Tacoma Venues: The Viaduct

A few days late, but that's okay. As previously mentioned, I headed out to The Viaduct to catch local boys Colonies' CD release show last Friday. If you don't know, The Viaduct is a new venue in Tacoma, in fact the only exclusively all-ages, non-church-affiliated venue in Tacoma. In a lot of ways it's a niche that really needed filling. There are a lot of kids in bands in the greater Tacoma area, but not much of a scene, largely because they are relegated to the early shows at bar-based venues (notably Hell's Kitchen and Jazzbones) and Club Impact. I really hope that The Viaduct is a success, and that it both helps bands out by giving them a place to play, and shows other promoters/proprietors/whatever that there really is a market for something besides heavy metal and folk in Tacoma.

Unfortunately there are a few roadblocks up in the way of The Viaduct's success.

1) Location. Nobody is going to stumble across this place and come inside to see the show. Nobody is going to see it as they walk down the street and remember to look it up online (something I've done with more than one venue over the years). None of this will happen because nobody is going to walk past the place, period. It's buried up a gravel driveway on the fringes of industrial Tacoma. Foot traffic is... minimal up Center street to begin with, but the club isn't even on the corner (nor is there any sign to indicate its presence).

2) Exterior. Even if you do make it up the hill, the place is... uninviting. It looks like an old abandoned house, with boarded up windows and peeling paint.

3) Interior. Guess what? On the inside it looks like... an old abandoned house. Or even more so, like an unfinished basement. Its size is genuinely the only thing that makes it feel like a better venue than my band's basement practice space.

The fact is, all these weaknesses are cosmetic. With enough promotion and enough bands coming through I think this place really can be a success. Since no one will go there by accident, work extra hard to make sure people come there on purpose. Make sure every show gives every person—audience and band member alike—a reason to come back, and bring friends.

The fact is, the Colonies show was great. They had a solid group of bands and they all sounded good. I'm told that the band brought in a borrowed PA, it having been suggested to them that the Viaduct's system was not top-notch, so I'll reserve final judgement on sound quality. Regardless, they were able to put on a good show. Now they just need to keep getting good bands and promote the hell out of everything. That, and ventilate a little more. Or at least set up a stand selling bottled water or something.

Upcoming: Colonies @ The Viaduct 8/24

Alright, down to the nitty and the gritty...

If you asked Colonies, they'd probably say they were a Seattle band. Which is fair. They live in Seattle, they work in Seattle, they play in Seattle. But in my mind, they will always be inextricably linked to Tacoma. I went to Curtis High School with guitarist Christian Powers in University Place, then a couple years later he popped up again at PLU in lovely Parkland. So to me he'll always be a Tacoma boy, and his bands Tacoma bands.

I've seen Colonies twice so far, once at Jazzbones, once at Hell's Kitchen. The band (in my opinion) was better at the HK show, but lost out a bit due to certain qualities of the technical staff which will be detailed when I get around to reviewing venues.

I always find it difficult to pin down any band (especially my own) to a particular genre, but Colonies' MySpace claims that they are Indie / Experimental Pop, and I see no reason to argue with that. There's a solid balance of music vs. noise that powers the group, and all the members are quite good at what they do.

In addition to rocking a few socks in the live setting, Colonies has spent much of the last year working on their debut album, Sleep Patterns, and it's time for their efforts to pay off. They've got a CD release show this Friday, August 24th, 6:00 PM at The Viaduct. Other bands on the bill are Piko Panda, Trans Union, Don't Tell Sophie (the only one of these I've seen... they'd like to be Modest Mouse, which could be either good or bad, according to taste) and Trip The Light Fantastic (Christian tells me good things, though I unfortunately missed them at the last show). Cost is $6.

Honestly, I'm as excited to see the venue as I am to see the show. I've only heard a little about The Viaduct, but in principle it's great. As their page states: "The folks that brought you The Junkyard /The Frameshop and The Hall have teamed up to start Tacoma's newest and only all ages venue that is not run by a church or a bar." My band's audience (our friends) is mostly under-21, so an all-ages, all the time venue is always a great thing to see. Parents will likely be happier about watching their kids go to an all-ages show if they know there isn't a bar attached. And while I've nothing against church-run venues on the whole, I do have my complaints about Tacoma's most prominent such establishment.

Anyway, it's roundabout time to get back to work. Hope to see you at the show. I'll be back on Saturday with a review of the show and possibly the record, plus some thoughts on the venue.