Live from Driftwood Venue; Local venue donates concert proceeds to Chinese charity
Its roots are humble, starting out on a small stage in Driftwood Manor last November. Bands came on a first-come, first-served basis, playing for a few music lovers.
Within two months, however, crowds were getting too big to fit safely in the house, and too many bands were coming – many of them too big to fit on the stage. Something had to be done to preserve this program for local and independent bands to perform.
Isaac Taylor, one of the four original founders of Driftwood Venue, said they looked at many other places, including the old Black Dog skate shop and the now-abandoned Army-Navy Surplus store before deciding to move the venue to Club NVO.
“It wasn’t a random choice,” Taylor said.
Club NVO was already set up for live music with a larger stage and established lighting and sound systems, as well as capacity for more than 900 people. Because of this, Taylor said, Driftwood Venue could keep their admission cost down to spectators.
“We could keep it under $5 rather than charging $12 to see the bands because the rent was lower,” he said.
The bands are selected by a panel of judges who try to bring compatible bands together. The venue offers patrons all types of music, all by local or independent bands, Taylor said. The contrast allows a Provo-based hard-core band one week and a classical guitar band the next.
“We like to branch out so we don’t stick to a certain genre,” Taylor said.
Driftwood Venue’s reputation of a good performance venue and enthusiastic crowds has started to spread, so about 95 percent of the time, bands contact the venue in hopes of performing there instead of being sought out, Taylor said.
Taylor says that Utah bands as far south as St. George have contacted them. Bands from Seattle, Mississippi, Louisiana, New York and other places outside of Utah have performed at Driftwood so far.
Driftwood Venue was started to give local and independent bands a chance to perform, Taylor said, because competition at other venues was so fierce.
“They felt there was a lack of organized playing space in Logan, and a lot of bands weren’t getting the chance to play,” Taylor said.
Driftwood Venue’s success at Club NVO has prompted Taylor and the other founders to consider a more permanent arrangement. Although the financial factor is still being explored, he says that buying the club is a “definite possibility.” The building would continue to be used as a club, but some remodeling would be done to further improve the quality of the stage, lighting and sound systems. A sign for Driftwood Venue would also appear on the main road, Taylor said.
Admission to the Venue is $4 and shows take place most every Friday night. Taylor said the audience at Driftwood Venue is varied, and changes depending on the type of show that is being performed. Because the venue frequently attracts high school and college students, drinking, drugs and smoking are prohibited.
About 50-200 people typically attend the shows weekly. Taylor said a lot of the publicity is due to the venue’s listing on MySpace Music where viewers can find times of concerts and which bands will be featured.
Proceeds from tonight’s concert, featuring 3 Sides of the Cube, DulceSky, Brilliant Stereo Mob and The Yearbook, will be donated to charity.
Josh Law, a junior majoring in international studies, organized the fundraiser, which benefits schoolchildren in China. While preparing for his trip to China in two weeks, he said he wanted to do something more meaningful than just travel. He discovered an organization called the Jiangxi Hope Project, which sponsors primary and middle school children in rural China to be able to attend school.
Law said that $15 would support a primary school child for an entire year. Although Law has talked to various businesses and families for donations, he said he wanted to use his love of music to help further the cause.
“I haven’t done anything like this before, but I hope to raise about $800-$1,000 for the schoolchildren,” he said. “It would be nice to have students know about this and help out. Four dollars isn’t much, but it will make a difference.”
The doors to Club NVO for Driftwood Venue will open at 7:30 p.m. Friday and the show will start at 8 p.m. Money raised from the $4 admission cost will go directly to the Jiangxi Hope Project.
“This is a good opportunity to change a life for good,” Law said.
-limarc@cc.usu.edu
Driftwood Venue brings bands from all over the country to perform in Logan and gives local bands a stage to perform on.
