Say goodbye to Jerry: Quixote’s True Blue will get painted black come mid November. Photo by Sara Grant.
Nicole Cacciavillano would like to set the record straight: The Black Box, her new music venue which will take the space previously occupied by Quixote’s True Blue, will not be some pacifier-littered den of bleeding-ear bass and Skrillex off-shoots. They know better.
“We have plans to book electronic music, but we don’t really do the EDM stuff — the glow sticks and the raves and all that,” Cacciavillano said.
Admittedly, the misconception is partly our fault. We’d initially reported that The Black Box would be an EDM club. Depending on how minutely familiar you are with the sub-genre, that’s either about right or way off base.
To the casual observer, EDM, or electronic dance music, could mean pretty much any up-beat electronic music not performed live. To those who love electronic music, like Cacciavillano, it represents something far different — something worse.
“We’re interested in booking more underground music — producers and DJs who are making their own sounds,” she said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Not those bigger names who just press play.”
But Cacciavillano, who was a special education teacher for a decade before taking her booking agency Sub.mission full time in 2011, would also stress that to call The Black Box just an electronic music venue would be reductive. Though they haven’t locked down many acts beyond their Nov. 19 grand opening with producers Mala, Kahn and Neek, the venue plans to book a wide variety of underrepresented genres, including reggae, hip-hop, psychedelic and jam at the space, too.
“There isn’t a dedicated home to underground music,” Cacciavillano said. “We’re planning on filling that void.”
Read on for more of our conversation with Cacciavillano about the new direction for the space at 314 E 13th Ave, including its fancy new sound system and the fate of that wonky Jerry Garcia mural.
Q: Okay, so, it’s not an EDM club, and it’s not even just an electronic music club. What’s the focus for The Black Box?
A: The focus is community. If you’re familiar with CBGB, that’s what my vision is. We want it to be a place where locals can get an opportunity to get out there. The underdogs in music tend to get forgotten, but next year, they might be biggest act ever.
Q: To get a sense of size, would you expcet an artist like Nicolas Jaar, who’s playing the Gothic on Saturday, to play the venue? Or are you thinking even smaller?
A: Nicolas Jaar would be fantastic. The Gothic is bigger, so he might not play a 250-person venue. But if Nicolas Jaar wants to come play The Black Box, I’m all for it.
Q: That is a small room. Is that part of the vision for your shows there?
A: In the non-event room, we’re keeping the pinball machines and the pool table.
The event room is pretty much all black. We wanted to take out all the color and make it just about the music. We don’t need lasers and a million lights. We don’t need fog machines — all that is hype. We’re trying to cut out those people who are going just to get wasted or to take home some girl or some dude. We’re not interested in that. We want to focus on the music.
Take our sound system — most clubs just have subwoofers and top-end speakers. A friend of mine has built a sound system for us that will allow you to hear every single part. We’ll be using them in both rooms.
Q: What changes are you making to the outside of the building? Namely, the mural?
A: We’re not planning on having a mural. We are definitely going to paint over it. You know what’s underneath all that Jerry Garcia? Black walls.
Q: In a city dominated by promoters like AEG and LiveNation, you’re entering a market as one of the few independent venues. Is that intimidating?
A: I am not intimidated by AEG at all. AEG used to come to me for dubstep when they saw me selling out every show at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. I essentially gave them my connections, and we did amazing shows together.
I’m very thankful for the experience I had with them, because I learned that’s not the type of business I want to be in. I want to work with the genuine music lovers and on a personal scale — to really be a part of our artists’ career.
Sub.mission will continue to do shows at Cervantes and promote AEG shows. For example, we have Space Jesus and Yeti at the Bluebird Theater next week. I would hope my new acquisition of a venue wouldn’t hurt that relationship. But we’re going to find out.
By Dylan Owens, The Know November 3, 2016
Dylan Owens is co-editor of The Know and music editor of the Denver Post. A former baby model, he spends most of his money on music and club sandwiches.