Spotlight on Local Bands : Coach House to Help Emerging County Rock Groups

The Coach House, the leading club in Orange County for touring pop talent, will try to build an audience for home-grown music with twice-monthly bills featuring local rock groups.

The first show, Dec. 23, will feature two bands from Orange County, Wood and Smoke and Imagining Yellow Suns, along with a Los Angeles group, One Day.

“We’ll give ‘em decent days and keep the ticket prices down and see if we can make it work,” said Ken Phebus, the Coach House’s booking agent.

In the past, the club’s management has cited high overhead costs as a reason for not booking local bands on a regular basis. An attempt a few years ago to present local music on Wednesday nights failed to draw sufficient crowds, Phebus said. The plan now is to shoot for Thursday and Sunday nights when, according to Phebus, it is easier to draw a crowd, and “to try to be a little more sophisticated about how to promote local shows.” Phebus said the club will put out flyers advertising local acts through its mailing list.

While often praised for its national-act concerts, the Coach House has come in for some criticism locally for not doing its share to nurture emerging Orange County bands. Phebus said club management wants to be responsive. The new local shows, he said, are “not a money-making proposition, but maybe it’s a case where we’re giving something back.”

Jim Palmer, a booking agent who has worked to build up the Orange County rock music scene, hailed the prospect of the Coach House opening up to the locals. “It’s great news,” he said. “I would bend over backwards to help them” succeed.

Newly announced dates for touring bands at the Coach House include: Devo, Dec. 19; Jamaican reggae act Daddy U-Roy, Dec. 30; Ivan Neville and the Room, Jan. 5; Eek-A-Mouse, Jan. 7; Pete Bardens and Mick Fleetwood, Jan. 28; comedian Dennis Miller, Feb. 2; Cecilio & Kapono, Feb. 18-19; Tania Maria, Feb. 22; the Neville Brothers, Feb. 25; Stanley Jordan and band, March 10, and the Marshall Tucker Band, March 11.

The Coach House also is hosting a benefit show Tuesday by rock singer Shawn Phillips and mime David Ellzey. Proceeds will go to the Shelter of the Lambs, a home for abused children in Newport Beach. Admission is $25.

ELSEWHERE IN CLUBLAND: The Edie Brickell and New Bohemians show Saturday at Club Postnuclear is a sellout--the first advance sellout the Laguna Beach club has had since opening in July with a no-alcohol, no-smoking policy. The New Bohemians were the first act with a Top 40 album that the fledgling club has landed. There won’t be much of a wait for hit band No. 2: Information Society, whose debut album recently peaked at No. 25, arrives for a concert Dec. 17. Postnuclear also has added a Dec. 29 show by former Bronski Beat member Steve Bronski.