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The Independent

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The Independent
The Independent
Background information
Founded 1968 (The Blue Note)
1981 (The VIS)
1987 (The Kennel Club)
1997 (The Justice League)
2004 (The Independent)
Capacity 500
Location San Francisco, California, USA
Website The Independent Official

The Independent is a venue based in San Francisco, California. An intimate general admission venue based on 628 Divisadero Ave., The Independent has been active under its current incarnation since 2004.[1] Though the space itself has a storied history in underground and independent music, hosting a wide range of musical acts under numerous names, such as The Half-Note, The Kennel Club and The Justice League.[2]

The Independent (and its previous incarnations) have hosted a wide range of music over the years along with many up-and-coming acts, numerous of which going on to greater success.

History[]

In 1967, Herman Warren sat with 49er Kermit Alexander in a bar called Emanon at 628 Divisadero Street. Warren owned Sugar Hill, a blues venue on Broadway, but joked with Alexander about opening up a low-key hangout spot. At first it was only a joke — until he threw down an impromptu offer to claim the space.

Soon after, Warren and his wife Norma opened The Half Note Club at 628 Divisadero, a jazz club boasting an elite lineup of demi-god performers like Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Al Jarreau (whose career they started when they gave him a spot singing with the George Duke Trio).

The clientele in the 60s and 70s, by Warren’s own account, consisted of a lot of major league athletes, and the staff even had a friendly softball rivalry with a competing jazz club up the street, The Both/And. The losing team would have to drink at the winner’s bar. The Half Note’s team, led by a young politico pitcher named Willie Brown, tended to win most of the time. The following was stated of both jazz clubs in The Sun Reporter circa 26 June 1965: “I think congratulations are doubly in order when seemingly every other club owner in town is hiring half-nude chicks in the rat race for a greedy dollar. It’s nice to know at least two club owners who didn’t join the stampede.”[3][4]

As time went on, the city experienced rapid growth and change, and The Half Note Club couldn’t keep up. Warren sold the property in the early 1980s, and the venue became known as The Vis. This version of 628 Divisadero dipped its toes into punk and experimental bands. Not much is known about The Vis, but the venue’s popularity declined rapidly compared to its predecessor and would host it's last shows in early 1987.[5]

The Kennel Club began in 1987; one of the first bands to perform was Jane’s Addiction, establishing The Kennel Club as an avenue for alternative music. Three years later, on 14 February 1990, patrons of The Kennel Club saw Nirvana perform for the second time in the city. Other notable concerts at the venue include Dinosaur Jr, The Melvins, and The Jesus Lizard.

Three years after the Nirvana show, Kevin Arnold and Jordan Kurland started to plan a music festival that would showcase all the talented and emerging artists around the area. The two gathered five bands together at The Kennel Club and sold 800 tickets at $5 each, creating the first annual Noise Pop Festival. Noise Pop would go on to become one of San Francisco’s most notorious music festivals.

After seven years, the owner of The Kennel Club became exhausted with handling the venue and decided to sell it. It eventually became The Crash Palace. Unfortunately, The Crash Palace was a complete failure and couldn’t establish either an audience or a clear purpose. Within a year, The Crash Palace put on only three performances, and the owners had to sell the club in 1994.[6]

Between late 1994 and 1997, there was not a single concert at 628 Divisadero. It took one brave man, Michael O’Connor, to change the music scene. This time, instead of jazz, punk, or alternative, O’Connor wanted to bring a new element to the club: hip-hop. The Justice League became a hip-hop, electronic, and reggae club run in O’Connor’s guerrilla style. He took out the agents and booked artists based on direct appeal. This proved strenuous but effective and eventually landed the club some big names such as The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and Fatboy Slim.[7] Sadly, due to poor management, continuing change in the market and other incidents including a shootout on 4 October 2001 leaving a 22-year-old man dead,[8] The Justice League had to close its doors in 2002.

Currently the space is known as The Independent, a music venue that has become world famous and the most successful venue hosted to date at 628 Divisadero. It opened in 2004 after Allen Scott bought out The Justice League in hopes of creating a venue to give artists and fans a better experience. Scott received some help from Gregg Perloff and Sherry Wasserman when they asked him to join their new entertainment agency, Another Planet Entertainment. The three of them went to work transforming The Justice League into The Independent. History played a big part in The Independent. Scott wanted to create a venue that could host any genre of music. It held onto the jazz from The Half Note, the punk and experimental from The Vis, The Alternative from The Kennel Club, and the hip-hop, electronica, and reggae from The Justice League. Scott learned from the past and quickly established himself and the venue as a serious musical contender in the city.

They put in as little money as possible and focused on fixing the lights, sound system, and soundproofing. The simplicity of The Justice League appealed to Scott, so he tried to maintain the environment. Crew members often slept over night before the security alarm was set. I Am Spoonbender was set to perform on opening night. The fire department approved the venue while the band was doing its soundcheck. It was a risky effort to attempt to create a high-end venue in such little time, but Scott managed to pull it off.

Scott also liked the idea of showcasing emerging artists, and he excelled at it. Many artists that started off playing in The Independent became Coachella headliners, including Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, fun., Zedd, Miguel, Foster the People, M.I.A., Disclosure, The National, and The xx. Along with introducing emerging artists to the world, The Independent also hosts arena-filling artists within its intimate, 500-person-capacity space, including The Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, John Legend, Sonic Youth, Phoenix, Dave Chappelle, and Beck. In between these incredible acts, you can find local artists, hoping to make it big like the previous acts have.[9]

Following a closure for sixteen months due to the CO-VID19 Pandemic, The Independent would re-open on 9 July 2021 with Con Brio as the performing act.[10]

Venue Incarnations[]

  • Emanon (1967)
  • The Half-Note Club (1968 - 1980)
  • The Vis (1981 - 1987)
  • The Kennel Club (1987 - 1994)
  • The Crash Palace (1994)
  • The Justice League (1997 - 2002)
  • The Independent (2004 - Present)

List of Selected Performers at The Venue[]

The Half-Note Club[]

  • Thelonious Monk
  • Miles Davis
  • Al Jarreau

The Vis Club[]

  • Melvins
  • Green River
  • Helios Creed
  • The Mr. T Experience
  • The Flaming Lips
  • Raw Power
  • Rhythm Pig

The Kennel Club[]

  • Melvins
  • Sleep
  • Neurosis
  • Eyehategod
  • Buzzov*en
  • Voivod
  • Monster Magnet
  • Ruins
  • Blue Cheer
  • Jane's Addiction
  • Mazzy Star
  • X
  • Ween
  • Nirvana
  • Soundgarden
  • Rollins Band
  • Harry Dean Stanton
  • Boredoms
  • NoMeansNo
  • Crazy Horse
  • Cop Shoot Cop
  • Chokebore
  • Codeine
  • D.O.A.
  • The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
  • Helmet
  • GWAR
  • Flipper
  • Die Kreuzen
  • Daevid Allen
  • Gil Scott-Heron
  • Mr. Bungle
  • Primus
  • Redd Kross
  • Dinosaur Jr.
  • Mudhoney
  • Monks of Doom
  • Queen Latifah

The Justice League[]

The Independent[]

External Links[]

References[]

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