The sign still hasn’t been torn down, but in January, The Detox Lounge on the corner of Beretania and Alakea streets changed its name to Sound/House. That’s not all that changed. The entire bottom level is now off limits, at least until it reopens–as a Mexican restaurant. Upstairs has seen some changes as well. There’s a new coat of paint, some art hung haphazardly on the walls and the stage can now support an entire band instead of just putting the drummer on a pedestal. But fear not: It’s still dark, it’s still dirty and it’s still a lot of fun.

Another thing that survived the renovation is ‘Thursdays Rocks,’ though admittedly, the rhyming scheme is now destroyed with the name change of the venue. Still, since June of last year, the site has served as a Mecca for bands outside the mainstream. Each week, tucked away in the far corner and nearly obscured by a slapdash tower of amplifiers, local talent thrashes away on their instruments, loud enough to be heard halfway down the street in some cases. Sometimes the place is packed–a battle of the bands event in December brought more than 300 people to the tiny club–other times a band will play for five people sitting at the bar, and when they finish, they’ll switch places with those same people.

Blaine Nishizawa is the driving force behind the shows, trying to showcase bands, usually of the young-and-angry variety, that don’t get a lot of support. ‘The rock scene here is pretty dead,’ he says as the first band sets up on stage. ‘We lost Pink Cadillac and The Wave, and now local bands don’t have anywhere to play except here and Anna Bannanas.’

More important, Detox previously served as one of the last bastions of under-age entertainment, with most shows allowing anybody 16 and over. The name change on the venue also brought a new restriction, however, and shows are now a strictly 18-and-up affair. And make no mistake–it is a younger crowd, from the performers down to the participants, focused around musical genres not readily accepted. That’s by design. Curiously though, since the night caters to the disenfranchised crowd who bristles against classifications, there’s still a bit of infighting, which is why some nights are packed and others are empty.

‘The punk kids don’t like the screamo stuff,’ Nishizawa says, shaking his head. ‘And that’s what my band plays.’

(Screamo, for the un-hip or those old enough to remember when Blondie and Talking Heads were considered punk, is an offshoot of the punk/hardcore genre, usually focusing on melancholy. It’s sort of an extension of the ’80s death rock bands, only with bigger amps and a shot or six of adrenaline.)

Those lines drawn in the sound, Nishizawa explains, is what prompted him to start the Thursday showcase. ‘The scene is just too fragmented with different groups. I’d rather just book anything that rocks,’ he said.

‘But not classic rock,’ he says as an afterthought. ‘I don’t like that stuff.’

Thursdays Rocks
Sound/House
1192 Alakea st.
Getting In: $5, 18+
Dress Code: Black. It’s the newÖ well, black.
Soundtrack: Angst-driven heartsick songs played at maximum volume and velocity
Sightings: 8mm Overdose, Stoic, The Miltons
Signature Drink: $5 Newcastle

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