Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Article



Getting Church
An Interview with Nick Blakey

by Eric Doberman
Photo by Chris Keene

Church, Boston’s newest rock club, sits in the shadow of Fenway Park and the Medical District on the corner of two nondescript streets called Kilmarnock and Queensbury.


It is diagonally across from the plot where Jumping Jack Flash, the first nightclub I ever attended as an “adult” (according to a fake ID), once stood.


I had been to many all ages shows of course, but club shows are a whole different animal and I would soon learn that at Flash, as it was called. For me that summer night in 1985 marked the beginning of a long and often bizarre journey through the world of nightlife.

Along the way I met Nick Blakey, back in the mid 1990s when I was doing house sound at T.T. the Bears in Cambridge and he was playing in a band called Pretty Flowers. Those were wet days for me, and he recalls a conversation we had better than I, but I still remembered him fondly the next time we got to chat a good decade later. This time around it was he who was working at a club and I who was playing and I remember the conversation clearly. We were talking about the soon to be opened club Church where he would be assuming the role of what he likes to refer to as “booker”.

As the impressive, medium capacity venue got off the ground I decided to continue the discussion in interview form. Here is Nick Blakey in his own words.


BKH: Could you describe your first experience as a patron of a nightclub?
Nick: This would be late 1986 when I was 12 and seeing Chris Isaak and Silvertone with my mother at The Design Centre in San Francisco.

The Design Centre was not a nightclub per say but hosted rock shows from time to time (American Music Club played there around the same time as well, though I sadly did not see them then). My mother was a big fan, as was I and still am (particularly his first album, Silvertone, engineered beautifully by Tom Mallon). I was a bit precocious as a child and I hung around a lot in local record stores, saving up my milk money to buy records (mostly Beatles related at that time). I got to know one clerk by the name of Roy Loney, who I just knew as a cool guy and had no idea then of his significance as a founding member of The Flamin' Groovies.

Anyhow, Kenny, Chris Isaak's drummer, had played with Roy so when we entered the Design Centre I spotted Kenny leaning against a rail and asked him if he was Chris Isaak's drummer. When he said yes, I told him I knew Roy Loney and that he said hello and the conversation went from there. Kenny was very gracious and even asked my mother for a date (which she sadly turned down). After the show, Kenny took me back stage and introduced me to the band and got me their autographs. I remember in particular Chris was very tired and sweaty but very funny and kind.

As to the performance, I thought it was pretty cool that it wasn't overtly loud. I was also quite fascinated by Jimmy Wilsey's constant swapping of guitars, and I asked the soundguy why he was doing that and he told me that one had effects and one didn't. He was cool, and didn't give me any of that "get away kid, you're botherin' me" shit.

For the encore, Chris came out with a squeezebox strapped to his chest and announcing the song as one that he and Jimmy knew from their childhood. The entire audience erupted, and people took to dancing on the stage, so much to the point where the song couldn't really be heard save for the drums. I know I thought that the whole thing was pretty cool.

BKH: How did Church come about, and how did you come to be its talent buyer?
Nick: The first part of the question is best answered by Church's owners, Kristian Deyesso and Chris Tocchio. It is 100% their concept and baby. Me I just book the music and DJ's. I have always wanted to be the booker at a club. I've been booking and brokering shows independently since 1995 in the Boston area and handled most of the bookings that The Takers, a band I was in 2000-2002, did. Kristian was a good friend of our drummer Chris Keene and used to come and see us play a lot. When Church was being set up, Chris built the new sound system and when Kristian and Chris asked about who he thought would be a good booker for Church, he graciously suggested me. "Talent Buyer" sounds so too Hollywood Boulevard to my ears, so I just go by booker.

BKH: You’re a musician yourself. Tell me about some of the bands you’ve been involved with in that capacity.
Nick: I'm currently the bass player of The In Out having rejoined the group last September after leaving the band back in the Summer of 2000 (to join The Takers as bass player). I had initially joined The In Out in Spring of 1998 as their drummer (I have played both bass and drums since I was a teen).

Prior to this I served as Peter Prescott's bass player for the last two Kustomized gigs in 1996 and the first two years of The Peer Group 1996-98. Before then I was in a number of bands that revolved around a core crew of myself, Ron Gittens, and Tim Morse (Tim is now the drummer in The In Out). Some of the groups had nasty names just for the sake of having nasty names, but the better known ones were Pretty Flowers (whose first gig was playing with The In Out at TT's with sound being done by a certain Mr. Doberman) and Black Arkatechs.

Some of my rewarding and/or educational experiences came with my serving as a substitute player in Black Helicopter (one gig as drummer), Cul de Sac (one gig as bass player), and The Nightingales (one tour as bass player).

BKH: What is your philosophy of putting together and presenting shows?
Nick: Pure eclecticism and balance, perhaps? Make things interesting but keep things right. Leave both the bands and the audience happy, though know that you can't please all of the people all of the time no matter what you do. Be upfront and honest, practice clear communication. Know that whoever goes up the ladder will eventually come down it. I think that would be it in a nutshell.

I learned a lot about how I didn't think things should go show-wise in my initial years playing around Boston 1996-98. Frankly I think things are better for bands in the Boston area now than they were then, though the audiences have changed. However, there seems to be less competition in this city and more of a sense of both the clubs and the bands working together towards a more common goal of great shows overall rather than working against each other.

I also like to be pro-active and go in pursuit of bands rather than letting them come to me. Being pro-active paid off a lot when I worked in the liquor industry so my application of that philosophy to the booking side of things has at least birthed some interesting shows.

Along these lines as well, so many times you hear a band and go "Wow, they should really play with…" I like to make those kind of things happen rather than merely think about it. John Powhida of The Rudds always told me how much he loved The Upper Crust and how he'd never played with them, so that is part of the reason The Rudds and The Upper Crust are on the same bill together at Church New Year's Eve.


BKH: I’m curious as to any demographic and economic changes have you observed in club land over the past ten years. Could you discuss this?
Nick: I take the fifth on this one as things seem to be ever-changing still.

BKH: What have you found to be the biggest challenge in your work thus far? How have you coped with it?

Nick: Filtering and predicting how some shows will do. A couple of shows I thought would be sure things turned out not so well owing to a variety of reasons. That theoretical roulette wheel that can be spun some times when it comes to live shows can be damn frustrating, but the thing to do is to learn from it and put that into practice.



BKH: I’m a big fan of your practice of ending shows by one so that people who want to stay until last call can hang out. How did you come up with it?

Nick: I've missed too many shows and bands that I wanted to see simply because there was no way I would be able to see the bands I wanted to without having to shell out an extra $20 which I didn't really have for a cab ride home. So part of this was based on wanting to make it so folks could catch the T home or at least have an option.

I also played a lot of shows where the last note would be hit and the clubs would basically say "Thank you...now get the fuck out". Most bands like to ease off the stage after their shows, meet the fans, thank their friends, sell merch, and generally mosey on out rather than feel like they are being kicked out. It tends to cut down on equipment being left behind or bad feelings being formed. Also, the hour between 1 and 2 AM after a show seems to be when some of the most interesting and/or funny stuff goes down.

BKH: Tell me about the most hilarious thing that’s happened at Church to date.
Nick: Definitely ask our bartender Matt or bar manager Adam about this. They've seen more stuff in the post-midnight hours already in just the nearly six weeks we've been open than most folks see in their entire lives.

BKH: How does Church’s proximity to Fenway Park affect your work?
Nick: We're still looking at that aspect. Don't get me started on this.

BKH: Lastly do you have any specific goals regarding Church for 2008 or any big shows on the horizon people should be aware of?
Nick: Goals would be to just keep things going at a steady and strong pace and keep the shows cool and interesting. I would really love it if folks just started showing up because they felt the music was good, regardless if it was metal, rock, punk, cabaret, or avant garde, and worth seeing. I'd love to host a Zulus or DMZ reunion, the eventual live re-appearance of Certainly, Sir, John Cale, Tuxedomoon, The Fall, Bob Welch, Harvey Sid Fisher, and many more that reside on my wish list.

We've got some cool stuff coming up, including NY multi instrumentalist and artist/inventor Brian Dewan with The Army of Broken Toys on 12/22, a Lars Vegas reunion on 12/27, The Upper Crust plus the return of The Rudds and TRiPLE THiCK on New Year's Eve. Coming up in 2008 we've got Cheap Time from Nashville on 1/6, Eugene Robinson of Oxbow doing spoken word on 1/14, the vintage psychedelic band The Maypole on 2/15, two nights of The Figgs on 2/29 and 3/1, and the A.C. 20th Anniversary Show in May. We keep the Church MySpace site as up to date as possible so tune in there for more.