{"id":7432,"date":"2013-08-01T15:39:53","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T15:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=7432"},"modified":"2013-08-01T15:39:53","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T15:39:53","slug":"union-sound-hall-winnipegs-newest-live-music-venue-set-to-open-its-doors-wide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2013\/08\/01\/union-sound-hall-winnipegs-newest-live-music-venue-set-to-open-its-doors-wide\/","title":{"rendered":"Union Sound Hall :: Winnipeg\u2019s newest live music venue set to open its doors wide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"unionsoundhallWEB\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Sheldon Birnie, photo by Andrew Mazurak<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tyler Sneesby sashays into Parlour Coffee on a warm July afternoon wearing a sharp denim outfit and brand new, bright white sneakers. We order Americanos, his hot and mine cold pressed. We are here to discuss, with great anticipation, the opening of Winnipeg\u2019s newest — and certainly one of its most ambitious — live music venues, Union Sound Hall.<\/p>\n

With a number of young, local music heavies putting their money and reputations behind the space, the opening of Union Sound Hall has been a buzz throughout Winnipeg\u2019s live music community. After months of frenzied activity, and plenty of sweat equity being poured into the place, Union Sound Hall is set to open its doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity came up in October,\u201d Sneesby (aka DJ Hunnicut) explains. \u201cFor Tim [Hoover, aka DJ Co-op] and I, the idea of owning a venue has been in our minds for a long time. We\u2019ve been performing together for so long that we thought the next step would be to have our own venue.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sneesby and Hoover, years of touring and performing across the globe have informed their ideas about how a venue should operate, for performers and customers alike. Alongside the other partners in Union, they are ready to put those concepts into praxis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have ideas of how to make it comfortable for artists, local and touring, to feel welcome and to feel like they want to come back and continue using the space,\u201d he explains. He pauses to consider what he calls the \u201cintangibles\u201d of what makes a good venue from the perspective of a showgoer, before settling on a perfect example: the Lo Pub.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a venue to see shows, the sightlines were shitty [at the Lo], the sound wasn\u2019t great, but there was something intangible that made people want to be there. We can\u2019t just put on paper that this will be cool. But we think we\u2019re the people that can at least get it going in the right direction, and just hope that the city of Winnipeg supports us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The space itself, located in a restored warehouse space in the Exchange, is well tailored to accommodating small to mid-sized shows. A small room suitable for approximately 100 patrons greets visitors upon entrance, while a larger main room is capable of accommodating over 400. Both spaces are serviced by bars, appropriately sized stages, and top of the line sound systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a few things that we\u2019re going to try to do festival style,\u201d David Schellenberg (Les Jupes, ex-Playing Cards), the whippersnapper of a booking agent hired by Union, told Stylus earlier over beers at Cousin\u2019s. \u201cOne band will play the main-stage, and one band will play the side-room as soon as they\u2019re done. So we can just go boom-boom-boom, back and forth with very little time in between. We\u2019re also going to do early shows in the side-room, some 8:30-10:30 stuff, then some 11:00 till 2:00 stuff in the big room. Basically, just more shows. It may be a little hard for the city to adjust, but once they do it\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal goal is for it to be the home of great live music in the city,\u201d says Schellenberg. \u201cWinnipeg just doesn\u2019t have a room like this. Essentially, to be honest, we\u2019re trying to change how people tour through North America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from bringing in high quality touring acts, Union Sound Hall aims to be a venue that local bands can feel comfortable booking for album release parties or other major showcases. Royal Canoe will be the first big local release party celebrated in the venue, with others to follow. Union will also be home to DJ Hunnicut and Co-op\u2019s annual New Year\u2019s Eve and Halloween dance parties, as well as popular local club nights like Devotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Albert gone and the Lo Pub gone, it\u2019s really just the Windsor, the Pyramid, and us,\u201d says Sneesby. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping we can be an option for bands to throw their own shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as what goes into a name, Sneesby says that the name Union Sound Hall is a throwback to the history of the building, which is found on the upper level of 110 Market Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201c110 Market is an old saddlery,\u201d \u00a0Sneesby explains. \u201cIt\u2019s a building that\u2019s over 100 years old now \u2026 [And] we didn\u2019t want to use the word \u2018club\u2019 or \u2018cabaret.\u2019 We wanted the focus to be on live music, rather than a nightclub.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a [musical] format,\u201d admits Sneesby. \u201cAs a matter of fact, if we don\u2019t get pigeon holed, it\u2019s better for us,\u201d he says, explaining that the more varied an audience the club can attract and maintain, the better for Winnipeg\u2019s live music scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to be comfortable riding their bikes there wearing what they\u2019re wearing to see a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shows start happening at 110 Market in August (including this issue\u2019s launch party, August 8th!), and with big gigs from Royal Canoe in August, and James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) in September announcing the venue\u2019s arrival. Other highlights include a stop by buzz band Majical Cloudz (August 14) and Bleached (September 13), with more lined up to be announced in the coming weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheldon Birnie, photo by Andrew Mazurak Tyler Sneesby sashays into Parlour Coffee on a warm July afternoon wearing a sharp denim outfit and brand new, bright white sneakers. We order Americanos, his hot and mine cold pressed. We are here to discuss, with great anticipation, the opening of Winnipeg\u2019s newest — and certainly one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[557,1052,1061],"class_list":["post-7432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-live-music","tag-union-sound-hall","tag-venues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}