Music venue undergoes management change and makeover

By Lacey Morris

EDMONTON — A west-end music venue that closed in the summer has reopened with a new name and a new hope for success, even though it is outside of Edmonton’s entertainment district.

The venue, located at 10940 166A St., was previously home to the Mead Hall. It reopened four months ago as The Studio.

The Mead Hall, a popular hot spot among fans of heavy metal music, closed its doors for a second and final time in July due to the financial hardships that resulted from a lack of regular business, former owner Alasdair Rintoul said.

The hall had previously been located in a south Edmonton industrial sector, having been shut down by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission after one show in particular got out of hand and Rintoul was forced to find another location.

“We did decent for a long time, did a lot of bigger shows, always came up with cool ideas.” Rintoul said. “But we were always having trouble getting people out during the week, eventually it just wasn’t sustainable anymore so the inevitable happened and we closed for good July 9 of 2011.”

The question is whether The Studio will come to the same unfortunate conclusion that the Mead Hall did.

Most of Edmonton’s music venues are located in central areas of the city, such as Whyte Avenue and the downtown core. Lack of public transportation and the offbeat location of the venue hurt the Mead Hall.

“Business was decent on the south side, things were fun, beer was $2.50 and rent was $1,000, not a lot of worries back then, Rintoul said. “When we moved to the west end, business slowed a bit, albeit some of best shows were at that location, but rent was quadruple. It was really outside of foot traffic areas and bus routes—just not an ideal situation for what we wanted to do.”

Mitchell Scott Ennis, who owns The Studio, likes that the venue isn’t in one of the aforementioned centralized areas.

“I think it’s better ‘cause we don’t get any of the walk-by neighbourhood traffic that all the other venues have problems with,” Ennis said. “I always love doing shows up in the west end here ‘cause there’s nobody else around — nobody to complain, nobody to cause any problems.”

Ennis also believes that if things are done right and the business is managed properly, it can be successful despite potential pitfalls.

“You just gotta promote the shows properly and get the right [bands] in,” he said. “You gotta be organized and you can’t be genre specific. I think as a venue, you want it to be a music venue. When you walk into our place, the first thing you notice is the stage, it’s huge and it’s right in your face. Obviously the main focal point is the music—not the bar or anything else like that, it’s just about the music.”

Since the venue has reopened, it has gone through a number of drastic changes, both operationally and aesthetically.

“Different stage, a different set-up all together,” Ennis said. “We opened the place right up, took some walls out…”

A deck has been added around the sides and back of the building for smoking, which Ennis said was a big help when it came down to getting the capacity back up in order to get a proper occupancy permit. The venue now has a kitchen with a full-time cook, so patrons can get a snack or even a full meal.

Another addition is the merchandise store.

“We have a merch store that sells band merch — stuff that we purchase from wholesalers and merch from local bands and touring bands and stuff like that,” Ennis added.

Ennis said that business has been good since the reopening as The Studio, despite some minor issues with the AGLC regarding how the venue needs to operate and what kind of licensing is needed.

“We’ve had some really good shows and lots of people through the doors,” he said. “Everybody really likes the venue for being a music venue more than anything else.”