Club Yanks Roots for Hard Rock

After failing in its attempt to resurrect the roots-music approach of the old Sunset Pub, the Newport Roadhouse in Costa Mesa has moved toward a diet slanted toward hard rock.

Steve Schiro, who owns the Roadhouse, at 1700 Placentia Ave., said this week that he turned to outside rock promoters after the bid to replicate the Sunset Pub’s approach failed to draw large enough crowds. Schiro said business disagreements with Gabriel Tellez, the former Sunset Pub manager who was overseeing the roots-oriented shows, also contributed to their split in July.

Dorian May, an independent hard rock and heavy metal promoter, said he recently began booking three nights a week at the Roadhouse, and will expand to a fourth night later this month. May, who runs shows on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, and will expand to Thursdays as well, has installed a modified form of the controversial “pay-to-play” system that dominates the Southern California hard rock scene.

On Saturdays, another outside promoter, Tony Cardullo, promotes rock shows in which bands are guaranteed a share of the door proceeds. Cardullo said he started trying to run dance nights featuring recorded music at the Roadhouse several months ago, but decided the club was better suited to live bands.

One fixture that has remained unchanged at the Newport Roadhouse is its Friday night tenant, New Klub on the Block. Promoter Craig McGahey has been presenting the weekly alternative-rock shows since February, when Schiro reopened the Roadhouse after installing a larger stage and changing its name from Popeye’s.

“They’ve been very successful,” Schiro said. “Their promotional efforts have been excellent. Those nights have been consistently good.”

The attempt to transplant the approach of the Sunset Pub, which closed last December, “started out quite promisingly” in February, Schiro said. “Then it just tapered down. I didn’t feel the time was being devoted to get the job done.”

Mark Coultas, the booking agent who worked with Tellez to duplicate the Sunset Pub formula, said that Schiro wasn’t willing to give the concept enough time or a sufficient advertising budget to succeed. Coultas said that he and Tellez still have hopes of establishing a roots-oriented club in Orange County, but “we’re going to wait for some funding and do it right.”

May, who also promotes at the Marquee hard rock club in Westminster, said that he has been charging bands a $50 deposit to play at the Newport Roadhouse, but he refunds it if they draw 25 people or more. Bands that prove they have a reliable draw no longer have to pay the deposit.

May has instituted daylong, multi-act Sunday rock marathons at the Roadhouse, starting at 2 or 3 p.m. and continuing until late at night. He also has plans for special events, including a communal drummers’ jam on Dec. 12.

RENTAL ROCK: Indecent X-Posure, a Mission Viejo hard rock band, is making a bid for increased exposure by renting out Irvine Meadows for a show on Nov. 16.

Actually, the eight-hour, multi-band event won’t take place inside the 15,000-capacity Irvine Meadows, but on the large, village-green-style lawn immediately outside the amphitheater.

Jeff Totten, a member of Indecent X-Posure’s management team, said an unusual chain of events led to the booking. The band had planned a record release party in September at Michael’s Supper Club, a small club in Dana Point. When ticket sales ran far beyond Michael’s capacity, Totten said, the band decided to move up a step, to a 2,500-seat outdoor theater on the former site of Lion Country Safari, which is next door to Irvine Meadows.

Matt Curto, director of operations at Irvine Meadows, had a problem with that: Indecent X-Posure was going to play on Oct. 25, the same night as a concert by Reba McEntire and Vince Gill at Irvine Meadows. Concerned that hard rockers next door would drown out the country singers, Curto asked Indecent X-Posure to change its plans.

According to Totten, the band and Curto eventually struck a deal to move the show to the Irvine Meadows grounds. The amphitheater’s official season ended with an Oingo Boingo concert last Saturday.

Curto said that the band’s total costs for renting Irvine Meadows and hiring ushers and security guards for the day could run to about $7,500.

“I get calls like this all the time,” he said. “I almost tried to talk them out of it.”

Totten said that about 1,000 tickets have been sold for the show, which is billed as “Generation ‘90’s Music Explosion.” Besides Indecent X-Posure, the lineup includes Los Angeles hard-rock acts Flesh, Dr. Strange and One-Eyed Jacks, plus two additional bands to be named. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. and runs until about 8:30 p.m. Tickets bought in advance from the bands cost $10; they can also be purchased through Ticketmaster for $15.75, or at the box office the day of the show for $12.25. Information: (714) 768-4148.