Behind the Music
If, like many local musicians, fans and PROVIDENCE MONTHLY music writers, you find yourself lamenting the lack of live music venues in Providence, you probably haven't had a conversation with Mike Delehanty. Live music in Providence is his business, and at least for the moment, business is good. Whether you know it or not, you've almost certainly enjoyed his work. He booked shows for some of Providence's best-loved clubs, including the old Lupo's, the Met Café, the Call, and the Century Lounge. He continues to do the same for Lupo's in its current incarnation, as well as the Living Room, Club Hell, and Harper's Ferry and the Roxy up in Boston.
There are two immediately noticeable qualities about Mike Delehanty that make it obvious he is well-suited for his career. The first is that he always maintains direct eye contact while talking: in a business so reliant on personal relationships and handshake deals, the ability to look someone square in the eye must be a valuable skill. The second is his inner music nerd's tendency to rattle off extemporaneous lists of bands, whether it be those who inspired him as a young musician (Pavement, Operation Ivy, Sonic Youth), national acts he brought to town in his early days (Humpers, Turbo ACs, Bomboras), or the local artists that made Providence in the 90s such a thriving scene (Lightning Bolt, Small Factory, Velvet Crush). The way he sees it, the downturn in Providence music doesn't so much fall on the now abandoned doorsteps of numerous defunct clubs as it does on the shoulders of the musicians.
"There are a lot of places you can play," he explains. "Club Hell is doing shows again. Jerky's is doing live music. The Living Room. Lupo's. The Blackstone. It really is an issue of bands. For a club to exist, you need a lot of local bands that can fill it on weekends. It's one thing to rely on national talent coming through, but only so many can. You need local bands to be able to fill in and still be bringing in bar money and door money."
Of course it would be easy to turn this into a chicken-and-egg conundrum and say that if there were more places to play, there would be more bands, but the truth isn't so simple. Regardless of how many options remain, when several popular venues are successively pushed out in favor of big money development, it sends a distinct message to the musicians who call this city home.
"In some ways, that made Providence a less friendly place for musicians," he agrees. "Rents went up. It's still a cheap place to live, but it's harder to get practice space for a reasonable amount of money. It's just more difficult to be in a band to some degree. That being said, I'm not necessarily sure why there aren't more bands."
