At Disney Mall, Punk Fans Have a House

Officials at the House of Blues opening next month in Anaheim’s new Downtown Disney mall didn’t book Orange County punk-rock bands Lit and Social Distortion simply to fill the 1,000-capacity club, but also to send out a couple of messages to the pop community.

First, despite the new club’s ties with Disney, there will be nothing Mickey Mouse about its musical leanings. And second, that local audiences, not just Disneyland tourists, are high on the club’s priority list.

“One thing [about] our deal with Disney: We have total control [over bookings],” said Kevin Morrow, vice president of entertainment for House of Blues Entertainment Inc., in which the Walt Disney Co. also has a minority ownership interest. “We wouldn’t allow another party, no matter who it was, to control the artists that are going to be playing.

“Besides, that’s the one thing Disney wants with us: We’re the edgy component of their new venture,” Morrow said. “Disney’s not the Disney of 20 years ago, they’re growing up too. They’re thrilled that we’re doing bands like Lit and Social Distortion.”

Along with Lit’s Jan. 12-13 dates and Social Distortion’s Jan. 23-27 stand, the initial lineup at the club includes blues legend John Lee Hooker (Jan. 14), rock en espanol group Jaguares (Jan. 16-18) and guitarist Steve Vai (Jan. 20) for added musical diversity. (Tickets so far range from $25 to $42.50, putting the venue’s prices on par with other area clubs.)

The bookings not coincidentally also send a message to Orange County’s existing pop-rock clubs that a powerful new competitor has arrived.

The Lit and Social Distortion bookings are a particular source of pride both for Morrow, who was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Costa Mesa, and talent buyer John Pantle, 29, an Orange County native who spent years booking shows at various alternative local clubs before going to work in 1994 for House of Blues.

“Whenever we open a House of Blues we try to do it in a way that’s more sensitive to the local population,” Morrow, 47, said. “They’re the ones who are buying the majority of our tickets. . . . We try to book a lot of local bands so the locals will come down and support us.”

Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert-industry magazine Pollstar, agrees that local support will make or break a concert club, no matter how closely it may be tied to tourist attractions.

“I think the tourist element is a real plus,” Bongiovanni said, “but . . . for a nightclub to be successful, they’ll have to develop a local base of fans who support the club on a pretty consistent level.”

That’s not to say that anything goes as House of Blues Anaheim attempts to woo the locals.

“Obviously,” Morrow said, “we’re going to be sensitive that there are going to be families and young kids running around” Downtown Disney, a retail and entertainment mall that is akin to Universal CityWalk and will be home not only to the eighth club in the House of Blues chain, but also to an ESPN sports bar, a New Orleans-style jazz club and a Latin-themed supper club.

Still, they insist bookings will be every bit as wide-ranging as those at the chain’s West Hollywood, Chicago or New Orleans establishments.

By way of comparison, they point to the House of Blues in the Downtown Disney complex in Orlando, Fla. Such family-friendly acts as teen-pop group LFO, Hootie & the Blowfish and KC & the Sunshine Band have recently played the Florida club, along with such harder-edged acts as Bad Religion, the Misfits and 311.

“We’ve done 90% of these acts [likely to play the House of Blues in Anaheim] in Orlando,” Morrow said. Second-guessing by Disney “is not going to be an issue.”

Competition, however, will be.

The House of Blues’ biggest competitor, because of its similar size and nearby Anaheim location, is the 1,200-seat Sun Theatre.

The two figure to be fierce competitors over touring headliners, although Morrow politely concedes that the Sun’s larger capacity will give it an edge in terms of offering acts a bigger paycheck for a sold-out show.

One sore point among the veteran O.C. concert club operators is House of Blues West Hollywood’s exclusivity clauses in contracts that prevent other clubs in the region from booking or advertising dates with the same artists.

The argument for invoking such clauses is that other shows in the vicinity would siphon business away from the West Hollywood club dates. Competitors say House of Blues operators are being overprotective in a metropolitan area of well over 10 million people.

“The irony of all this,” said Sun concert director Ken Phebus, “is that the House of Blues in L.A. has tried to keep artists from playing Orange County, and so force Orange County fans to drive to L.A. to see them. Now, after years of telling booking agents, managers and artists that it would be a conflict for them to play Los Angeles and Orange County dates, they are in Orange County booking talent.”

Morrow and Pantle intend to route acts through both the West Hollywood and Anaheim clubs. (Social Distortion, for instance, will play three nights in West Hollywood--Jan. 17-19--before the group’s Anaheim shows.)

“I don’t see that the two relate,” responds Pantle. “We’ll have two different venues, each with its own flavor. Orange County has always been an important part of our audience at the Sunset Strip club, and we’re real excited to be bringing some of the same excitement down to the heart of Orange County.”

Other Orange County club owners don’t anticipate tussling much with House of Blues.

“I think they’ll be more competition for the Sun--I don’t see them doing a lot of the acts that we’ll do,” said Coach House and Galaxy Concert Theatre owner Gary Folgner, who fended off all Orange County concert club competitors for some 15 years, until the Sun opened last year. To date the Sun has landed the majority of major club headliners.

Likewise, Crazy Horse Steak House owner Jay Nuccio said he expects the new House of Blues to have only a minor impact on his 600-seat Irvine club, where country music is the dominant sound.

Despite the wrangling between the Sun and House of Blues that figures to be part of their daily business routines, no one suggests that the Orange County market can’t support another new venue.

“There are plenty of entertainment dollars here--this is one of the richest counties in the world,” said Folgner, whose Galaxy seats 550 and Coach House seats 475. “For a long time we’ve basically had three clubs, which is not very many for [an area within easy reach of] 7 million people.”

“I think it’s very good news for fans, with the booking policy as diverse at it is and the fact that they will program the room seven nights a week,” added Bongiovanni. “People in Orange County now have a lot of choices, where before they might have had to drive a long way to see a lot of these shows.”