Panache Magazine

Michelle: So what's the primary goal for the "Placebo"?
Abe: To provide a non-drug/alcohol place for high school kids to explore their artistic sides, music and other visual/performance arts. There is no other musically based place in Arcata.
Ryan: Young people will be able to run it and not have to follow heavy restrictions.
Abe: They'll follow some rules though but they will take pride in it because its theirs.
Ryan: Because they will become active members of the community. It will be something that pays for itself. It won't be profit driven because all the money will go right back into it. So it's there and will always be there.
Michelle: You (Abe) and Thoren (the last Placebo's co-creator) pretty much built it around the concept of Gilman, correct? (An all ages venue in Berkeley on Gilman St. )
Abe: Somewhat in an indirect way. The original idea actually came from a place in Benicia that I used to go to a lot when I was in high school which was based on Gilman as well. It was trying to emulate that. Down the lineage it's all Gilman, being from the East Bay.
Ryan: I spent some time in El Paso and went to this little arcade. El Paso is a big city, but it's got a pretty small community like we have here in Eureka and Arcata where everyone knows each other. During daytime hours they would have shows and there was a cd store next door as well. That's my idea of a really cool place where kids can hang out whether or not there are shows going on.
Michelle: So you would be planning on having it open during the day too?
Abe: Yeah, during the afternoon mostly. I don't see too much reason for morning usage.
Michelle: What would the interior kind of be composed of? Of course a PA for bands, but would you have something like an arcade set up too?
Abe: Yeah, eventually. I was think of having some game tables set up and some pinball machines. Maybe some old school arcade games in there for novelty sake. I don't necessarily want the newer video games in there because personally I don't think all the newer stuff is all that great. If possible I want to set up an art studio so that high school students and above high school, whatever, as long as they aren't coming in to take advantage of it, can use the equipment. Plus we could hang art up on the walls. Basically let it be theirs and let them do what they want. Since Tiffany's shut down and Ryan had the idea of the arcade, I want to make the new place a little bit of Tiffany's and the old Placebo.
Michelle: I only heard bits and pieces of why the old Placebo was shut down back in August. What was the reason behind the closing?
Abe: Well it's partially shortsightedness on my side as well as my old partner's side because we got the place and started doing shows right away. Then it came to the point where we had to figure out what we had to do to keep the place running. We didn't really work through it the way we should have. So when the city came and said, "You can't do this without a business license, blah blah blah," we said "Ok, we'll get a business license then." Then they said, "You can't do it in this spot because it's not zoned correctly." We were like, "Well, what do we need to do to get it zoned correctly?" We went to the city council basically and they set out their book on how to get a place rezoned. It was going to cost about six hundred dollars basically to do all the paperwork. So we had that 24 hr garage sale to raise money. The only thing that we didn't comply with was the number of bathrooms. We had the firewalls and everything else that was technically necessary. But, we needed four bathrooms, and we had only one. We had never had any problems with bathrooms. But that's the law. We asked about porter potties but they said no.
Michelle: So in opening the new Placebo would you have to go by all the same standards?
Abe: Either that or we would have to find a place that was already zoned. We're trying to go to the city council while we are in the process of finding a place so that we can work with them as opposed to coming to them afterwards and being at their mercy.
Michelle: So at this point you've obtained a business license?
Abe: Well not yet, but we're almost there. I thought getting a business license would be applying for a business license, but there are a couple steps before that. We had to form a non-profit corporation in the eyes of the state. We've done that. So our next step is actually getting the business license and our tax exempt status. Then that's pretty much all the paperwork except the later stuff.
Ryan: Then money. We have exactly zero dollars for it right now.
Michelle: What are you planning on doing as fundraisers?
Ryan: I think we might just buy some lottery tickets and hope. (laughs)
Abe: Apparently right now the governer is very into grants for the arts. So it's one of the best times to try to get a grant. So we need help writing grants.
Michelle: So location wise, what is your ideal spot?
Abe: If money was no object?
Ryan: The plaza.
Abe: Or within walking distance or next to the dorms.
Ryan: For a lot of people it's a big deal to drive to Eureka for shows. A lot of people don't have cars. Besides Arcata is kind of a walking community.
Abe: I think ideally because money is an object, I'd like to find a place on South G St again that is zoned correctly or that we can get zoned with any construction we would have to do. It would be a little hard to get to, but not that hard. I mean, come on, Arcata's a small town.
Ryan: Yeah, the original Placebo was practically perfect.
Michelle: So why do you think there aren't many venues especially all ages venues in Arcata?
Abe: I don't want to talk trash, but I think the primary purpose of places up here is not our primary purpose. They either want to make money in their business and they think having music is a fun and good way to make money too. Which is true. But they also sell alcohol because that's a good money maker as well. Where as our purpose isn't to make money. It's to have a place for people who can't go to Cafe Tomo or the Jambalaya or even the Plaza Grill now because they are all 21 and over.
Michelle: When you open it, are you thinking about having shows four or five times a week?
Abe: If we can get that, yeah!
Ryan: Three or four shows a day. (laughs)
Michelle: A good thing about it being a collective is that you get a variety of perspectives from different people so you get a lot of different genres of music through there.
Abe: That was the best part about the last one. It was a collective of all these people that came in with all these ideas that were fresh and good and that I never would have thought of. The more minds the better.
Michelle: What were some of the more memorable bands that you remember from the last Placebo?
Abe: The Black Heart Procession was probably the most memorable as far as being wellknown and a great band that put on an awesome show. Tristeza was a great show.
Michelle: Some odd things happened out there too, like with Midnight Laserbeam's set.
(Midnight Laserbeam had come up from SF with a few surprises tucked under their belt including stripping down to nothing but Depends and one of the members getting a little nasty with his diaper in the Placebo.)
Abe: Oh, I was lucky because that was the night I took off early because I had been there every night for the last week. So I went home.
Michelle: Yeah, that's something that will always remain in my memory whether I like it or not.
Abe: Hazelwood was another good band that was really mellow and put on a good show. There was a good diversity.
Michelle: Yeah, I made some good memories out there that summer. Also what was cool was that local bands from Arcata and Eureka were playing together which rarely happens. Bands were kind of intermixing which was awesome. So why the name "Placebo?"
Abe: You'll have to ask Thoren. That was one that he came up with and was in love with. It sounded like a good name. The reason he came up with it is because it's basically a replacement for drugs. The definition includes: "Will provide psychological benefit to those who use it as opposed to chemical." It's something that makes you feel good.
Ryan: Which music does do. It's good for your psyche. The original Placebo was practically a placebo in itself.
Abe: It was working very well. People were happy.
Michelle: So what is pretty much the thing that satisfies each of you in doing this?
Ryan: It's a release from boredom.
Abe: I want to perpetuate the ideals of the community that got me into independent music in the first place. Growing up in high school in Benicia, I mean people would say, "Oh yeah you grew up in a little white suburb in the bay area." It's true but it still puts a punkrock ethic on what got me into independent music in the first place. I appreciate it and I want to give it back to maybe some fourteen year old kid who might come into the Placebo whose listening to some KROQ rip-off station and watching MTV all the time and thinking life is peachy, and I want him to realize that it's much better. I want to give back to the system that helped me out so much. That helped me get cool. (laughs)
Ryan: I think that Arcata needs it. You go pretty much to any city and there's a place in driving distance where you can access an all ages venue. It's all about how when you are in high school there's nothing to do. You can go somewhere where there is no age discrimination and there are all different people there. Also when you go to clubs where there is so much alcohol it gets intimidating. There's almost something missing that you find in an all ages club.
Abe: The innocence of youth.
Michelle: Is there anything else that you guys want to say?
Abe: Come to every show!
Ryan: Support the Placebo.
Look for flyers screaming shows at the Placebo in late May...