Concerts don’t need to be hosted in traditional venues. While both performers and concertgoers alike have done what they can to play in or see shows in legendary rooms like Cain’s Ballroom or The Station Inn, The 9:30 Club, First Avenue or Preservation Hall simply because they have become sought-after tour stops for musicians of any genre, there’s something special about playing in a room that doesn’t have historic status, as any place can become a killer venue simply by audience and performer enthusiasm and the excitement created from their musical connection.
If you go
WHAT: Indie rock, folk, punk and then some with Ryan Cassata and the Top Surgeons, Clementine, Ragged Oak.
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday.
WHERE: The Swarm Venue in The Hive, 1175 Camino del Rio.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.thehivedgo.org.
These nontraditional venues were formed out of necessity. In most cases it’s because traditional clubs have alcohol regulated age limits, so younger musicians have created these places open for everyone; as a result you’ve got inclusive venues that welcome all.
New to Durango’s venue landscape is The Swarm, which is part of The Hive, Durango’s youth-centered hub that’s a camp for arts, music and other activities. With The Hive now in a new location, it’s back to hosting all-ages, sober and inclusive concerts, the next featuring Ryan Cassata, Ragged Oak and Clementine, happening on Friday.
It’s the perfect space for Cassata, who is as much of an activist as he is a musician.
“More important than being in a professional venue is being able to do all ages show that people can feel safe at. I think being in the LGBT community, the queer and trans community, these spaces that are in community centers feel so much safer, and more people are likely to come out because they feel safer to do so,” he said. “So, that’s my main priority, is people feeling safe and welcome.”
Cassata and his band The Top Surgeons are a DIY-mindset band; his latest release, “Greetings from Echo Park,” recently dropped on the much respected indie label Kill Rock Stars, of which Cassata was a fan; now labelmates with the likes of Lindsay Lou, Ron Gallo and the late Elliot Smith, his signing with the label is a fine example of ask and you may get a yes.
“I got scouted by another label, but my husband said, ‘Why don’t you see if you can get a label you really like to sign you?’ I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’ So I just messaged them, and that’s how it all happened,” he said.
Raised on a healthy dose of classic rock radio, Cassata followed a much-traveled music-influence path, first digging into low-hanging fruit mainstream radio rock, which led to things more obscure, which ultimately led to college rock and punk, all through a well-known band’s record where they covered the likes of FEAR, The Dead Boys and Sex Pistols.
“I got into Led Zeppelin, T-Rex, The Doors, stuff like that. Then I got super into Guns N’ Roses. It was one of my favorites, like, hooks for days,” Cassata said. “Then when I was around like 12 years old, I started getting into punk. And it was because of the Guns N’ Roses record ‘The Spaghetti Incident’ where they covered a bunch of punk bands. And I was like ‘who are these bands?’ I looked up The Misfits and was like ‘this is epic.’ That’s how I got into all that.”
While Cassata remains a DIY musician, a proponent for all-ages, nontraditional venues, and activist and supporter of the LGBTQIA community, his thing is songwriting, as songwriting is what fuels the fire for the aforementioned work.
“The most important thing to me is writing songs,” Cassata said. “I don’t care if I was supposed to go to your party, I’m going to be two hours late, because I have to write this song.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
