Club DREDD
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Club Dredd was a nightclub originally located in a small space on Timog Ave, Quezon City, Philippines. It was opened on 08 December 1990. The Timog venue had been a home for another rock venue called Red Rocks that closed down. It was put up by a young rock musician Patrick Reidenbach and rock band manager Robbie Sunico. The club was named in tribute to their favorite comic book character Judge Dredd. They opened up the club with a small amount of money.
The concept was to provide a venue for budding Filipino rock musicians and the growing followers of Pinoy rock scene. This was not to be a venue for bands covering pop music. Its customers didn’t know it then but many of the bands they watched then would eventually become today’s most popular recording acts. Within a just few years, Club Dredd became the epicentre of Metropolitan rock scene and the home of many musicians and bands of the existing music scene.
Club Dredd’s Timog bands list is quite impressive by today’s standards what at that time most of these acts had nowhere else to perform. Regular performers included now famous names like the Eraserheads, The Youth, Afterimage, Athena’s Curse (presently known as Alamid), Grace Nono, Joey Ayala, Bazurak (whose members eventually became part of RiverMaya), Color It Red, FrancisM, The Wuds, Razorback, Wolfgang, and Advent Call to name a few.
Club Dredd was beset by financial problems from its inception. After a valiant effort to sustain the business, Reidenbach and Sunico finally decided to throw in the towel in February 1993. Ironically, major record labels and radio stations including NU 107 and LA 105 were finally recognizing the potential of this music scene's growing following.
The financial struggles did not stop the club's co-owner Patrick from planning to reopen. True to Patrick's promise to the many patrons and bands of Club Dredd, he reopened its doors in a newer, larger site on EDSA. This was in January 1994, almost a year after the Timog venue closed. With better planning and more professional management, this club flourished until mid-1998.
Club DREDD in EDSA, still true to form, fostered new and exciting talent. It was the launching pad for even more artists that are hitting the airwaves today. Discovered at EDSA were bands like Teeth, Datu's Tribe, Parokya ni Edgar, Tribal Fish, Sugar Hiccup, Greyhoundz and Put3Ska.
After four and a half years in operation, management decided it was time for a change and a new venue which they failed to do. So on 11 June 1998, right after NU 107's event Independence Day Concert which featured the most popular bands at the time, Club Dredd once again closed its doors.
Although relatively quiet in the ensuing years, the guys behind Club Dredd did put up a website in 1999 called Club Dredd online that exists until today. Several small events were also organized as "Club Dredd presents".
In December 2005, Club Dredd habitué Karen Kunawicz put up a month-long photo exhibit at Big Sky Mind called Back From the Dredd, featuring photos and memorabilia from her years hanging out at the bar. For the exhibit, Big Sky Mind actually repainted their second floor to resemble the defunct bar.
In March 2006, Rob and Patrick hosted a radio show in NU 107 called radioDredd, along with the infamous DJ Skul and Prof Ramone. It ran every Friday at 9pm and featured an eclectic mix of new and old music, obscure and popular artists, local and foreign. It had a free-for-all format that often had the hosts openly arguing with each other on air, and fighting over what songs to play. It ran for over a year until it was canned in April 2007. No official explanation was made for it, but speculations ranged from lack of sponsorship to a raucous anniversary show that ran overtime and had many of the hosts and guests drunk and rowdy while on the air.
Club Dredd, the venue, reopened quietly in June 2007, in the second floor of Gweilos Bar in Eastwood City, Libis. It still features many upcoming new acts and weird shows. It has been on an "unofficial extended dry run" since then.
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