The sounds of B-town

In a college town with one of the top music schools in the nation, there is bound to be local music talent. Throw in a variety of bars and live music venues, and almost every day of the week offers an opportunity to catch a listen.

We talked to the owners of four all-ages live music venues around town to see if there are any unifying characteristics of the bands and performers making music in town. Is Bloomington a bluegrass town? Is it an indie rock town? Maybe a hip-hop town?

It turns out it’s more of an everything town. But from what we gathered, each venue manages to offer its own assortment of “everything.”  

Max’s Place
109 W. Seventh St.
Type of music:
“Basically anything that’s off the beaten path,” says owner Travers Marks. “We don’t really go for big cover bands. We like classic rock, but we don’t usually book it. We don’t like top 40, but bluegrass, reggae, blues, jazz, any weird combination thereof, singer-songwriters, that’s Max’s Place.”

 The Bloomington scene:
“It’s a breeding ground,” Marks says. “It’s a place where you are not likely too make much money playing, but you’re going to be able to find the people you need to start the band you always dreamed of.”
The Max’s Place scene:
Marks says two simple words sum up the restaurant’s niche within the Bloomington music scene: Hirsute (meaning shaggy) and liberal.   

Before you go:
Don’t eat before seeing a band at Max’s Place. Grab a table with your friends, share a pizza, and stay a while.

Rachael’s Café
300 E. Third St.
Type of music:
Owner Rachael Jones said the restaurant has had every genre of music except country. Jones says people looking to soak up music at Rachael’s can expect to hear punk, folk, Irish, hip-hop, as well as plenty of local independent acts.

 The Bloomington scene:
“I feel blessed with how many places there are to go,” Jones says. She also says the Jacobs School of Music has a positive influence on the talent and musical diversity of many of the bands that play in Bloomington — especially when the bands are made up of students.

 The Rachael’s Café scene:
“We are so many different things,” Jones says. “We are a coffee shop in the daytime and a music venue at night. We also are not limited to people 21 and over. Any age can come. In fact, we had a women’s music night recently, and there was a girl playing that was younger than 10.”   

Before you go:
While Rachael’s Cafe can fill the place to capacity at night with its live music and DJ events, don’t forget that it’s also a great place to study or relax during the day. The place is adorned with bizarre sculptures, stimulating artwork, and loaded bookshelves for customers to enjoy. And even though the tables and chairs are removed for dance parties, the couches are always there if you need to take a breather.  

 The Bishop (an 18+ venue)
123 S. Walnut St.
Type of music:
“We’re not too genre-specific,” says owner Stephen Westrich. “(We have had) everything from rock bands, indie rock bands, alt-country, hip-hop. But if we lean towards one thing it’s an indie rock environment, I guess.”

 The Bloomington scene:
“I guess I would say that we’re lucky to have an abnormally productive music scene,” Westrich says. “I grew up in a town the same size of Bloomington, and there was nothing going on. It’s unusual the amount of quality coming out of here.”
 
The Bishop scene:
“In terms of places that regularly do live music, we only do original music,” Westrich says. “We definitely embrace local bands like nobody else does and we really solely concentrate on original music. We’ve turned down things we know would bring us 200 people, but we don’t do them. There’s an audience for those kinds of things, but we brand ourselves as something different.”

Before you go:
People over the age of 21 can go directly to the bar area after checking in at the door, but anyone younger will be directed to the stage area to hang out until the band gets on.  

Rhino’s Youth Center
331 S. Walnut St.
Type of music:
“We’re very open-ended,” assistant director David Britton says. “We do everything from national and international touring bands to local high school bands. We do metal, hip-hop, rock, folk music, and really a lot of everything, but we do try to concentrate on local music. “

The Bloomington scene:
Britton says the music scene in Bloomington is pretty good, considering the fact that many local bands are getting national attention. However, he also says the scene could use a pick-me-up from local music fans.
“I’d like to see the audience grow more,” Britton says. “It’s kind of a small town, and there are a lot of good bands, but there are not necessarily enough people to see them on any given night of the week. There is a pool of maybe a thousand people who go to shows, and if we had more of the populous aware of what’s going on, it would help out a lot.”

The Rhino’s Scene:
Britton says what sets Rhino’s apart from many of the other live music venues in Bloomington is that it’s an entirely all-ages club. He says he also likes to take the risk of booking younger bands that can’t get booked at other places because of age restrictions.  
“We’re also a bigger venue compared some of the other places,” Britton says. “So we can bring in bigger name artists.”  

Before you go:
Students from the local Harmony Education Center started Rhino’s in 1992. Since then, the venue has offered a variety of non-music programs for youth. In the past, Rhino’s has helped organize film screenings, dance parties, and various fundraising events.