For Forty Plus Years, Baltimore’s 8×10 Serves Up Rising Acts In Intimate Confines (THESE WALLS)

For more than forty years, The 8×10 has been at the forefront of Baltimore’s rich & eclectic live-music scene. Thanks to its state-of-art sound system, remarkably congenial staff, and convenient location in the historic Federal Hill area, The 8×10 has garnered a well-deserved reputation as one of Charm City’s most iconic venues. This intimate space continues to stand as a musical bulwark for bands of all shapes, sizes, and genres, playing host to revered national touring acts, including Nirvana and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, as well as acting as a de-facto launching pad for homegrown artists such as Cris Jacobs and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong during the embryonic phases of their respective careers. 

In the latest edition of our exclusive feature series on independently-owned venues across the country, These Walls, Glide spoke with co-owner Abigail Janssens about The 8×10’s history, the importance of catering to a discerning fanbase and much more. 

The 8×10 is one of the smaller venues in the country with a balcony, was this space always a music venue?

For most of its life, the space has lived a life of music. In its earlier configuration, it was an art gallery that held shows occasionally, but soon the music took the center stage so to speak.

Can you give us a little history of the venue? When did it open and what have been the stages of growth for The 8×10?

The venue has gone through several identity changes and physical configurations in its long life.

The music started when it was Joe’s Organic Juice Bar, but only occasionally. When it became The Eight By Ten in 1980 is when the music really became the focus. The building was completely renovated before becoming The Funk Box in 2003. Prior to that, it had an even smaller balcony opening over just half the dance floor. If you can imagine a smaller stage than the one we currently have, picture it like this…the stage was a triangle pushed into a corner, with a 2 ½ foot drum riser that put the kick drum directly behind the lead singer’s head. When the room was renovated and renamed The Funk Box is when the room really opened and became what it is today.

How did you come up with the name for 8 x 10?

The venue was called The Eight By Ten for 25 years. When it was completely gutted and renovated it was renamed The Funk Box, as the owner wanted to highlight New Orleans funk as well as just being a great name. Everyone was really impressed with the renovation and saw the need for the new name, but almost everyone commented something to the effect of “Man, The Funk Box is cool and all, but this is The Eight By Ten!”  When that owner sold it, the name briefly changed to The Eight By Ten Club. Fortunately for us, that sale never went all the way to the settlement table, and we were given the opportunity to purchase. We wanted to honor the original venue, but make sure everyone knew it was something different, so we changed the name to The 8×10, numbers not letters, and dropped the word CLUB. By its definition, a club is based on exclusion…music shouldn’t be exclusionary. Music should include everyone. The 8×10 isn’t a club, it is a venue.

Have you heard of any stories about when Nirvana or Billy Joel have played there?

There are so many great bands that have played the room over the years. But the best stories are usually lost to the aftereffects of a good night!

What type of artists or genres does the venue attract the most and what band has played the 8×10 the most?

There are only two kinds of music. Good music and bad music…and we only book one kind. We really strive to keep The 8×10 as a blank palette for any artist to use. We get the culture but in order for us to be viable for all types of music, the venue has to maintain a certain level of neutral class. For sure we present as a rock-n-roll venue, but we try to maintain a little dignity while doing it.

That being said, we do curate to our liking and that shows a bias. But that is a good thing. In Baltimore, if you had to pigeonhole the venues it would probably read like this: The Ottobar is your indie/alt-rock venue. The Metro Gallery and The Depot are your avant-garde / art school bands. The Cat’s Eye Pub is the best spot for the blues. The Sidebar, the last true punk bar in the Mid-Atlantic is really struggling to renovate and are currently closed. People can help out by checking out their GoFundMe page at Fundraiser by Feed the Scene Foundation Inc : SAVE THE SIDEBAR (gofundme.com). 

Then you have The 8×10 which skews heavy on improvisational rock. We are old hippies. We like jam bands because there seems to be more exploration in the music and more chance for the room to really take off. We have been branching out with EDM shows and singer-songwriter shows but funky, old-school, slippery rock-n-roll is what we love. They are all great venues that do their own thing, but I don’t think any one venue lets itself get roped in by stereotypes.

What is the current music scene like in Baltimore and what bands have made the 8 x 10 their launching pad of sorts?

We really couldn’t tell you firsthand! Both of us work full-time at the venue and barely have any time to explore the scene at other venues. We can say that we are slowly recovering from the COVID shutdowns and the understandable resistance to gathering in large groups again. It has been really hard, but things are building back, and we had a lot of help from our customers when we all locked out. We never would have survived without it. There have been several bands that have come through The 8×10 and found a measure of national success. There are so many bands close to our hearts that started out at our open mic or 5 Bands for $5 Bucks program that has grown to headline and find regional success. The band with the most national success right now would be Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Those guys are building their empire by concentrating on one fan at a time and absolutely deserve all the recognition they are getting. Proud to be part of their history and will hold them to their promise I can pick the actor who plays me in their rock epic biography musical.

Can you talk about your sound system and what makes it unique compared to other area venues?

I cannot say enough about our sound system. We are a Meyer house from monitors to mains. When the building became The Funk Box, the owner made the absolute right choice in spending the money on the best audio rig. Meyer Sound has built a reputation for crystal clear sound, and we strive every night to live up to that bar. We have been called the best-sounding room of our size east of the Mississippi by touring bands. They always talk about the sound and the energy from the crowd. One thing that we would say makes The 8×10 a little unique is the stage setup in relation to the crowd. Our stage sticks into the crowd, so the band is always enveloped by dancing people. Most stages are delineated from the crowd by the front of the stage, our stage is right out there so there is nowhere to hide. Go big or go home. But we will say this, The 8×10 audience has a pretty high standard for its other audience members. If you aren’t there for the music, and you are just talking over the music, you are going to get talked to or elbowed. We are really proud that our regulars are musically educated enough to know what it takes to provide an atmosphere where artists can elevate. At soundcheck, we always tell the bands that play The 8×10 to tell us whatever it is they need then and not hold back, because we don’t want them thinking about something on stage like needing a stool to sit, or a music stand, or that they still aren’t quite dialed in with their sound. We don’t want them thinking at all honestly, because when you aren’t thinking and you can just be there for the vibe in the room, the give and take, to be present….that is when the music flows through you from somewhere else and the real magic happens. It’s communal and just happens differently when it’s band AND audience and not band TO audience.

What’s the strangest/weirdest incident you’ve experienced at an 8×10 show?

Without fail it is the “Unbelievably Good Show” coupling with the ”Unbelievably Low Attendance Show”. Always the weirdest feeling when people’s jaws are on the floor from the level of musicianship and look around and see less than 30 people in the room. Is this really happening? No one is going to believe me! Where is everyone? Either that or when the new district police commander shut us down at 2:00 am on New Year’s Eve one night even though we told them the law was 5:00 am on December 31^st. We pleaded our case, to no avail. We were told if people were still in the building at 2:00 am we would be shut down, violation written, and fined. So, we ended the show. Half the people had left when they came back around, apologizing and saying, “Golly Gee, it turns out you were right!” Needless to say, NYE was not the big bar ring we were expecting that year.

How has the surrounding Federal Hill area evolved over your time as owner?

Federal Hill is definitely changing. Gentrification, urban sprawl, call it what you will. High-rise condos and no parking. We have a Starbucks now. That paints the picture better than anything I could say.

Are there any aspects of other venues that you like or dislike that you have applied to the 8 x 10?

Prior to purchasing The 8×10, we worked for Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule. We toured with The Allman Brothers and The Dead the summer directly before purchasing The 8×10 and basically learned everything for watching how venues like MSG, Red Rocks, Merriweather, The Gorge, did things. We absorbed everything we could from places like The Beacon, The Fillmore, The Warfield, 9:30 Club, The Electric Factory. Together we spent two years actually working at these types of venues. When we had the opportunity to buy The 8×10 we traded that for the opportunity to have a real lasting impact on musicians’ careers. Warren Haynes was already Warren Haynes. But by running a local venue, we could take garage bands and make them bar bands, and take bar bands and make them into theater bands. So, we try to run The 8×10 like it was The Beacon or Red Rocks. We try to be as professional as we can, to be as educational as we can, and to just provide a safe space with fertile ground where bands can find their feet and grow. We know we are a little-no-place-nothing-hole-in-the-wall on the grand scheme….but we also know that we are The 8×10 and that has meant a lot to a lot of people over the last 40 years. We just have to live up to that.

Are there any bands that haven’t played at the venue that you would like to see perform there?

Phil Lesh and Friends.