After 10 years of hosting punk and rock shows in Chicago, Fireside Bowl is ending its run as a nationally known all-ages club where up-and-coming bands could get their start and fans could go to hear underground music almost every day of the week.
The last live show was Saturday, and the owner of Fireside says he’s returning the place to its original purpose–a bowling alley–because after a decade of punk shows in which fans “destroyed the place,” he’s eager for a change.
Plus, he says, a recent spate of bowling alley closures in Chicago has opened up an opportunity to snap up their used equipment and draw some of their established leagues.
Those in Chicago’s punk and independent music scenes expect the Fireside transformation to have a significant effect. Though the building was shabby and the inside–especially the bathrooms–was dingy, Fireside was an institution, the center of the city’s under-21 punk scene for years.
“It’s safe to say the effect on the Chicago scene will be gigantic,” said Scott Thomson, who runs Harmless Records, a punk and hardcore record label in Chicago.
For bands, the change means losing a consistent place to play where people under 21 could see them perform. For groups just starting out and only dreaming of playing the Metro, there’s now one fewer place known for giving unknowns a chance.
And for underage music fans, the search will be tougher to find live punk, art rock, emo or hardcore music.
Fireside Bowl, 2646 W. Fullerton Ave., was special to Chicago, Thomson said, because there weren’t many places providing shows like it did–three or four bands a night almost every night of the week for all ages–or for lasting as long as it did.
“A stable, all-ages venue putting on independent music is a rare thing–you can count them [nationwide] on one hand,” Thomson said.
Jeff Carrillo, who played at Fireside just two weeks ago with his band Mahjongg, said he first heard about the club in the mid-’90s when he was a student at the University of Missouri and was making friends from the Chicago area.
“It’s definitely too bad,” Carrillo said. “It’s sort of a legendary place–a lot of bands who played there have gone on to be mega-popular.”
Some of the better-known bands that have played there are Jimmy Eat World, the Mekons, Less than Jake, The Ataris, The Promise Ring and Alkaline Trio.
The change may have been abrupt for some–there were no big announcements about the switch–but rumors of Fireside’s demise have been swirling for years. Several years ago, the Chicago Park District expressed an interest in using eminent domain to take over the building to expand nearby Haas Park.
In fact, the park expansion plan kept owner Jim Lapinski from going back to bowling earlier. He wasn’t going to invest money in fixing the place up if it was going to be torn down. But once it was clear the expansion wasn’t happening, he moved forward with the rehab, he said. He was able to pick up some equipment–automatic scoring machines and ball lifts–when another bowling alley closed down.
“It’s time for me to do some changes,” said Lapinski, who started letting shows play there 10 years ago because the bowling business was getting slow. Fireside Bowl has been in his family 40 years.
He plans to continue offering live music, but not as frequently as before. The major focus will be bowling, he said, and music will be offered only when it doesn’t interfere with that. The shows will be different too–older and milder than the punk shows of the past.
“It won’t be all ages anymore,” Lapinski said. “The kids destroyed the place.”
He knows some people will be disappointed that the Fireside rock shows are gone, but he says the kids who went there will find a new place to hang out.
“There were people upset, but I gave it 10 years and it’s time to do something different,” Lapinski said.
Mike Johnson, who runs a local punk record label called Failed Experiment Records, said although he’s disappointed that Fireside is becoming a bowling alley, he doesn’t fault Lapinski for deciding to change.
“I don’t think he knows what he had in the Fireside and what the Fireside meant to people,” Johnson said.
The closing creates some obstacles for bands on his label and other local punk groups trying to build a following of fans, he said. For example, he’s got one all-girl punk band called The Groodies who are only 18 years old. Most of their fans are too young to get into clubs, and they are too.
Still, Johnson said he knew Fireside wasn’t going to be around for forever. Other musicians and record label owners agreed and hope that the loss will spark the local music community to create someplace new.
“It’s kind of amazing Fireside was open as long as it was,” Johnson said. “Hopefully someone will turn around and open something better.”
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THEY PLAYED THERE
In the past decade, Fireside Bowl has played host to hundreds of bands. Here is a short list of some of the bigger names who have performed there:
Alkaline Trio.
The Ataris.
Jimmy Eat World.
Less than Jake.
The Mekons.
The Promise Ring.
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kmasterson@tribune.com
