The Dalzell House, Shreveport's DIY Venue

The Dalzell House in Shreveport, LA is a great venue to catch bands as they pass through town. Wary bands are even given a meal and place to crash at the venue too, although it isn't much of a venue. The Dalzell House is just that, a residential house in a neighborhood in Shreveport that plays host to rock bands. It is basically a DIY venue for the independent artist. There is no cover, no tickets, just a tip jar in true DIY fashion.

The Gauntlet caught up with the proprietors of The Dalzell House to ask them about how things operate.

How did you get into running a DIY venue?
Thanks for asking. It's actually quite fascinating! Our town ran out of places to do shows but we still wanted to do music. We made real good friends with our neighbors in a seedy college neighborhood called Highland. We started dragging amps into the living room and setting up drums. Cool shows would come to town and get tossed at our house since there were no more options. At least not for our kind of bands. Nomadic soul seeking adventures of the holistic dark arts. Punk rock, hillbilly, soul and blues. Then we realized we could get awesome bands to come stay at our house just by putting a tip jar out and making breakfast. We had close to two hundred shows in two years. Two summers. Two winters.

Have you ever had any problems with fire Marshall or cops
At times, but always it was false. We kept our shows early and we were best friends with eight houses around us. They don't like people getting together on porches though. It's disorderly. And I understand, because thats sort of why we do it. It’s the music our collisions make. Getting together as many nights of the week as you can. Starting bands is loud. You have to stay moving. Or get thicker walls.

How do your neighbors react to the people, noise, etc?
Most of them were totally cool with it. Just invite them. It's a good reason to talk to the neighbors. Most people want to be talked to. Most people.

Best and worst experience running Dalzell House? BEST: Meeting all those wonderful people that exist on the interstate. Having them invade my heart and mind with an otherworldly holiness. Having so much strumming, singing and tuning in our lives.
WORST: Having to watch all those beautiful people drive away and never come back.

Some notable bands over the years?
Astronautolis, Dignan, O, Brother, Spoken, Bradley Hathaway, Sugarglyder, Gashcat, Engine.

Anything you are currently working on and wish to plug?
Yeah actually. We recently made a mixtape of Shreveport music from 2012. It’s called Every Man A King Volume II. There is some awesome stuff on it this year. It's a good way to get acquainted with the area and bands that are currently filling rooms with sound.
find it at: louisiana.bandcamp.com

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Tags:  Dalzell House, venue, The Dalzell House  

Jason Fisher    April 19, 2013