Scouting Rock’s Hot Nightspots

Want to match wits with the record industry’s street scouts? Here’s a guide to the nightspots where you are most likely to find the best of the rock hopefuls around town.

Coconut Teaszer (8117 Sunset Blvd., (213) 654-4773). A runaway winner in an informal poll of local tastemakers and scenesters, the 235-capacity Teaszer is praised for its relaxed atmosphere, but mostly for the high level of talent presented. Booker Len Fagan is so highly regarded as a judge of up-and-coming bands that he has received offers from several major labels to become an independent talent scout. Among his innovations: a biweekly showcase called “L.A.’s Best Kept Secrets,” and “residencies,” wherein particularly promising bands get weekly time slots for extended periods. Fagan estimates that nearly two dozen Teaszer regulars have been signed to label and publishing deals in the last two years.

The Best of the Rest

Club Lingerie (6507 Sunset Blvd., (213) 466-8557). Veteran booker Brendan Mullen, another shrewd judge of raw talent, generally pairs out-of-town headliners with L.A. bands of commensurate quality.

Bogart’s (Marina Pacifica Mall, 6288 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, (213) 594-8975). Steve Zepeda frequently presents the same national acts as the Lingerie, pairing them with young bands from the South Bay and Orange County, which makes the club a convenient stop for scouts who want to cover a lot of ground in a single evening.

The Whisky (8901 Sunset Blvd., (213) 652-4202). Voted the best hard-rock club of the moment in the poll, primarily for Monday’s “No Bozo Jam,” featuring four-song sets by up to a dozen acts. However, Columbia Records’ A&R; man Nick Terzo finds the atmosphere too “zoo-like” for his taste. Other nights are more variable in terms of talent. “It depends on which promoter is renting it out that night,” says one pub crawler.

The Roxy (9009 Sunset Blvd., (213) 276-2222). The comment about variable talent depending on which promoter rents the room also applies. Both the Roxy and Whisky--two of Los Angeles’ most historic clubs, are jointly owned and managed.

Gazzarri’s (9039 Sunset Blvd., (213) 273-6606). While the room, just up the street from the Roxy, is widely considered an unintentional parody of a rock club, several prominent bands, including Poison and Warrant, got their starts there.

Also worth checking out are the “revolving clubs”--the theme clubs that take over existing venues one night a week. The most notable: English Acid (Wednesdays at Peanuts, 7969 Santa Monica Blvd., (213) 654-0280, Xposeur 54 (Sundays at Circus Disco, 6655 Santa Monica Blvd., (213) 462-1291) and the parade of events at Hollywood Live (6840 Hollywood Blvd., (213) 461-6266).