Next step for Des Moines' music scene

Assemble a puzzle of the Des Moines music scene and a key piece is missing.

The border is in place with small clubs staging local and emerging national acts and Wells Fargo Arena drawing the world's biggest names, such as Fleetwood Mac and Taylor Swift.

What's missing is a piece in the middle — a consistent mid-size club for touring musicians who cannot pack an arena with thousands of fans but have outgrown downtown rock venues like Wooly's and the Vaudeville Mews.

Two prominent Des Moines music promoters saw this need five years ago and have been slowly assembling the pieces to address it.

Amedeo Rossi, owner of Vaudeville Mews, and Wooly's co-owner Sam Summers have fleshed out plans for a 1,500-capacity venue modeled after iconic spots such as First Avenue in Minneapolis and House of Blues in Chicago and other locations in a dozen other U.S. cities.

The concept, dubbed Project 1500, was incorporated into the latest regional plan by Capital Crossroads — a group of business leaders and elected officials mapping out the future for greater Des Moines.

But the project remains a vision in search of a location and viable financial backing.

Musical crossroads

As the hub of interstate highways 80 and 35, Des Moines is a crossroads for bands traveling from Chicago to Omaha and Denver, and Minneapolis to Kansas City.

"We're surrounded by six fairly major cities in music markets. And it's difficult for bands to get from most of those big cities to the next in one day," said Tom Zmolek, owner of People's Productions in Des Moines.

Until about 20 years ago, Des Moines was a drive-through city, where touring bands were more likely to stay at the Marriott than play a show, according to music promoters and booking agents.

That started to change as the city added more outdoor music festivals.

Zmolek started Alive at Simon Estes Amphitheater nearly 15 years ago, hosting Hootie and the Blowfish, Ziggy Marley, Gov't Mule and other national names.

Alive has since been replaced by big summer stages like the 80/35 Music Festival and Nitefall on the River, a concert series organized by Rossi and Summers.

Zmolek launched a new series, Music Under the Canopy, with three three-day festivals at the Brenton Skating Plaza last summer.

The outdoor concerts have shown promoters that Des Moines can draw bigger audiences.

Nitefall just completed its best season to date. It had an average attendance of 1,365 for 14 shows in 2014. Most Nitefall concerts are held at the 1,800-capacity Simon Estes Amphitheater along the banks of the Des Moines River.

Nitefall momentum combines with seven successful years of the 80/35 Music Festival, which regularly draws 13,000 to 17,000 ticket holders to Western Gateway Park, plus thousands more music fans to free stages.

The festival has introduced acts such as the Jayhawks, the Flaming Lips, Brandi Carlile and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals to sold-out crowds in Des Moines.

"Part of the objective of 80/35 is targeting these new bands," said Rossi, one of the festival's main organizers. "Sometimes 80/35 has been an entrance into the market."

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes is a shining example.

In 2009 Summers booked the band at the Maintenance Shop in Ames and sold 200 tickets. Two years later, they played the main stage at 80/35 for a built-in crowd of thousands.

The band returned in 2013 for Nitefall and brought a sold-out crowd of 2,400. They played on the Walnut Street bridge due to flooding at Simon Estes, a recurring challenge for the summer series.

The hurdle with luring bands like Edward Sharpe to Des Moines comes when temperatures drop and outdoor stages disappear.

"People like to follow up big plays," Summers said, noting that he sees missed opportunities year-round with bands and booking agents.

"They know I don't have a 1,500 (capacity space) in Des Moines ... all the big cities have that key 1,500-person-capacity venue."

Momentum builds

Vaudeville Mews and Wooly's form two vital pillars in the local scene, according to musicians and booking agents. The Gas Lamp bar has also become a busy spot for locals and touring bands.

Rossi has run the 250-capacity Mews, 212 Fourth St., for more than a decade. The space is booked daily with local bands and national acts, predominantly alternative, indie, punk and metal.

It has hosted numerous young bands just before their surges of popularity, including Of Montreal, the Decemberists, Devendra Banhart and Fall Out Boy — one of Summers' first shows booked as a local promoter.

Summers began his music career in the Midwest about a decade ago, booking shows for Des Moines venues and eventually across Iowa and neighboring states. He runs First Fleet Concerts and books nearly 150 shows a year.

He also co-owns Wooly's, 504 E. Locust St., a 683-capacity venue opened three years ago.

Wooly's hosted 206 shows in 2014, more than both its previous years. Nineteen of those concerts sold out, and online ticket sales jumped 25 percent. Summers renewed a three-year lease for the club last month.

The numbers are promising for those looking to bring a bigger venue to the city.

"Wooly's has been surprising even to me," said Brandon Clark, a Des Moines music attorney and manager for FiXT Music and Subterra Records. "Wooly's has definitely opened up Des Moines to a whole different caliber of bands coming through."

Aaron Pinkus is a booking agent with Paradigm Talent Agency, based in Austin, Texas. He describes Wooly's as the last stop for many rising rock-genre bands in the city.

"You start out at the Vaudeville Mews, and then you try to sell out Wooly's," Pinkus said. He's been booking shows in Des Moines for 15 years. "If you graduate from Wooly's, you're kind of stuck now."

Pinkus said Simon Estes has been a successful outlet for his bands like Umphrey's McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band and Slightly Stoopid. But a permanent year-round space would be ideal.

"Simon Estes needs a roof," he said, noting the weather risks and seasonal limitations.

He said a 1,500-capacity space might be a stretch for Des Moines, — he'd rather see something closer to 1,000 for the city's next venue — but he applauds any effort to bring a larger venue on line.

Some limitations

For many years, bigger acts and promoters have made do with a few Des Moines-area events centers dressed up as concert venues for crowds of 1,000 or more.

Hoyt Sherman, Val Air Ballroom and Seven Flags Event Center all host concerts, but each venue comes with barriers for some musicians.

The main problem at Hoyt Sherman is fixed seating, which prohibits standing-only general admission space at the foot of the stage. Its 1,200 seats can be preferable for some low-key acts, but they're an immediate disqualifier for many rock performances.

Val Air, with a capacity of 2,700, and Seven Flags, at 3,000, both present a major leap for bands coming from Wooly's or even Simon Estes. They also lack the aesthetics, amenities and services that many national acts demand.

Booking shows at the events centers also means competing with a calender of political events, weddings, book fairs and other nonmusic festivities.

"I'm looking for a configuration like First Avenue (Minneapolis), House of Blues (Chicago) or the Ogden in Denver," Pinkus said, describing Des Moines as a mid-size market with ideal proximity to larger markets.

Each year Pollstar, a trade publication that covers the concert industry, ranks the top 100 live music venues based on size and ticket sales. Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City all had venues with capacities of 1,000 to 2,000 rank in the top 10 last year.

Summers expressed little doubt about packing a bigger venue in Des Moines and filling dates.

He maintains some reservations about opening a new space himself. But if he doesn't, he hopes someone will take the idea and run with it.

"My gut's telling me I haven't seen the right deal yet," he said. "If someone wants to jump up and open one, I'll be the first to applaud them and do the booking."

Taking the next step

Summers and Rossi have narrowed their search for a site to downtown. An existing building that could be revitalized would be ideal, but options are slim, they say.

In the past five years, they have toured more than a dozen potential sites with Des Moines developer Jake Christensen.

They looked at the old press room in the former Register and Tribune building. But they couldn't resolve noise concerns, since lofts are planned on the building's upper floors. They liked the old Des Moines Brewing/Green Limited building, west of Principal Park along West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, but decided the location was too big.

Multiple East Village sites showed promise before someone else swooped in or other factors eliminated them.

"The right property just hasn't seemed to come to play," Rossi said.

New construction might become a more promising option. Christensen and Rossi estimate it would cost at least $5 million to rehabilitate an existing property and even more if they build from the ground up.

Jay Byers, a musician and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, said the Des Moines music scene is primed for Project 1500 after several years of momentum.

"Drawing a 1,500-person crowd for great bands in central Iowa is something that would be very, very doable," Byers said.

Zmolek, who has produced Des Moines shows for 25 years and is planning the second year of Music Under the Canopy, agreed that a 1,500-capacity club is the missing piece.

"The whole premise to a city and a thriving music scene is that it has to have the whole gamut of venues," Zmolek said.

The million-dollar question, he said, is whether Des Moines is ready to sustain the mid-size music market year-round.

"The question is, 'Will Des Moines support an ongoing venue of that size as a viable business entity?' " Zmolek said.

WELLS FARGO ARENA

ADDRESS: 833 Fifth Ave., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 16,980

AMENITIES: Includes a 180-seat restaurant called the Principal River's Edge, concessions, 36 corporate suites, 20 boxes and 600 club seats. Seating and general admission. Biggest music venue in Des Moines.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Fleetwood Mac





SEVEN FLAGS EVENT CENTER

ADDRESS: 2100 N.W. 100th St., Clive

CAPACITY: 3,000

AMENITIES: 24,000 square feet with large stage. Can be seated or general admission. Small concessions area. Green room.

NOTABLE SHOWS: 311, Brand New, Rob Zombie and Buddy Guy





DES MOINES CIVIC CENTER

ADDRESS: 221 Walnut St., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 2,700 (and a smaller 200-person theater)

AMENITIES: Both seated auditoriums.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Books musical artists, operas, plays and distinguished speakers.





VAL AIR BALLROOM

ADDRESS: 301 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines

CAPACITY: 2,700

AMENITIES: Dressing room. Large 125-by-70-foot standing room.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Snoop Dogg and Modest Mouse.





SIMON ESTES AMPHITHEATER

ADDRESS: 75 E. Locust St., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 1,800

AMENITIES: Outdoor venue. Home of the summer Nitefall on the River series. Stage and bar brought in for shows.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Ingrid Michaelson, Trampled by Turtles, Yonder Mountain String Band.





HOYT SHERMAN PLACE

ADDRESS: 1501 Woodland Ave., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 1,252

AMENITIES: Seated. Historic theater. Books special events from weddings and political gatherings to comedians and concerts.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Jason Isbell, Iron and Wine, and Gillian Welch.

WOOLY'S

ADDRESS: 504 E. Locust St., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 683

AMENITIES: Music venue and bar. Books a variety of local and national acts, including rock, hip-hop, pop and jam bands.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Switchfoot, Matisyahu, Future Islands, Christina Perri and Trombone Shorty





VAUDEVILLE MEWS

ADDRESS: 214 Fourth St., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 249

AMENITIES: Standing room and upper balcony with seating and bar. Books local and national bands, including indie rock, hip-hop, punk and metal.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Of Montreal, the Decemberists and Devendra Banhart early in their careers.





GAS LAMP

ADDRESS:1501 Grand Ave., Des Moines

CAPACITY: 199

AMENITIES: Bar with tables and chairs. Hosts open mic nights and books small folk, indie, rock and blues shows.

NOTABLE SHOWS: Imagine Dragons, Greg Ginn of Black Flag, Fistful of Ska festival





PROJECT 1500 VENUE

A proposal prepared by Amedeo Rossi and Sam Summers for the Capital Crossroads initiative outlined details that would set Project 1500 apart from other concert venues in Des Moines. The priorities would include:

Multiple viewing angles with a mix of tiered standing-room-only, tables and exclusive areas.

Second floor balcony with elevated row reserved seating.

Ability to separate the main floor for variable pricing.

Premier sound, lighting and technical systems.

Large stage with plenty of trim height to accommodate bigger productions.

Easy semi loading space and bus/semi parking.

Box office in lobby.

Ability to easily divide up the space to make it scalable for different sized events.

Ample backstage area for artists including green rooms, offices, laundry and showers.

Plenty of storage space for gear, tables, chairs, etc.

Rental options for weddings and private events.

Timothy Meinch covers local government and neighborhood issues in the city of Des Moines and Polk County. He also contributes outdoor feature stories. Timothy joined the Register in 2011 as a transplant from the mountains of North Carolina. Outside the newsroom he's mastering the art of thrifty travel and road tripping. tmeinch@dmreg.com; 515-238-9792; @timeinch