CLUB REVIEW : Reborn Gashouse Series Makes a Killer Comeback

Club Lingerie’s recent closing appeared to be a sad day for loyalists of Gashouse, the Monday night series started by promoter Mary Nixon five years ago. Not only were the shows always free, but you could also be among the first to see some of the best underground bands on the local circuit.

Not to worry. Nixon--who feared that gratis Monday competition from the Whisky and other venues that jumped on the concept last year would eliminate the night altogether--came back fighting at the bigger and, surprisingly, better Roxbury.

Now titled Death Bar 2000, the series moved to the West Hollywood venue four weeks ago. The Roxbury offers a boost in the form of a second stage, doubling the live bands appearing to an average of 10. And the club’s surplus of rooms gives you the chance to migrate away from the noise every so often, an element the venerable Lingerie lacked.

The small downstairs stage allows for an intimate experience, while the roomy stage upstairs is the perfect showcase for more mature local talent. The upscale Roxbury, however, does present some oddities. Any veteran of the Gashouse will note the irony of the stretch limo parked outside during last Monday’s free show.

* Death Bar 2000 at the Roxbury, 8225 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 18 and over, no cover. Death Bar information, (213) 934-2990; club information, (213) 656-1750.

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Club Buzz: With the disco and punk resurgences leaving the fringes and migrating toward the mainstream, what’s a town to do but go Gothic? Two more nights of music for the clad-in-black-from-lips-to-toe crowd have been added to the already plentiful scene: Perversion at the Diamond Club on Thursdays and Gothic at the Roxbury on Fridays.

Perversion, a new dance night from the promoter of Helter Skelter--the Gothic scene’s longest-running club, at the Probe on Wednesdays--promises a night of industrial, alternative and techno at the Hollywood venue. The week-old Gothic intends to compete directly with Stigmata, a club at the Probe that attracts the Helter Skelter crowd on Thursday, by adding a dash of funk and painted go-go dancers to the mix.

Elsewhere, Bossa Nova, a Friday night ambient and world jazz scene at Santa Monica’s plush 217 Broadway club, is giving the Westside something to groove to. KCRW deejays Jason Bentley and Bruno Guez host the two-month-old, Sunday night club, which already counts trip-hop’s Tricky and Mo’Wax’s DJ Shadow among its guest deejay alumni.

* Perversion, (213) 462-7442. Gothic, (213) 656-1750. Bossa Nova, (310) 281-6692.