Notes from the underground

Lack of all-ages venues drives kids into desert, junkyard

By Newt Briggs

Roxie, the 23-year-old bassist for local rock throwbacks the Loud Pipes, is serious about Las Vegas' all-ages music scene--so serious, in fact, that when another local band sent out an e-mail suggesting that nothing was going on with the all-ages crowd, Roxie wrote back, "Are you high?...I'm not in public relations or anything, but I'm pretty sure that insulting their scene is not a good way to get the kids to rally behind you or your band."

Little did Roxie know at the time that her e-mails were going out to every person on the offending band's mailing list, which basically included every music writer in town. Informed of her accidental manifesto, she says, "Oops. Well, I guess somebody had to say it."

But even Roxie's passion for the all-ages scene pales in comparison to that of 15-year-old Devon Ries. A longtime punk fan and budding D.I.Y. entrepreneur, Ries recently dropped $100 on a used generator, hoping to organize and produce all-ages rock shows in the desert. But when he got the mini-power plant back to his house, he discovered that it barely had enough juice to run a lighting system--much less a full-blown outdoor concert.

"It doesn't have enough, like, wattage," says Ries, who's selling the underpowered appliance on eBay. Only temporarily deterred, he's resolved to rent generators until he can afford one with adequate power. It may seem like a drastic endeavor for someone not yet old enough to operate a motor vehicle, but in a city where 21-and-over is the watchword, underground rock shows are one of the few live music options for youngsters disenchanted with the sporadic Top 40 offerings of the Strip. "There's a big all-ages crowd here," Reis says, "but there's nowhere for them to go."

Ries' sentiment is echoed by 27-year-old Danny Vasquez, an all-ages promoter and founder of Revenge Therapy Productions. A SoCal transplant, Vasquez saw his first show in Las Vegas six years ago at "The Tubes"--a legendary outdoor all-ages venue off of Losee Road. "It was just an old sewer pipe, but there were all these kids out there with generators and a bonfire and all that," says Vasquez. "It was insane."

Tapping into that energy, Vasquez began producing shows around town--most notably at Skate City, which was shut down due to noise violations in 2003. After that, he tried to move his shows to the Crystal Palace on Boulder Highway, but he once again ran afoul of the fuzz.

"It's really a problem of real estate," Vasquez says. "There are so few places where kids can gather without the neighbors calling the police."

One such place is the desert, which seems to once again be attracting bands bored by the local status quo. Last Saturday, for example, the Loud Pipes hosted an outdoor show at a dry lakebed on the way to Searchlight. A handful of bands--including the Pervz, the Sin City Ghouls and the Dirty Babies--played for what Roxie estimates was more than 100 friends and fans, many of them under 21. "There would have been more if the kids could have found the place," says Roxie. "It was out in the middle of nowhere."

Roxie also cites the Hammer House--a makeshift hardcore venue in a junkyard off Hammer Lane--as an alternative to the bar scene. And according to Ries, there will always be house parties hosted by members of the all-ages crowd. "They mainly have them when their parents are out of town," he says. Asked if Metro ever shows up at these impromptu gigs, Reis replies, "Yeah, the last one I went to got busted by the cops."

Still--for all the closed venues and cancelled shows--Roxie, Vasquez and Reis are optimistic about Las Vegas' all-ages music scene. "We don't have it that bad at all," Roxie says. "At least we've got the will to go out and try something new every time. It's not like we get down when one of the venues doesn't work out, it's as if it's opening a door for us to get more creative and find a new venue to have these shows in."