“When you’re starting a band, it’s hard to get booked places… was a good stepping stone,” Sears said. While that show was a surprising success, “ disappointed if you didn’t bring 200 people,” McCutcheon said. “They weren’t afraid to fail,” Sears said. When Kithkin had the idea to have a Star Wars themed show on May the Fourth (get it?) Chop Suey was completely open to the idea. In fact, Kithkin owes a lot of their early exposure in the Seattle music scene to Chop Suey. In addition to Barr, McCutcheon also interned at Chop Suey, and later worked there for about six months. “ really helped us grow and get our act together.” “That performance was what made me want to keep doing ,” Clavere said. A band that was booked to play bowed out at the last minute, so Barr called Clavere up, asking if he would want to get The Ramblin’ Years back together to step into the now-open spot. “Everyone except the drummer had been studying abroad,” Clavere recalled.Īlex Barr, the guitarist of Kithkin, was working in booking at Chop Suey at the time. The Ramblin’ Years had their first show at Chop Suey in 2012 at the beginning of their senior year. Both Clavere and McCutcheon praised the booker, Jodi Ecklund, for being the rock of this support. “Exactly what you’d expect from a low-coverage venue,” he said.ĭespite the borderline negative visual descriptions of the venue, Chop Suey will go down in Seattle history for always supporting up-and-coming Seattle U bands. “It brought a lot of color to the neighborhood,” said Laura Germano, Seattle U senior and vocalist of indie-rock band COHO.Ĭlavere remembered there being gum on the floor and stickers all over the bathroom wall. McCutcheon and Kelton Sears, aka Spirit Treader, the bassist of Kithkin (and former editor-in-chief of the Spectator), vividly remembers the broken, gold and dusty 60-foot long fire-breathing dragon on the ceiling. When it finally became a hip-hop and alternative rock music venue in the early 2000s, management decided to keep all of the red Seattle U alumnus Ian McCutcheon, aka Tin Woodsman, the drummer of four-piece “treepunk” band Kithkin, remembered seeing a solo act who made music from his own brain waves.Ĭhop Suey used to be a Chinese restaurant-a “divey” one, as Clavere described it. “A buddy and I went to see Alternative Roots,” he said. Sean Clavere, vocalist and guitarist of five-piece rock ‘n’ roll band The Ramblin’ Years-and a Seattle University alumnus, along with his bandmates-saw his first show in Seattle at the venue. A Capitol Hill hot spot since 2001, the venue was sold due to high rent. Chop Suey held its final show Jan.18 with performances by Tacocat and Chastity Belt.
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