By Andrew Bansal
The oldest rock venue on the Sunset Strip and one of the oldest in America, the Whisky-A-Go-Go is ushering in its 50th anniversary with a full month’s worth of celebratory shows this January. The club has already hosted some memorable shows such as the fantastic Led Zeppelin tribute gig by the Moby Dicks to kick off the celebrations on January 2nd, Lita Ford’s incredible show with special guests Cherie Currie, Slash and Glenn Hughes the week after, and great shows by Doors tribute band Wild Child, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, and Los Angeles punk veterans Fear.
There’s still a multitude of potentially amazing shows lined up for the rest of the month, but the marquee occasion for the club is January 16 2014, which will mark its exact 50th anniversary. Fittingly, Robby Krieger, guitarist of the Doors who have such history associated with this club, will headline this momentous event, performing under the moniker ‘Robby Krieger’s Jam Kitchen’. To discuss the anniversary celebrations and the past, present and future of the club, owner Mikael Maglieri, son of original owner Mario Magliari, spoke to Metal Assault on January 13. “It’s been amazing! The first week has already been crazy. We had Lita Ford, sold out, with Slash coming out to jam with her. We had Fear the other night, Dramarama last night. It’s been a great week so far and we haven’t even hit the busy stuff. This week’s going to be even crazier. We’ve got X coming up, Buckcherry, and our red carpet event on the actual day of the anniversary, and the Bangles and Infectious Grooves at the end of the month. So there’s going to be a lot more to come”, he said.
On the subject of anniversaries and historic dates, Mikael commented, “I love anniversary dates in general. Over the Rainbow we did our 40th anniversary as a parking lot party in 2012. We did a party on the 41st anniversary the following year as well and we’re going to do it every year. I’d love to do it at the Whisky the same way every year if we could!” As for the month-long celebration in January, Mikael admits it wasn’t the original idea. “We were actually going to do just one night for the 60s, one for the 70s, 80s and so forth, but it was hard to get a walkdown on everybody on certain dates, so we kind of worked with everybody’s tour schedules and whatever we could work out for the month of January, and it all just fell into place.”
While he says the club didn’t have any specific preferences in terms of what particular artists to book for this month, he maintains that the artists’ history with the Whisky was the deciding factor. “Our only thing with the artists chosen to play this month was, we wanted to make sure they had some sort of history with the club, some sort of involvement. We had a lot of bands interested that didn’t really have the history we wanted. So we wanted to make sure everyone had a part to play in the Whisky being around.”
Aside from questions pertaining to the 50th anniversary, Mikael was asked to compare the present-day version of the club to what it was a decade or two decades ago, and he said, “It hasn’t changed much, but we’ve tried to keep everything as upscale as possible. We’ve revamped all the sound systems, lighting systems, put fresh paint on the walls. We’ve tried to keep the same open-room vibe and the small-show atmosphere it’s always had. So, as far as aesthetics, it hasn’t changed much, and musically we try to do the same too. We try to bring all the hits from back in the day and try to get a lot of the new stuff at the same time. There’s a lot of dates to book every month, so we’ve got to keep it current and keep the older folks happy too.”
Regarding future plans for the club, Mikael simply states, “It’s business as usual. We’ve just got to stay on the cutting edge of music, keep everything going and keep the good shows coming in. There’s a bunch of bands that we’ve never had and we’d love to, so we’ll keep going after stuff like that and will strive to make it happen.”
And lastly, when questioned about how the disappearance of other Sunset Strip venues like the Key Club and Cat Club in recent years has impacted the Whisky, he said, “The clientele is huge. People are always coming to Sunset. But of course, when people come to Sunset, they expect rock, so it’s a big responsibility for us to keep that going and keep the rock bands coming. It definitely hurts a little bit when the other clubs close. I’d rather have a bunch of clubs that give people a lot of different reasons to come and hang out and go from club to club. So, that sucks, but at least we can be the place that everyone can come to and feel comfortable knowing that they’re going to get the stuff they want to hear.”
Over these past 50 years, the Whisky-A-Go-Go has served host to a plethora of iconic moments in rock history, and based on the constantly high level of activity it’s seeing in the present day, it’s safe to say the club is set to continue being an integral part of the Sunset Strip rock culture for several decades to come.
Related Links: Moby Dicks gig review | Lita Ford gig review
Visit the Whisky-A-Go-Go on the web:
WhiskyAGoGo.com
facebook.com/theWhiskyAGoGo
twitter.com/theWhiskyAGoGo
instagram.com/theWhiskyAGoGo