New all-ages concert venue turns spotlight on local bands
By Kevin Gate Special to the Acorn

A PLACE TO ROCK- Owner Doug Young stands at stage front at 118 West, a new concert venue that held its grand opening last weekend in Simi Valley with a crowd of music fans in attendance.

Local bands may no longer have to worry about whose backyard they're going to play in now that 118 West, a new venue for upandcoming music acts, has opened on the west side of Simi Valley.

The grand opening of 118 West last Saturday featured many local bands on the rise, including InMemory, Enblessin, Test Of Will and Red Sky Warning.

Doug Young, the venue's owner, opened Big Brother Studios in Simi Valley in 2003. He has since transformed the one-time recording studio into what he describes as a concert hall for music fans from all around Simi and surrounding areas.

"We want to establish a place where people can come and listen to music and enjoy upcoming bands," Young said. "This is a big city- most people don't realize there are a lot of people in Simi Valley, and a lot of kids."

The new, all-ages concert hall located at 2251 Ward Ave. near Easy Street can hold about 300 people and comes complete with security and a strict anti-drug policy.

"There will be one security guard for every 50 kids. There will be security at every show," Young said. "The venue is a nonalcoholic establishment: lots of drinks, but no alcohol."

Young said he isn't worried about noise or behavior complaints since 118 West isn't near any homes, but rather in Simi Valley's western industrial district, where it's safe to have vehicle and foot traffic.

What used to be a studio "for recording B-movie soundtracks," as Young described it, has been successfully transformed into a House of Blues-type venue, complete with video and audio recording equipment.

The walls are lined with video cameras, speakers, lights and sound-absorbing curtains to perfect the live experience. The stage is spot lit, with multiple microphones and a drum lift. Above the stage is a gigantic video screen, which projects the several different angles the cameras can pick up.

The recording studio that Big Brother Studios also owns is next to the concert hall, which will allow bands to have their live sets recorded in a professional fashion, with Big Brother's sound producers and engineers standing by. Bands will receive their recordings at no cost.

"We have our professional audio equipment and cameras, which are piped into the studio next door, so we'll be recording live onto audio and video," Young said.

Young said that 118 West would only remain a music venue longterm depending on the success of the grand opening, which appeared to draw a large young crowd impressed at the sights and sounds of the new venue.

All the bands that played at the grand opening shared a few characteristics: They were heavy, loud, and fast, not afraid to make the most of the brand new sound system of 118 West.

The first band out was fourpiece "screamo" group Red Sky Warning, followed by Test Of Will, whose elaborate guitar solos highlighted most of the band's set. Later Enblessin took the stage, bringing along a keyboardist to add something different to the mix.

But the band that seemed to draw the biggest response was headliner InMemory, which succeeded in getting the crowd to clap and sing along throughout their set. The band's sounds appeared to have the most diversity of the four that occupied the stage, changing between wailing metal to slower sounds, dance tempos to rock beats.

"There's a lot of space for a good amount of people here" said 27-year-old Teresa Santoyo, who was in the audience at the grand opening. "It's nice and clean. They did a really good job setting it up."

Though satisfied with the turnout at the first show, Young is already eyeing some alterations.

"We're making changes in the way of advertising and also in the venue itself," he said.