt to the bathroom, but he did it. He won the bet."
Now that's character.
KINGS AND QUEENS OF CLUBS
The Journal asked some well-known, twenty-something
Edmontonians which local clubs make them hop. Here's what they had to say:
* Christian Mena, Rent actor and Maracujah frontman -- "If
I want to go see a band, I usually go to The Rev. Otherwise, it's Devlin's or
the Black Dog or The Billiard Club. They're all cool places I feel comfortable
at."
* Zach Pocklington, Edmonton Drillers president -- "Whenever
I do go out, I go to the southside Club Malibu because I know the guy who owns
it. It's small and they play good music. But you know what the city needs? It
needs a big nightclub right downtown. If there was one, I'd live there."
* Cheri Lansdown, University of Alberta female athlete of the year, member
of the Pandas, four-time CIAU volleyball champs -- "We usually have a
Friday night/Saturday night routine -- RATT, The Billiard Club and then
Squires. The Billiard Club's probably my favourite. It's not a real young crowd
but it's still a university crowd.
* Nathaniel Arcand, North of 60 actor, supporting role in
upcoming Pierce Brosnan movie Grey Owl -- "The Black Dog's a good place to
sit and have a pint, but my wife and I always end up at the Sidetrack. They
have the best music in town, it's a comfortable atmosphere, the people are
great. It caters to all sorts of bands and all sorts of people."
* Kim Carroll, host of A Channel's arts program Wired --
"For best live music, I'd have to say New City Likwid Lounge. They get
some really cool, eclectic bands. The place where I go when I want to dance is Suite 69
THE SUMMER MENU
Snap on those dancing shoes and suck back that brewski, Club
Ohler is open for business. During the next four months, The Journal's Shawn
Ohler will review a mix of clubs and pubs. Look for the reviews in Friday's
What's On section. Here's a look at the clubs Ohler plans to visit, starting
with the KAOS review today:
Rebar
Barry T's
109 Discotheque
Red's
Thunderdome
Cowboys
Club Malibu
(University)
The Roost
Sidetrack Cafe
Cook County
Saloon
Black Dog
Strathcona Hotel
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