Remember how everything in Seattle is supposedly dying and disappearing and there’s no room for art anymore because giant condos are squishing everything? As of January, Chop Suey was presumably next on the chopping block, its fate up in the air as it hosted a final “farewell” show—a party the beloved Capitol Hill club ominously titled “Another One Bites the Dust.” Local punk trio Wimps even donned Grim Reaper costumes during its set at the party to mourn the apparent looming death of the venue.
But, like a majestic phoenix, Chop Suey is rising once again. Brian Houck, Erin Carnes, and Brianna Rettig from Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles respectively, have taken over ownership of the club, bringing with them their experience running Los Angeles watering holes Bar 107 and The Escondite. In their own words, the triad of new owners are “no strangers to bringing soul to the seediest of neighborhoods with artists and musicians at the forefront.”
Chop Suey 2.0 will retain its name despite heavy renovations and a slight change in operations. Its new interior will reportedly reflect the building’s “stint as an auto parts shop, The Breakroom, Chop Suey, and the future home of The Den.” In case you are wondering what “The Den” is, it will be the new name for the Dragon Lounge, the club’s secondary smaller room that began hosting more modestly sized shows over the last year. “The Den” is getting an updated bar (which will serve cocktails and craft brews), a proper sound system and an actual stage. Chop Suey’s main room is also getting a facelift with a new digital soundboard, an expanded stage and new decor. Also of note: both The Den and Chop Suey will be “open daily for happy hours and earlier on the weekends for neighborhood day drinkers.” The club is hiring bartenders for this newly expanded boozeventure, by the way:
//
//
//
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
//
Post by Chop Suey.
And fear not, Chop’s intrepid booker Jodi Ecklund is still on board, currently working her ass off in the interim before #newchopsuey premieres its “soft opening” on March 6 with Constant Lovers, Beautiful Mothers, and KA, a private party that will open to the public at 9 p.m. The club’s “hard opening” on March 13 will feature Deadmoon and Girl Trouble.
We caught up with Ecklund to get the scoop on what the hell has been happening in Chop Suey and whether or not the rumor that it’s going to start exclusively booking Americana bands is true. As Ecklund details, there are lots of new things at Chop 2.0, but Americana is not one of them:
Illustration by Marie Hausauer
From what I’ve heard, you’ve been a mega-busy human being in the interim between the old Chop closing and getting ready for the new Chop. What have you been up to?
Well basically the last booking I did was back in November, so when I came back on board here three weeks ago there was nothing on the calendar. We’re due to open in March. I’ve been building bills from scratch and trying to get as much on the calendar as I can in a very short amount of time.
When Chop’s fate was still up in the air, one of the things people seemed rightly concerned about was whether or not you would continue booking, since you have a very defined local ethic in booking shows. Is that something the new owners are still cool with you focusing on?
Oh yeah, the programming will all stay the same, as well as the diversity in the booking. I feel like we kind of have a niche that way. We’re providing a very defined space for some of the local bands versus what you get at the bigger venues. They’ve given me free reign to pretty much continue doing what I do. Luckily, when they were in town before a lot of this kicked off, they visited a bunch of local bars and people apparently spoke pretty highly of me and what I’ve been doing. So they pretty much told me, “just do what you do.” They’re totally behind me. These guys [the new owners] are at their heart old school rockers. In the past I haven’t had the revenue or support to really be successful, I felt like I was on a bit of a sinking ship. I feel now I’m really going to have the tools in my toolbag to do what I want and need to do. I used to sit in Chop and go, “if only we could do this or this we’d be successful.” Pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted to do to the venue to make us more successful, the new owners are doing.
Like what?
There’s a $100,000 brand new digital soundboard and soundsystem going into the main room. And you know how it had the pagoda on the stage with the two monitors on either side? That’s gone now, which gives it an extra two or three feet on either side of the stage and really opens it up a lot. I fought really hard for that because I always felt like people looked like shadow puppets in a box when they were playing. They upgraded the bathroom. They hired a new head of security and are putting together a legit team. They are making a legit green room. They put a backdrop on the stage with LED lights that gives it a similar ambience to the Triple Door. There will be an actual curtain on the mainstage so bands don’t have to have people watch them set up. There will be pinball machines in the back. Pretty much everything I’ve ever wanted to do, especially the bathrooms. Giving it all the TLC it needed.
I read the new owners are designing it to throwback to the space’s vibe when it was The Breakroom and an auto-parts shop?
The new owners are really old school. Their priority is making it a fun space for the bands to play. They remember The Breakroom. One of them was telling me the other day, “Jodi—what’s this shit with bands only getting two drink tickets? Each band is going to get a case of beer and a bottle of their choice now.” And I was like, “well you are going to win some points there!” We are actually going to fulfill riders now instead of just throwing some bar mix back there.
I’ve been able to see the new designs and I think it’ll be a really beautiful space while still keeping the punk rock vibe. It won’t be totally cleaned up, but it’ll be a big step up. I’m really excited about it. They built bannisters around where you’ll have more places to lean and put your drink. I can’t say too much about the new look, but the decor will change quite a bit. I always thought it was really tacky before, and it looks like that’s all getting trashed. Pretty much everything they are doing is paying tribute to what the venue’s been in the past while still putting their own spin on it.
How does The Den fit in with the new Chop landscape? Will it fulfill the same role The Dragon Lounge did in that it will host smaller profile shows?
So, the bar back there was never fully functioning. They’ve built out a new actual bar now, it will sit 14 chairs. You know, like when you go into Bimbo’s and there’s an actual bar there. So that will be open daily, and then we’ve built a little stage in the room and put an actual soundsystem. Before, it was really just kind of a shack. Now we can use The Den for more small intimate shows, it will still only hold about 50 people, but it will be more of a neighborhood bar that’s open from 5 o’clock on. I think that will be huge in our success. That’s always been the issue at Chop—we couldn’t make any more money than we were since we were only open from 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. Now we’ll have more hours to make money. We’re going to do “Metal Mondays” and “Tall Boy Tuesdays” and weekly drink specials.
The stage is more of a drum riser really, but it’s perfect for smaller acts and solo performers, like, say, Jenn Ghetto doing an intimate thing. We’re going to bring back “Bring Your Own Vinyl” nights. Since it’s soundproofed, we can have two different things happening at once, which is cool. There will probably be a lot of experimenting in the near future. We’re going to do “Kill the Keg” Sundays where you pay $10 for 4 p.m. shows and you get a wristband that lets you drink from a keg we order of our choosing until it’s dead. Fun ideas like that. Everybody is kind of thinking outside the box and working together.
What would you say to the people who have been anxious and nervous about Chop Suey changing shape?
I think all the changes are very positive. We are keeping the same programming and ethics. At the core I want to maintain old school Capitol Hill—a space where everyone feels welcome and invited. Supporting and providing for the local community, that’s always going to be my ethic no matter where I’m booking. Honestly, change is inevitable, but these are positive changes. We’re still divey. The Den is going to serve more upscale drinks, you can get a fancy cocktail, a margarita, a Manhattan, something more crafted, but Chop is still going to be shots and beer. It’s the same with a twist.
I’m excited, so I feel like everybody else is going to be excited once they see. We’ve got our work cut out for us for sure. I had a lot of fear at the beginning that the owners were going to be some L.A. douchebags who wanted me to change everything. There were so many rumors! People saying “ahhh they just want to book Americana! They want to do pay-to-play!” None of that is true. I’d encourage everyone in the local community to reach out to me—I’m building bills from scratch and it really takes a village. If I don’t get back to you immediately, don’t take it personally, I’m working night and day right now, but I’m stoked that I’ll continue to have this space to do what I do. A place where everyone in the community is invited to party and have fun together unless they act like a douchebag.
