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| | Issue #21.35 :: 08/27/2008 - 09/02/2008 | Lyons Brothers Celebrate Four Years as New Brookland Tavern Owners
| BY FREE TIMES WRITERS
| Congratulations are in order to Mike and Danny Lyons — this Friday, the Lyons brothers celebrate their four-year anniversary of owning New Brookland Tavern. The Lyons brothers purchased New Brookland from Bob Marzbanian in 2004, but it almost didn’t happen.
“We were told there was another buyer interested in purchasing the place to turn it into a restaurant, which neither of us wanted to happen,” Mike Lyons says. “Luckily the owner at the time felt the same way and was willing to work with us in order to keep NBT going as a music venue.”
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| New Brookland Tavern |
The Lyons brothers have indeed kept the venerable venue alive, maintaining its status as Columbia’s oldest continuously running rock club. And that’s no small feat, especially given the volatile nature of the music-promotion business and today’s economic climate. So double kudos to Mike and Danny not only for keeping New Brookland afloat, but also for keeping alive its reputation as one of this town’s go-to places for national and regional touring acts as well as killer local music. Not that it’s been easy.
“It’s been a hell of a lot harder than I thought,” Mike Lyons says. “[But] overall I’d say it’s been worth it. Nobody doing music in Columbia is going to become rich anytime soon, but it’s been a lot of fun making a living doing something we enjoy as opposed to having to work a nine-to-five job.”
So congratulations, boys, and here’s to the next four years and beyond. The New Brookland Tavern celebrates its fourth year under the benevolent hands of the Lyonses Friday with some kick-ass cover bands: The Sandinistas hail from Charleston and perform the songs of The Clash like no one I’ve ever heard. And the Holy City foursome doesn’t just gloss over the classics; the band runs the gamut from hit singles such as “London Calling” and “Train in Vain” to well-respected classics such as “Janie Jones” and “Spanish Bombs” to deep cuts such as “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad” and “Lost in the Supermarket,” diving equally deep into each of The Clash’s releases and performing everything with outstanding aplomb. Local Social Distortion cover outfit Mommy’s Little Monsters opens, and New Brookland kicks off the night with a Guitar Hero competition, the grand prize of which is $75. Doors open at 8 p.m., but the Guitar Hero signup begins at 5 p.m. The New Brookland Tavern is located at 122 State St. in West Columbia; call 791-4413 or visit newbrooklandtavern.com for more information.
Attention, local bands: Being a house band is good work if you can get it. And it just so happens that you might be able to get it: The Vista and Harbison locations of the Carolina Ale House are looking for a house band, and they’re hosting a battle of the bands competition to find one. WARQ and WMFX will be on hand, judging the competition as part of its live remote broadcast from each location. The competition begins Sept. 6 at the Harbison location of the Carolina Ale House; interested parties should call 227-4615 or email bharpster@innercitysc.com for more information.
Quick Hits: Hey, you should be checking out the Free Times web site — free-times.com — basically all the time, but boy do we ever have some incentive for you this week! In addition to some Local + Loud overflow, this week’s online extras include interviews with former Get-Up Kids and New Amsterdams frontman Matt Pryor (performing at New Brookland Tavern on Saturday) and former 112 frontman Slim (stopping by WHXT-FM from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday for an on-air promo session as part of the Palmetto Capital City Classic)! Wow!
The Playlist is a discussion of life, the universe and everything — but mostly music. Let us know what you think: Email music@free-times.com for more information. | |
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