The lunatics will once again run the Asylum, symbolically on Saturday, November 26 with just enough time for the turkey tryptophan to wear off and chaos from the blackest of Friday’s to be in the retail rearview and on YouTube.
Downtown Dayton was once a multi-venue metropolis for the black clad /leathered outsider, metalhead, rebel, loner and Goth kid looking for a place to dance, hangout, party or just feel normal as several venues served as kinship locations for those wanting their music and entertainment on the darker, heavier, non-mainstream side of things.
Several clubs had their nocturnal, industrial, sweat drenched till dawn’s early light heyday years back with each having stories to tell, regardless of rating.
For many 1470 West was the original whether in Kettering or downtown on Jefferson. Countless nights were spent dancing on the hardwood floor as all manner of Goth, new wave, dark wave, EBM, metal and industrial blasted through the speakers for years until its emotional final night.
If you frequented the Asylum you still talk about it in memory and often lore. The stories were embedded in the black walls as much as the guests much younger minds at the time. In the days before cell phones, social media, selfies, live videos and checking in the Asylum gave everyone interested a big room to live big and move rapidly in the moment with like-minded eclectic people listening and grooving to the soundtrack on their youth.
The reunion will capture the atmosphere of those days with the music, visuals, and venue location, though longer recovery time may be needed.
This year the party returns to Club Granada with former Asylum DJ Matt Freeman spinning the night’s dark dance waves alongside a host of other era DJs and guests.
It’s the 2022 return for the event celebrating music from the year 2000. “It was a pretty good fit,” Freeman says. “It felt good, kinda completed the full esthetic for everything we were going for.”
Circa 2000 Dance was part of the club’s exterior tag line back then. Inside, the logo changed to circa 2000 Mindfuck. Upon entry you were aesthetically pulled in, walking down the hallway into the main room. Once past the threshold there were multiple directions to go as you roamed, music pulsating through you as visuals, building size and design overtook the senses. It was 10,000 square feet of fun and insanity with a 50,000 watt sound system.
Freeman gives a brief history of the club’s start via former owner Scott Edsall, “The Asylum opened Saturday August 6th, 1994, after a three year build by Edsall. There was virtually no money to build the club.” Materials from the previous warehouse’s demolition, decor and space were reused when possible. The raw decor on entry included mannequins, a shark cage for dancing, tables, chairs and podiums all bought at a closing department store auction when you could buy a 20,000 lot of items for $1000.. “The club name came from when Scott attended a meeting concerning another venue with low attendance problems. The manager said we ought to paint the place black and call it the Asylum, that’s how it was born.”
Inspiration for the club came from a visit to New York’s The Limelight. “Scott made one visit and fell in love with the architecture and energy of the club.” The design was an inspirational aspect of the Asylum emitting a feeling of being all inclusive. “The Asylum was exactly that, all-inclusive. It wasn’t a gay bar, straight bar, Goth club, rave venue or concert hall, it was all of those. Everyone was welcome as they were. It was their home away from home. Somewhere anyone could go and feel comfortable; judgment free.”
Every year he brings out one retro mannequin. “The mannequins disappeared, I found one. Someone notified me that someone had one at a garage sale. I immediately had to get it. I knew it was one from The Asylum cause of the color and I just knew. I do own the cage so I usually bring that out. This year I may not due to space. I think Bar Granada is good space-wise but I think we’ll have a bigger turn out this year. I’m also doing a slideshow video mash up on the screens.
Along with other media highlights Freeman will show never before seen images of the club’s construction. “It’ll be like, what? Wow! So that’s how that and that were made. It’s very well documented, will definitely have all that on display for everybody.”
On the club closing in 2005 he says, “I think everything has a cycle. It was very eclectic. You’d here Beastie Boys, NIN, Notorious Big and disco songs. On Sunday’s we were doing swing music. Then hip-hop started taking off. Towards the end I wasn’t there. It’d done a couple name changes from Asylum to Fusion.”
Hip-Hop took over for a while after most of the early DJs left. Edsall decided to sell.. Daybreak bought it and he moved to his next venture at Pearl Nightclub.
As for the interior after closing, there were rumors of its fate but Freeman said he knew someone who’d been in and Parallax in the basement appeared to be somewhat untouched. You could go in and see some leopard print carpet, teal walls and some of the paintings were still there. Freeman says he hasn’t been in Daybreak but you can kinda see on the first floor where things were in a sense.
The advertised event merchandise including Asylum hoodies and t-shirts can be ordered online. Due to its last minute limited run there won’t be any at the club but there will be some surprises handed out.
All the clubs shared a collective brotherhood and vibe with DJs spinning at different venues. Freeman spent time at 1470 West Kettering Thursday nights. Both places felt like home with no competitive vibes. “My same friends at the Asylum were at 1470.” With a late night trip to Denny’s.
The Asylum had its share of big name shows, along with local and regional talent. Freeman said the Evanescence show was perfect timing just before they exploded. The Fix, Saliva, Powerman 5000, Guided by Voices, Trapt, Seether, Alien Ant Farm, Shinedown, The Breeders and Cold all graced the stage.
The setlist will be kept 2000 era with Lords of Acid, Front 242, PJ Harvey and Massive Attack with many other tunes during the night. The club will be dark, with stage lights on and video footage playing. It’s a reunion/time-warp to the music of that era, when Generation X and beyond were in their late teens and 20s.Its also a chance for the younger crowd to come experience club-life pre-social media. For history sake and in 1470 tradition, Duran Duran “Come Undone” could be the last song of the night.
Doors open at 9:30, by 10:30 Freeman expects a packed venue. Cell phones are a given but they hope people will keep them in their pockets, honoring the era vibe. ”That was a big part of the success of all those venues back then, really, you HAD to be there. You didn’t want to miss out on the conversations, dancing or anything. There was so much urgency.”
The Asylum held ‘80s Wednesday’s, Friday’s was a mix of Prodigy and Chemical Brothers with Rage Against the Machine, etc. Saturday was a mix, new wave, techno and Ministry. Unique skits, competitions and games were common during the week along with S&M shows, one minute clothing changes and other competitive debauchery.
Freeman hopes for an eventual permanent rebirth of the scene. “I hope something opens, people are itching to get back out.” Bar Granada does do a monthly Goth night but Freeman believes the scene could replenish itself. “I hope somebody comes back and opens something, would love to be involved.”
Granada worked with the event at capacity last year. In the future a larger venue may be needed as interest/awareness increases. “We just wanna play music and have fun. Bring a friend that hasn’t experienced it yet:”
He started at 19 or 20, learning on the job, in the moment, in front of crowds, admitting he’d cleared several floors in the process back in the day. “I got yelled at. It was a humbling experience and I learned from those mistakes. It was cool to learn in front of everybody, cool but scary, it drove you.”
A taste of the evening’s sounds will include Consolidated, Underworld, The Prodigy, Front Line Assembly, KFMDM, Lords of Acid, Marilyn Manson, Ministry, My Life With Thrill Kill Cult, Revolting Cocks, Sister of Mercy, Skinny Puppy. Army of Lovers, The Crystal Method, Duran Duran, Violent Femmes, New Order, Portishead and Garbage, “We go all over the place. People have requested stuff we’ve never played at a reunion. Damn how did we overlook that?”
He jokingly says they might even play a snippet from “Freebird” if it’s requested. All genres and subgenres that kept feet on the dance floor will be represented. It’ll be a trip back closer to God.
www.facebook.com/events/1437204946747230/
The retro Asylum doors swing open again at Bar Granada, Saturday November 26th. Doors at 9:30, 21+, 5 W. Monument Ave, corner of Main & Monument. Guest DJs include Matt Freeman (Asylum), Eric Heilman (Asylum, Parallax) Doug Collins (Asylum) and more.
