The Rivalry That Never Was

When lists are made of the cities with the best music scene, D.C. rarely makes that list. That doesn’t mean there isn’t great music being made, played, and jammed to in the nation’s capitol. The DMV does make it onto the lists of cities with great music venues; especially for indie music. And the shining star of the local music scene is undoubtedly the nationally revered 9:30 Club. Boasting an impressive schedule of buzzed about up and coming acts and already established hit makers, the 9:30 Club tends to be the go to place for a live music fix.
      But the 9:30 Club is not the only relatively small music venue in the DMV. Not too far away is the Black Cat. Geared more towards alternative rock, the Black Cat hosts less mainstream acts than the 9:30 Club. However, on occasion the venues have hosted the same artists months apart. When my friends and I noticed this, we couldn’t help but think about the two clubs battling for artists, audiences, revenue, and therefore being rivals. In a debate like Coke vs. Pepsi, Flinstones vs. Jetsons, Beatles vs. Rolling Stones, a 9:30 Club vs. Black Cat debate probably won’t net much fervor.

      Black Cat owner, Dante Ferrando thinks “rivalry is too strong a word.” He has “professional admiration” for what 9:30 has accomplished, but he explained that “there are certain shows [he] can do better than the 9:30, and certain shows 9:30 can do better than” him. While they are both music venues in the U street neighborhood, they are “not really trying to do the same thing.” And the sizes, styles, and focus of their clubs differ enough so that the two “don’t compete very much.” In fact, he said he is “happy to loose acts sometimes” to the 9:30 Club because he won’t have to deal with the added work that act might bring.

      Because the acts he presents tend to be not very well known, the Black Cat admittedly doesn’t produce many sold out shows. But this brought him to a not so obvious reason how the two clubs differ. The 9:30 Clubs prices tend to be higher, forcing patrons to choose one or two shows that they are willing to pay that much for. While Ferrando notices his patrons attend “three to five shows in a month.” So I asked him, “if style and size prevent the 9:30 Club from being his rival, who would he consider their competition?” Perhaps one of the H street venues? But he didn’t seem to think there was much competition there either. Again, he pointed out that the size and styles are different. Being that Red Palace and the Rock N Roll Hotel, along with DC9 on U street, are owned by the same people, their approaches are all similar, so they all are offering something he is not competing with.
      When speaking with the Rock N Roll Hotel’s general manager, Fritz Wood, there was no sign of any competitive nature amongst his and other small music venues either. He feels it’s about “taking care of people; they have no customers, just guests.” Guests who apparently keep the venue with “sold out shows half of the week.” That made me think back to when I didn’t even know the Rock N Roll Hotel existed. How do these small semi obscure venues like Red Palace and Velvet Lounge get people to come to their clubs?
      One patron at the Red Palace was there “because [his] pastor was playing in the band;” he normally goes to venues where someone he knows personally is playing or because a band he likes is playing there; echoing what Ferrando and other concertgoers had said. I also asked him what small local venues he likes to go to. With a bit of a hesitation he said he likes “Iota and the Black Cat, but there are not too many good small venues in DC. Or maybe [he] doesn’t know about them.” This is easy to believe; until I started actively seeking out new and upcoming bands, the only small venues I knew of and frequented were the 9:30 Club and Black Cat. The more indie bands I discovered, the more venues I realized the DMV had.
      So perhaps there isn’t a rivalry amongst the small music venues in the DMV, but as businesses they do compete on some level. When I asked Ferrando about the nearly one year old U Street Music Hall, he said “they are very welcomed competition.” That it’s “a good thing they opened” because “there is a lack of good dance venues” in the area. U Street Music Hall is definitely a different style than the Black Cat being a dance hall, but they have also presented some much buzzed about upcoming acts and established artists. Recently, they have had OFWGKTA, Theophilus London, Raekwon, and Marsha Ambrosius. The general manager, Scott aka Buster, believes the unique nature of the venue sets it apart, and in a short time has developed a group of regulars. And in the music venue business, regulars are pretty important; not only for attendance and revenue, but for word of mouth promotion. Rivalry or not, what it really comes down to is do you have something the people want. Like Dante said, “find something people want and no one is catering to and cater to it.”