Canoga Park Club Shuts Down; Heavy Metal Format Fails to Fly

Last November, heavy metal music became a fixture in the San Fernando Valley when Michael Fell’s Industry club opened in Canoga Park.

“We want to become the smallest largest showcase in the world for rock ‘n’ roll,” Fell said last year, as he announced his intention to stage shows at least three nights a week.

But Fell’s plans have fallen through, as the club closed recently. Efforts to contact Fell were unsuccessful, but rock promoter Jason Lord, head of Jungle Productions in Sylmar, said the last show at Michael Fell’s Industry was held in late August. Bands featured at the club included Omen, Vice, Brunette, Precious Metal and Sibling Rivalry.

Michael Faley, president of Metal Blade records in Sherman Oaks--which primarily records heavy metal bands--said he is not surprised by the failure of the Canoga Park club.

“It’s too far away from the Hollywood scene,” Faley said. “If people went there, they were stuck there for the night. But if you cruise Hollywood, you can go from one bar to another. That’s especially true for people in the record industry who want to hear a lot of different bands. They don’t have time to be stuck in one place.”

Faley said the club’s closure will hurt aspiring heavy metal bands in the Valley. “They’ll have to go back to the pay-for-play situation in Hollywood,” he said, referring to club owners who require bands to pay money to perform. “The bands with the most money, not the most talent, will find gigs.”

Still, Faley is optimistic that another club will eventually fill the void left by Industry’s closing. “That’s the way it is in the Valley. One club closes, and another comes right in.”

BENEFIT: Cafe Largo in the Fairfax District will hold a benefit Oct. 22 for Earth Action, a nonprofit organization formed to raise public consciousness about the environment and other social causes.

Paul Gordon, a singer/songwriter who will sing at the benefit, said Earth Action’s Los Angeles branch opened several months ago and has already collected clothing for the homeless. Gordon wrote “Next Time I Fall,” a duet performed by Peter Cetera and Amy Grant last year. Also scheduled to perform are Katy Segal, star of TV’s “Married with Children,” who has toured with Bob Dylan and Bette Midler; and Danny Peck, a writer for Geffen Music.

The show begins at 8:30 p.m., and admission is $10.

Also, an evening of spoken word performance and music will take place at Cafe Largo Oct. 25 at 9 p.m.

Scheduled to appear are Pamela Des Barres, who will read from her book “I Am With the Band--Confessions of a Groupie”; Danny Sugerman, former manager of the Doors who will read from his new bestseller “Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour & Excess”; and Michael Ford, a poet whose readings will be accompanied by Ray Manzarek, the Doors’ keyboardist.

The show costs $7.

GUITAR MAN: Japanese jazz-fusion guitarist Kazumi Watanabe will perform Oct. 21 at At My Place in Santa Monica.

Watanabe has been recording since 1971, when he was 17. Swing Journal, one of Japan’s most prestigious music magazines, has named him guitarist of the year for nine years in a row. He has played with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, Sting, David Sanborn and Michael Brecker. His new album, “Kilowatt,” will be distributed soon on the Mesa/Bluemoon record label.

Watanabe will perform two shows, at 8:30 and 10 p.m.