The Richmond music community suffered a blow this past week with the closing of Shockoe Bottom concert venue Alley Katz.
On Friday, the RTD reported that the club had been shut down by the city of Richmond for an invalid business license and nonpayment of meals taxes.
I’m not going to go into the tax or safety issues or alleged city crackdowns. I won’t pretend to know the details of these things and honestly, I don’t care about them.
What I do care about is that Richmond has lost a historic landmark of the music scene.
Since Alley Katz opened in 1995, it’s been one of the mainstay businesses in the Bottom. If you wanted to see a heavy rock, punk or metal band, you’d know to go to Alley Katz.
I remember seeing my first ever show there - Murphy’s Kids, Patent Pending and a bunch of other loud bands I can’t remember. There was so much energy in the place that the place was literally shaking. A mosh pit formed around me and I thought I was going to die.
That was one of the best nights of my life.
Since then, I’ve seen many acts grace the Alley Katz stage including big name acts like Pete Yorn, GWAR and Less Than Jake to the unknown up-and-comers like Jukebox the Ghost and Plushgun to the local Richmond talent of Against Grace, Prabir and the Substitutes and At the Stars among many others.
It saddens me to no end that Alley Katz is gone. This was the place to go if you wanted to see local talent or the newest names in rock music. Sure, many of them were terrible, but for every one of the terrible bands, you had a stellar act like Ted Leo & the Pharmacists or Coheed & Cambira playing in your own backyard.
People say that the venue was dirty and old. That’s true - but that’s the appeal of it. Big cities have places that are dives and the public loves them. No one wants to see a metal band in a perfectly polished venue. It loses its charm that way.
Right now, some of Alley Katz's shows are being moved to other venues, including the Canal Club and Hat Factory and the management of Alley Katz says that they plan on reopening after all the tax issues are settled. I’m not holding my breath, but one can hope.
Richmond needs its tiny music clubs. Where else can smaller acts get their name out so they can eventually become big?
Maybe once everything is settled down, the club can go back to giving Richmond excellent shows. A new paint job wouldn’t hurt either.
I’m just hoping if it is gone for good, it doesn’t turn into a nightclub or yet another restaurant that we don’t need.
Goodbye, Alley Katz. You will be missed.
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