"You know, ideally you want them to be able to that without having to try, that they already have a following. And, you know, it's great for the bands to need to have the initiative and go out and get people to come in and see them and be able to support it," said Hochman. "It just feels like everything is artificial there. "But if you're just starting out, it seems like maybe just kind of work your way up playing smaller places and getting a fan base before you attempt to… it seems like you just kind of get over your head in that situation."Īccording to music critic Steve Hochman, the move to pay-to-play venues is a definite "scene killer." "If you have like an audience where you feel confident you can actually sell that amount of tickets they give you, then I don't see any problem with it," said Bruno. Bruno's played shows in LA for almost 20 years, and he's been on stage at the Troubadour, the Coliseum, the Wiltern, Walt Disney Concert Hall, etc., but never the Whisky.įor bands like Best Coast, they played house shows and at venues in neighborhoods like Downtown, Echo Park, Silver Lake. "All those places on the Strip, that was kind of the rap they had, 'Oh, they're all pay to play now.'" he said.īruno grew up watching Van Halen play there on TV, listening to X's live album at the Whisky, but it was a different place back then. Call it what you will, veteran musicians in LA generally avoid it.īest Coast is one of most most successful acts to come out of Los Angeles in recent years. Often, these bands are young and inexperienced - some call it "pay to play," the venues consider it a pre-sale. If they don't raise enough money, they can't go on. Many of the bands that play there are given a set amount of tickets to sell on their own. Starting in the '90s, the Whisky a Go Go adopted a new model for booking talent.
Sunset Strip isn't as gritty as it once was, Starbucks and clothing stores now line the streets. More bands played the Whisky: Metallica, Nirvana, Hole, Guns and Roses, but in the last decade or so, even though LA music is as vibrant and successful as ever, the venue's role has declined. "It really did feel like we had arrived when we got our gig at the Whisky," said Hoffs. The band called themselves The Bangs, but you might know them better by their later name, the Bangles:
Eventually she found them and Susanna got her wish to play at the Whisky a Go Go. In the early 1980s, Hoffs posted a flyer at the venue looking for other women willing to start a band with her. And I had a very strong awareness of that," said Susana Hoffs, who grew up dreaming of playing venues like the Whisky "The Whisky always represented kind of the iconic club of the Sunset Strip. Playing there meant your band had accomplished something. It was no longer a club for new talent to smooth out the rough edges. "I mean, The Doors were the house band, Chicago was a house band, War was a house band, that played for like months on end until they got discovered."Īfter a decade or two of business, music changed on the Sunset Strip. Folk Rock and Psychedelia gave way to punk, new wave, and eventually metal. "Back in those days, you had the record companies that were supporting the groups, they didn't have sound checks, the bands came in and rehearsed," said Maglieri. Where police officers, city councilmen and parents saw crime, drugs and decadence, the bands saw community. Bands that are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now would perform for each other back then. In the late 60s, West Hollywood's Sunset Strip was a seedy part of town, but a safe place for the counter culture to thrive.
Whiskey a go go mac#
Maglieri is more than willing to share stories of what he's witnessed at the venue: hearing Fleetwood Mac play to an empty room, seeing John Lennon throw a tantrum over a waitress, serving Janis Joplin drinks the night she died. "And on my night off, my father would tell me not to come there. "I worked there anywhere from well, usually about seven days a week, but at least six days a week," said Maglieri. Mikael Maglieri owns the Whisky a Go Go now, but in 1966 he was just 15 years old and a busboy there. it's one of the iconic clubs in the major music capitals," said Hochman. "The history of it is singular, certainly in Los Angeles and arguably in the U.S. "Rock and Roll history" is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but the Whisky a Go Go has earned it, according to music critic Steve Hochman. But as the Sunset Strip changed, so has the way business is done at the Whisky. With a seating capacity of just 500, anything goes attitude and signature go go dancers, the Whisky became one of the most important clubs in Los Angeles.
The Whisky A Go Go was an incubator for bands like the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Frank Zappa. On Janu50 years ago today - a small club on the Sunset Strip opened its doors for the first time.
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