After 12 smoky months of making his new bar and live-music venue work, owner Tyson Murray threw a party. It was to be an anniversary bash celebrating the first year of Bender’s Tavern, the place Murray bought and built up from a busted old dance club into a real rock club.
And, on the second to last weekend of July, it seemed like everyone in town showed up to celebrate.
Everyone except Murray.
While Slim Cessna’s Auto Club performed in front of a capacity crowd at Bender’s, Murray was down Broadway playing at the rival Gothic Theatre with his band, the Railbenders, the namesake for the bar honoring its birth back on 13th Avenue.
“Sometimes it’s tough wearing two hats,” Murray said en route to load his stand-up bass into a pickup truck to cart to Bender’s. “I have to go play with the band, especially on weekends. But it’s hard to step away from the bar because it’s my baby, my life investment.”
So goes the balancing act for Murray and several other club owners in Denver who juggle life as a working musician with one as the musicians’ boss.
The distinction between those who hire bands and those who are the band has always been a clear one. The owner is supposed to be the money-minded boss, while the musician is the working stiff, playing for the people. But for a specific few, crossing that line between bar and band yields interesting advantages and challenges.
In Denver, those people include Murray and his Bender’s Tavern; Andy Bercaw from the band Mercury Project, who owns Cafe Cero on South Broadway; Laura Newman from AOA, owner of Herb’s Hideout on Larimer Street; and Stephen and David Watts from Dotsero, who helm Jazz at Jack’s on Platte Street.
“So many people are looking for an image, looking for something to market, but we shy away from that,” said Newman, owner of Herb’s, at 21st and Larimer streets. Newman also plays saxophone in a morphing collection of jazz and R&B players known as AOA. “As an owner and player, you get to roll up your sleeves. And I’ve seen both sides of the fence.”
Newman on Tuesday played with Pat Bianchi and Chris Lee as part of a regular jazz gig at Herb’s. And, after covering Joe Zawinul and Cannonball Adderley’s “Mercy Mercy Mercy” for an expectant couple of regulars, Newman stopped to order pizza for everyone.
“I do things as a club owner I know I wouldn’t like as a musician,” Newman said. “Like not returning phone calls. But I’m better than other owners in other things. I might be more artistically minded.”
Newman took over Herb’s at the end of 2001 after more than a dozen years as a working musician, and almost immediately installed a worthy sound system, something she would want as a band member.
But sound perks aside, Newman said she still faces the bottom line.
“I still have to worry about capitalism. I’m relaxing more as I get into it, but if live music were more profitable, more people would do it. It’s a niche that’s sliced very thin.”
At Bender’s, on East 13th between Logan and Grant streets, Murray finally found the music venue he had been looking for, a clubhouse where the Railbenders and their fans could hang out.
“We were thinking about it as a pool hall originally,” Murray said of Bender’s. “But I thought it was ideal for live music. It turned into a place that got bigger much quicker than I expected.”
It helps, Murray said, to be able to play in front of 500 or so people on a big stage in town and tell the crowd before the encore to “come on down to Bender’s, it’s Tyson’s place, we’re having a little party.”
But not all venues are built for rowdy parties. Cafe Cero, at 1446 S. Broadway, used to be a fine Italian restaurant before Andy Bercaw, bass player for the Mercury Project, bought the digs in January and started hosting music.
Now, Cero, a converted old house with odd nooks and corners in every room, is busting with bands. Jason Durry and Vincent Plummer of the Mercury Project use Cero as a regular home for side projects, while a stage big enough for a full-sized band hosts musicians in a great room replete with staircase. And a second-floor blue room has hosted avant-jazz as an even more intimate performance space.
“We had been playing bigger venues around town,” Bercaw said of the Mercury Project. But then the band played a small show at Cero under the former ownership, and “it was one of our most amazing nights. Three weeks later I was sitting down with the owner signing paperwork to buy the place. So right away I knew it would be a great place for music.”
Bercaw’s new endeavor immediately excited the rest of the band, he said.
“It became a clubhouse, a place to hang out. But in a way, I also got worried. We want to go on the road, but they’re nervous because I’ve got a marriage here now. For eight months, I was really nervous. We’d be playing a gig, and whenever I had a break, I’d be on the phone making sure everything was OK at Cero.”
Even more shocking for Bercaw was the realization that with Cero, the musician jumped sides to become the owner.
“I’ve worked for that guy,” Bercaw said, referring to difficult owners. “He’s a jerk. I’ve been in the business for a while, long enough that I now try to have a new style for running a venue and dealing with bands and fans.
“I feel like I’m in a spot that a lot of people would enjoy, to still be able to do fun stuff like be a musician and run the bar.”
Unfortunately for those who try to book the show and play in the band, the two angles can often conflict, much like when Murray ditched his own bar’s party to play a gig for the sake of the band.
“We definitely play certain other venues that might be considered Bender’s competition less now than before,” Murray said. “but we try not to play any one place too often, because you could lose your audience.”
But in a constant battle with bigger, corporate venues and booking agents, every advantage helps. Carving out a niche as a musician and owner can be doubly difficult.
“I just try to support local music as best I can. Being in a band definitely helps with that. Now we bid for bands against NIPP (Nobody in Particular Presents), and get a lot of them,” Murray said.
“But Bender’s is where my heart is. I’m really happy.”
Staff writer Nick Groke can be reached at 303-820-1960 or ngroke@denverpost.com.
