For those of you old enough to remember, you’ve got to ask yourself: Was The Wreck Room really as great as everyone says it was?
“A Fort Worth institution.” “A legendary rock venue.” “A groundbreaking hangout.” That’s all great and all, but doesn’t anyone remember the daylong hangovers after particularly liver-busting, earsplitting shows there? Those were miserable. We can’t forget them.
And you should be leery of them when you roll into Lola’s Saloon for Lolaspalooza: Wreck Room Wrevival. From Friday to Sunday, the club that former Wreck founder Brian Forella opened after the Wreck was razed will host Pinkish Black, Slow Roosevelt, Leroy the Prophet, Pablo & The Hemphill 7, Goodwin, The Me-Thinks, The Gideons, Benway, Garuda, and a shit-ton of other dirty rockers. Most of them played the Wreck. Some are reuniting temporarily only for the festival. A fitting tribute, indeed.
Though things are much calmer now, I know that as soon as Forella –– and co-owners Jon Carney and Ryan Higgs, and Brendan and Graham and Carl and Blackwell and all of the other old heads –– get a few beers in ’em and hear the first few notes of Slow Ro or Garuda, they’re going to time travel back to the Wreck’s halcyon days (circa 2005). And then look the fuck out.
Brian Forella is partly responsible for the deplorable condition of my liver. Did we have fun? Sure. We had a lot of fun at the Wreck and a couple of years later at the adjacent Torch. Too much fun, some (mothers and girlfriends/wives) might say. Hot chicks dancing topless on the bar, rails of cocaine in the bathrooms (and bumps right out in the open), fights. And of course great shows. My favorite is probably the debut of The February Chorus, the side project of former Flickerstick frontman Brandin Lea. Just look at who else was in that band: Jordan Roberts (Calhoun), Chance Morgan (Burning Hotels), Austin Green (Telegraph Canyon), and singer-songwriter Taylor Craig Mills. I remember my wife, who lived in Houston at the time, had spent $275 fixing a flat tire on her way to spend the weekend with me in the Fort. “This is definitely worth two-hundred-and-seventy-five dollars,” she said to me not long after the band started. And I had to agree. But I wanted to add a few zeroes.
Which, as I’ve said, is fantastic and all, but the hangovers! And the dumb behavior. I mean, how would you feel if you were a responsible husband and father and can’t forget that time when you wore an incredibly tight tank top, sunglasses indoors, and a bandana and banged your head and sang along to every word at a Goodwin show? Not too good, I bet. Not too good at all.
Tickets to Lolaspalooza: Wreck Room Wrevival are $12-30.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
I remember the first time a band played at the Wreck – one of those goofball cover bands that play in mid-cities bar ‘n’ grills. They didn’t even have a stage yet. I thought that was the beginning of the end for this cool little dive bar. Boy, was I wrong.