Despite being in its infancy, The Drake Amherst has seamlessly embedded itself into the culture. The freshly-opened venue is only a year old in 2023 but has completely changed the live music scene of their home in Amherst, Massachusetts. Along with bringing a new lease on nightlife to the town, The Drake is bringing an eclectic cast of artists from across genres to perform at their venue. Without trying, The Drake has become a hotbed for some of the best musicians from across generations and provided a creative space in a town that was searching for a sense of live music.
Glide had the pleasuring speaking with Lincoln Allen of The Drake to discuss the venue’s role in Amherst, their booking process, and the impact The Drake has had on its hometown. Check out their upcoming shows and read our full conversation below:
What does an average open-mic night look like for you guys? What sort of sound/talent is coming out of the local scene recently?
Open mic is a true spectacle that varies from week to week. We are very pleasantly surprised when active local professional musicians come out and treat us to a song or two – on several occasions this has led to actual performances. It’s also a lot of amateurs looking to get on stage for the first time, spoken word, poets, etc. Part of the goal is just to interact w/ the community in a way that lets any individual feel a sense of mutual belonging w/ the venue.
The Pioneer Valley has had a history of iconic bands from The Pixies to Dinosaur Jr- is there any way that you pay homage to the area’s fertile indie rock scene?
Absolutely. For starters, Dinosaur Jr. blew the doors off the place as our opening night concert back in April of ’22. It was great to have a band that’s truly bigger than our room give us that kind of stamp of approval, it’s been huge for venue recognition and keeps other opportunities coming our way. J Mascis, Lou Barlow and others in that circle have also all done shows here with smaller side project bands or solo acts and it’s been really great to develop that relationship and weave together with the indie history in a current way.
The Drake Amherst has a strong connection to the local community of Amherst, how important is that relationship to The Drake and how did you all achieve that closeness?
Yes well, this has been integral to the mission since day one. The Drake is really an extension of the Downtown Amherst Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to arts and culture in the area. This gives us a different bottom line than other venues that may operate as for-profit businesses, and it has always been important to us to connect with as many different pockets of the community as we can – the high schools and colleges, other non-profits like the Cinema, and many different cultural groups and individuals within that.
On your website, you guys state that The Drake filled a hole in the live performance culture of Amherst, what was the art scene like before you guys opened your doors? How do you all feel independent venues like yours play a role in local scenes?
There really was no “scene” or nightlife in Amherst to speak of. People went to Northampton, although many of those long-standing venues have sadly closed. Any music events all occurred on college campuses, which of course has its place, but can tend to be less accessible to those outside the academic world. We’re here to present live music but what that does is also bring out folks to the town before and after the shows to explore everything else Amherst has to offer.
You guys are a non-profit venue, what sort of freedom does that grant you compared to being owned by a bigger company?
It certainly changes our approach, and mission, to allow us to pursue some angles with booking that we may not otherwise be able to. We’re super thankful to have received a lot of grants and funding that we likely would not have access to if we were an owner-run for-profit business.
You guys host a bunch of artists from so many different genres, is there any connective tissue between the artists you book?
A big part of this first year has been booking as many different genres as possible, exploring the scenes within each one, and seeing what works. You could argue it’s almost been to a fault in that you are correct, there may not be a big connection between the classical series we present on Sunday afternoon and the punk rock show that happens on a Saturday night. But this has been key in reaching out to a lot of different groups and in turn their fans and supporters, who grow into our fans and supporters.
How do you balance so many personalities and worlds coming together every week? What does an average day look like at The Drake Amherst?
That’s been a really fun part of it. Every day we meet different artists/musicians, creative individuals, and often of a really world-class caliber that strolls through our doors. A typical day starts with load-in, meeting and greeting the band, soundcheck, and then on to the show production and all that entails. Never a dull moment that’s for sure.
You guys pride yourselves on that diversity in your lineup, was that always in the plans for The Drake? How did you all come to be the main hub for live performances in Amherst?
Yes, diversity of both music genre, programming, and also supporting the diverse cultures and community has always been part of our mission statement. It’s taken us a year of doing an average of 4-6 concerts a week and word of mouth spreading and it does feel like we’re here now, happy to be part of the fabric of the town and greater Valley area.
Are there any dream acts you guys hope to see perform at The Drake one day?
You said it not us, but I’ll say it too… The Pixies.
There isn’t much history posted about your venue, can you tell us a little backstory on The Drake? How has the venue evolved since you first opened up shop?
Well, we’re just celebrating a year of being open so yes the history is young. The name comes from a legendary long defunct basement bar down the street also called the Drake. Local lore and some choice of prominent graffiti on the adjacent cinema building “Save the Drake, For Willy, For Humanity” inspired the idea to “save” something that never really existed, a live music venue downtown. Coming out of the ashes of the pandemic furthered this idea. It may be too soon to use the word “evolved” but we are certainly learning and growing every day and each show we do, improving and becoming a better venue.
What can people expect from The Drake in the future? What is the ultimate goal of your venue?
It’s our mission to continue to bring high-caliber programming to the Drake and the more we successfully do that, the more it enables us to do so better in the future. The ultimate goal is to uphold this mission and at the same time continue to connect with and be accessible to the many pockets of community and culture in our area.
