Metal Chandelier
Posted in Garden Antiques on 08/20/2010 03:53 pm by adminI bought an old abandoned church in queens and plan on turning it into a metal grunge club, will this work?
I kinda wanted to have the theme satanic in nature with a cross turned upside down at the front of the entrance and have velvet spun around on the ceilings with a chandelier in the center. All candles etc... a monthly membership would have to be paid upfront and people would be entitled to see battle of the bands etc.
The teenagers who would be your main draw do not have money for a monthly membership. I suggest you look into the business models of other successful clubs and their pricing.
When I ran my indie metal club with smaller national bands, local bands, and battle of the bands type events, patrons had problems scraping up the cash if the price point went above $7 per show, even with decent bands. That was in the mid 1990's, so I"m sure the maximum price point is no more than $10 by now given inflation.
When i worked at a BDSM industrial club... which was a fairly exclusive club with a professional dominatrix & master on hand, they still charged at the door.
Check out Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh. They did the abandoned church to night club conversion better than any place I've ever seen. They've had everybody from Sepultura to 50 Cent to Rasputina do shows & recordings there. Its in a crappier neighborhood (but nicer than queens). The interior is very classy & church like, and it makes seeing acts like celtic frost & emperor there all the more pleasing.
http://www.mrsmalls.com/NewPHP/home.php
I also wouldn't put too much crazy stuff on the outside of the building.... You want the people in the neighborhood to imagine whats going on inside, not know.... if you get the local city council after your ass for being a nusiance business you're up a creek . Also, around here, nightclubs rely on police protection. A good working relationship with the local police will go a long ways at keeping your place out of the press whenever something bad happens there. Its the difference between "there was a stabbing in the 6400 block of 5th ave" and "there was a stabbing outside of plinky's satanic playhouse on 6305 5th ave." Its going to be tough to build that kind of relationship with the police if you have all kinds of whacko signs on the outside of the joint.
Good luck.