We’re stoked to be the first to officially announce that Red Blood Club, known admirably as “Dallas’ CBGB’s”, is set to reopen in March.
Mike Rios, who booked shows for the club and worked as the door guy, said the reopening is 99% confirmed and that he and investors are now working to obtain a liquor license and to make sure everything in the space is up to par for inspection.
“We’re looking forward to working with all the old bands and all the new bands and kind of bring the punk family back together,” he said.
Maybe the raddest part is that it’s going to be in the same location.
“We’re gonna give it a shot and hope that everybody is happy with what we want to do,” said Rios.
(Also- over the past couple of weeks I’ve been sifting through old photos from the late 90′s to early 2000′s for a story about the club’s history to be published in our upcoming fifth print issue. Really hope you dig, get stoked!!)
This was our sideshows home club for so long down in Dallas. This news is so exciting for us. Think we first played there 10 years ago this month.
This is AMAZING news!! Man. It’ll be so nice to have an old club that I spent a lot of time in come back to Dallas! And the best part, you guys are keeping it the same. It’s going to be a huge family reunion. Stoked!!
RIGHT ON!!! CONGRATS GUYS!!
MADWAK is looking forward to putting on a show for you. CHICKS WHO ROCK SHOW!!!
At the same spot? or what?
This is beyond exciting news! It’ll be nice to have our old home away from home back, cannot wait for the reopening!
While I appreciate a club re-opening, as with the news ones that have opened, hold off on the superlatives. It wasn’t legendary and it sure as hell wasn’t the CBGB of Dallas. If anything, it had the misfortune of operating during the worst period in the history of Dallas music after the city killed Depp Ellum, the ’00s.
The Theater Gallery, that was legendary. Predates me, but we all know the story. Trees is legendary if for no other reason than the Nirvana show. You’re welcome to throw in Club Clearview and Gypsy Tea Room as well. And if you’re talking punk, legendary is The Orbit Room and the Galaxy Club which used to hold all ages punk shows in the afternoons. you could be 16, get out of school, and go see Milencolin or NOFX or hundreds of other punk bands….and it was awesome.
If you really want to get legendary, that garage door on Trees used to be open for show when the weather was decent. It hasn’t been anything sut a sign for years, but they used to actually open that thing up with a band on stage. You couldn’t see them, but you could hear them, and if they didn’t suck you would pay to go in. People forget how amazing local music here used to be. It’s slowly getting back there again, but damn was it good in the ’90s. You actually had to pick which bands you wanted to see out of The Observer and The Met, and then argue about it with friends instead of picking one show a month because everything looks meh.
But now I am the old guy that will be ignored. Believe me when I saw the place wasn’t legendary (yes I’ve seen shows there and know a lot of people involved). It arrived about 5 years too late for that status.
Matt, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Orbit room was Legendary, so many great bands played all the time, red blood club, was short lived and deep ellum had fallen apart. I’d like to see Clearview open again. But whatever, it’s nice they’re trying to revive it. It will never be what it was, we were lucky to be there at it’s best.
Fuck u guys, its legendary to the kids that fucking grew up there! RBC was more than JUST a club
Matt, you nailed it! Agreed with an addition of clubs of legendary status…what about The Basement, Dallas City Limits (DCL), or even Savvy’s? Later in the 90′s The Vampire Lounge which helped to spawn Drowning Pool’s career? Just to name a few. On the Rocks was a little club but many had played there. That, too, was a 17 and up club. Rock and Roll Revolution…the list goes on.
The Vampire Lounge in the 90′s? Helped Drowning Pool? That’s a riot. Not at all. Drowning Pool NEVER played at Vampire Lounge. If anything VL was host to acts like Rivethead and The Razorblade Dolls. And that club started up in like 2007 and was closed by 2008. Too much vodka you drink.
Sorry to bust your bubble Jackson but she is right. The original Vampire Lounge opened in the fall of 1998. I was the booking agent there. Dave Williams first show with DP was there. The club closed in 2000 and reopened in 2008 and hosted the bands you speak of. Again I was the booking agent there until I moved away.
IT’S HAPPENING!
GET HYPE!
GET
HYPE!
I booked the Orbit Room and Galaxy Club( as well as worked the door at both clubs) and Mike Rios put shows in both venues as well. Mike Rios has been doing shows Longer than most of you have been alive. I support Mike in anything he does , he is a great man and I do think the RBC had its legendary status as a family unit for the miscreants, huppies ,punks, weirdos,Metal Heads, nerds , hip hopers , etc. so Please don’t slag on the RBC, It was and will be again a very awesome Family Venue for all to hang out in. Mouse Ramone
Honestly, it’s nothing against Mike (whom I have never met) or the RBC. I saw shows there, it was a good venue. I just don’t care for the tag of “legendary”. He may be the coolest guy in the world, but that place was not the CBGB of Dallas. I’m sorry, it just wasn’t. Again, I am glad they’re re-opening and I wish them the best. I hope they become the CBGB of Dallas. Hopefully this time they’re not doing so in the darkest time in Deep Ellum history, when the city of Dallas killed the area because of a few black clubs (if you were around then, you know that is why it happened). Dallas wanted 6th street in Austin and couldn’t deal with what Deep Ellum organicly became.
My point is just that a lot of local music history went down way before they even existed. I no longer work in music and I have no affiliation with another venue. But I am a music nerd, and a history nerd. I never saw a show at the Theater Gallery, but I know the story….to me that is legendary. I wasn’t at the Nirvana show at Trees where the most bizarre incident I’ve ever seen from a band occurred (and that is just the public part, the behind the scenes makes for even better stories). That is legendary.
Just my thoughts.
Ever thought that were legendary parts of history OTHER than your legendary parts of history?
Like, maybe you ain’t studied Russian or Mongolian or Indonesian or South Indian or Western Russian or Yugsolovian Music, but they had important moments in their own history you haven’t been able to see?
Fuck you.
Shutup already you fucking blowhard
I will agree that Deep Ellum almost died back then. It was a sad time and many great venues shut down.
I am glad to see Ellum coming back to life and this is awesome news. I hope to see some great shows in the near future!
Best wishes for Red Blood Club’s second coming! Here are just a few flashback moments I caught on my camcorder at RBC 2002-2006…
The Adicts
Lower Class Brats
UK Subs
First I would like to say I had nothing to do with calling us Legendary. That was the opinion of the guy who wrote the article. Are we Legendary ? To some we are and to some we are not. I will say that for 7yrs we were the punk club of Dallas the club was known as the place to play to many bands from all over. We had Legends play on our stage. We had bands from all over the world play there. You say that we were around during the dark days of Deep Ellum. Well that actually says that when they all left and closed their doors we were there and stuck it out to help keep the music scene alive. Will the club be the same. No it will not. No matter what we do we can never go back to those days of past and relive those memories but we can start again and make new ones and thats all I want to do is give the kids that grew up there a chance to come back and enjoy it as adults. Big Mike Rios
I don’t remember us asking for anything from anybody except to be left alone and let us do our thing. I was there. I know how the club started, and what it became. Matt is right that it was the darker days of deep ellum. But what people forget is when we opened in 99, commerce was still being blocked off with the police so people couldn’t cruise. The neighborhood was packed. Yeah, whoever started leasing to hip hop clubs killed the neighborhood. How come no one talks about those landlords ever? Anyway, I really don’t see a problem about hearing about RBC, Trees, Twilight Room, Orbit Room, Dada…etc..in the same sentence as legendary. Shit happened at all those clubs. Different decades, that’s all. Sooo many cool bands have played all those clubs. RBC opened in 99 closed in 2008. Do research. It was a good long run. For any club anywhere. I played cbgbs. We had worse bathrooms at RBC! BOOM! Right there RBC is legendary. ( Worse bathrooms than cbgbs?!) Just don’t know why anyone would want to talk shit about the club. It happened. It’s about to happen again. We will see…
Bathrooms were just fine until the first puke and to run out.But worse than cbgb’s? Lemmy tell you something about punk – The only thing I can say about that place is Sid used the puke, shit, piss, bloody toilet water to slam his H. That’s about as legendary as it gets. However, RBC was also legendary in its own time
Fuck yeah! I got to see Born/Dead there in 2007. Red Blood Club was one of the main reasons why i enjoyed visiting Dallas.
YEAH ITS COOL … BUT YOUR RIGHT ITS NOT A LEGEND AND NEVER WAS … GEEZE WHAT A REACH TO TRY AND SELL IT THIS OPENING … I WOULD THINK 20 YEARS IN BUSINESS WOULD THEN BE CONSIDERED LEGENDARY … OR THE SHOWS YOU HAD ETC.. i MEAN LONGHORN BALLROOM WAS LEGENDARY
WHO CARES THAT YOU WENT THERE AS A KID, IT STILL NOT LEGENDARY
Matt. I was around for the Theater Gallery, Twillite Room, Dave’s Art and Pawn, Etc. And My friend Stephan Agnew worked that Trees show with Turner Van Blarcum when the Incident happened with Kirk Cocaine . Those clubs were necessary at the time But None Were Legendary( Some May say different) . And I agree No club can compare to CBGB’s but if you ever saw a show at CBGB’s It was a shit hole , way worse than any of the venues that graced the Dallas, Tx scene. The only thing that made CBGB’s famous was the bands that lived in that area frequented the place and hung out there and played at that club, Family Atmosphere for the most part, Which is What the RBC did on a nightly basis, so I can see the Comparison to CBGB’s. . All Clubs have had there scenes , But RBC really seemed like a Home to alot of the kids that Played there and kind of grew up there.And that is all the Previous Person who stated that is referring to. I mean will it be the same as the old club, No , will it have the same vibe, Maybe, but I do know that it will try and bring back that Family Vibe for all folks that wish to m ake it there home. Congrats Mike Rios and I wish you nothing but success on this adventure you are embarking on.
This is really exciting news. I played in at least three or four bands at RBC between 99 and ’04, when I moved to Portland. I had so many great times there with my friends and fellow musicians. I liked it because it was the kind of place that took a chance on bands that no one knew yet. I liked it because both Mikes were such rad guys, and because we played probably 100 shows there. Including New Years 2000 and 2001. (The power went out both years, exactly at midnight) Also drinking “whiskey thingies” on Tuesdays when they were closed and they let us jam on stage just for fun.
I’m not in Dallas much anymore but I’m happy that there could be another generation of musicians getting to jump on that stage and rock.
I wasn’t going to comment at first but I’ll just post this once and that’s it. I called it “legendary” because of my own experience growing up seeing and playing shows at RBC. Yes, that’s biased. This is not an objective news blog, it’s a local arts and culture zine and blog. If you want “objective” arts news then go read the Dallas Morning Snooze.
The CBGB’s reference was not an original idea, it was from an old 2003 article that Mike W. showed me that called it such.
I’m not going to waste time arguing whether or not “legendary” was appropriate for the headline. It did get readers so it served its purpose. I’m not changing it. I’m just excited for the club’s reopening and yeah- I did do this partially to promote the reopening. Thanks for reading and commenting y’all!
Good for you Big Mike and the rest of the RBC family! Have a great opening and keep the music pumpin.
Love it! Pablo’s right. I gave him a bunch of press clippings and pics, and he went to write his article. I love all the shit talking though. Feels like home. Again.
Way to go Big Mike. This is exciting news for anyone in the Dallas scene. The term ‘legendary’ can be a tricky one for some to accept but I guarantee there were some legendary nights there for sure. I’ve been to everyone of the clubs mentioned in this thread and if I liked it, at least dozens of times. Legendary is not necessarily based on how long a place was around but what went down there. London’s 100 Club was only around for 100 days and the Sex Pistols lasted less than two years. Others like CBGB’s or the Ramones were are around forever and weren’t really appreciated or recognized for ‘legendary’ status until they were gone. I guess it’s mostly based on memories and those who witnessed something amazing on any given night. Congrats to Big Mike for putting his big ol’ ass out on the line and offering us a shot at seeing / doing / sharing more greatness ahead.
And all the other spots mentioned in this thing, should never be compared to RBC. They were good but not as punk. This nirvana, trees nonsense is horrible. They were never punk. Ever. Trees did and does (kinda) have punk shows, but they along with others, darkside lounge, spider babies, orbit, galaxy, DBL etc. etc. were magoo and h maintenance. RBC was a true punk club. Cheap drinks and didn’t frown on punk rock high jinks. But wouldn’t let natzi punks or skins ruin a show
So stories make you legendary. Here is one most of you dont know. Oct 5-7 2001 we hosted The Stoner Hands of Doom Music Fest 30 bands in 3 days with bands from all over the world. On the last day we had bands from Germany, Italy and Belgium playing that day. That afternoon while working the bar I looked up at the T.V. and we were bombing Afghanistan. The band stopped playing and we all gathered around the T.V. We were at WAR. We stood there with people from 4 different countries and watched not knowing what would happen next. The U.S. banned all international flights and we had 3 bands with now way to get home and no money for hotels. The RBC family came together and found homes for them to stay for a week till they lifted the ban. Yeah these guys weren’t famous but neither was Kurt Cobain when my friend Turner knocked him upside his head. But I guarantee those bands went home and told their friends how The RBC took care of them and when people around the world talk about you. YOU ARE LEGENDARY to a certain degree because everytime they remember that weekend they remember The RBC. and memories are what make you a legend.
HARDDRIVE reunion or GTFOH.
BALLS OUT
Balls Out!
excited!