Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Rebel Lounge will be closed through Wednesday, Feb. 17, after an incident during a Saturday performance by a group called Three Bad Jacks caused water damage to the club, resulting in the cancellation of at least three shows.

There are videos circulating that show the trio's front man Elvis Suissa dousing the floor at the foot of the stage with alcohol or lighter fluid and igniting it, which sets off the venue's sprinkler system. Three Bad Jacks are known for incorporating fire into their performances.

Jaime Martinez, a longtime Three Bad Jacks fan, says the incident occurred when they were two or three songs into their headlining set at the Rebel Lounge, a 300-capacity venue that opened last year on the former site of the Mason Jar at 2303 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix.

"I remember the lead singer specifically saying, 'This guy here has never seen us light our (expletive) on fire,'" Martinez recalls. "And then he said, 'They told us not to do it on stage.' So he got on the floor and doused the floor with alcohol and then lit it on fire. So then the alarms went off and then the sprinkler system went off."

You can see the singer celebrating the sprinklers going off in the video I saw, telling the crowd, "We (expletive)-ing rock."

"It's kind of part of their show and what they do," Martinez says. "But I think it was made more of a douchebag move by the fact that they were specifically told not to do it and then they did it anyway."

He was further disappointed in their actions as they loaded out.

"After the show as the firefighters were coming in and we were all just kind of standing outside," Martinez says, "they were just kind of packing up their (expletive), putting it in their van. It was kind of like 'Whatever.' I've been listening to this band for over 10 years and it just felt like a real douchebag move. It seemed like they really didn't care at all.

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"They didn't come over and apologize to the crowd that was there, maybe hoping that the show would go on. They just packed their stuff in the van and that was it. I understand it's part of the show. But I think the lack of ownership afterwards was kind of what got everyone."

Nick Meza, a local musician who plays in the Limit Club, was also there.

"Having seen them and played with them before I knew that they would want to use fire in their act as they have in the past," Meza says. "It's their shtick. However, knowing the the ceiling is low and lined with exposed insulation paper it was clear that using fire in a show would be unwise. Despite this (and even acknowledging to the crowd that there was paper lined on the low ceiling), Elvis decided to light the floor in front of the stage on fire. The flames were so high, dwarfing the band, that they set off the sprinklers aimed at the stage. The equipment was drenched, the floor was flooded, and the fire alarm went off. Security then told everyone to exit the building as the Fire Department was to arrive."

No one was hurt, Meza says.

But it was "disappointing," he adds, "to see a friend's venue get damaged due to another band's hubris and lack of common sense."

TMI Radio weighed in on the incident on Facebook with "So this band comes in, starts a fire on stage as part of their show, and the sprinklers went off causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to the the Rebel Lounge. I don't care who you are, that's not cool."

The club has declined to comment on the situation but Thursday night's show is apparently still on for now.