In case the rest of OC hasn’t been paying attention, live music in Huntington Beach is actually starting to become a thing again. In the last 12 months, an infusion of popular events like Punk in Drublic Fest, Coastal Country Jam, and Like Totally ‘80s Fest are opening a new chapter for local music festival goers. But what about the sounds of the HB bar scene? The seaside city still has a long way to go to reclaim the glory of the days of Safari Sam’s and The Golden Bear.
Thankfully, the new owners of Gallagher’s Pub and Grill, one of oldest bars in Downtown HB, hopes to return some vitality to the city’s Main Street scene. These days, the area is basically just a haven for cover bands content with reheating decades-old cover songs.
“It’s stale here,” says Scott Tucker, one of the three new co-owners of the bar as well as the founder of Sellout Productions. “There’s no entertainment on Main Street, at best some knucklehead gets a wild hair up his ass and wants to be a promoter again, books a Sublime cover band at Hurricane’s, it lasts three weeks and they’re done.”
Sitting near on a wooden stool surrounded by Gallagher’s knick knack-covered walls on a damp Wednesday afternoon, the long time OC promoter has a clear vision of a newer, better bar—transforming it from Cheers to a place where cheers can actually be heard for a calendar full of punk, ska and rockabilly favorites. Since taking the place over at the end of December, Tucker and co-owners Vanessa Turbay and Scott Churilla (drummer for many well known bands including The Reverend Horton Heat) started filling their roster with old-time favorites as well as a cadre of up and coming local talent. The goal is to successfully pick up where their last venue left off.
After a year or so in business at Santa Ana’s Diego’s Rock n Roll Bar and Eats Scott Tucker and Vanessa Turbay of Sellout Productions closed up shop to the dismay bands and concert goers in Santa Ana. The reason, they said, was to get out of a lease that they didn’t agree with in an area that wasn’t picking up enough steam in the nightlife department.
“It was tough because the band nights at Diego’s we did well but Monday through Thursday we couldn’t get a regular, a local, anybody,” Turbay says. “For a business that’s gonna last you have to have a Tuesday, Wednesday and a Thursday that are all gonna kill it too and we couldn’t do that.”
After hunting for a new place to grow their business, Sellout decided to move to on Gallagher’s at the end of 2017, purchasing it from the previous owner. Combating the problems of Diego’s meant calling in all of their contacts, which included bringing in new co-owner Churilla who, aside from being a renowned drummer for the Rev, is also full of new-owner spirit and energy to turn Gallagher’s into a quality venue.
“We wanna bring it back,” Churilla says. “Now is a good time to do it, it’s the off season, we have time to work all the bugs out. We’re gonna make the stage better, bigger, have back line in here, and I have a ton of drums—some really nice options.”
Though live original bands are going to be the bar’s bread and butter, Tucker says they will be including live band karaoke on Tuesdays, a weekly vinyl night with a collective of DJs and guest DJs and plenty of special events that cater to the city’s surf and skate culture.
After going on a rabid search to book the best acts they could find, the trio have already experienced some early success booking upcoming shows with The Untouchables, The White Kaps and Missing Persons (which is already sold out). Though their model for booking hasn’t changed all that much since Diego’s, the Sellout crew says they’re open to a wide variety of genres (basically anything except death metal—sorry, headbangers).
But most important, Tucker says, is his responsibility as an HB native and someone with pride in the community to bring something exciting and special to the music scene again.
“This town and this bar especially gave birth to a lot great bands,” he says. “HB Surround Sound used to play on that stage and the older brother of Duddy B from the Dirty Heads played in that band, the Dirty Heads were basically started here. Walter Trout cut his teeth at Perq’s. At Safari Sam’s you could see The Vandals playing with Pato Banton and a Blues band all in the same night. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t bring that spirit back.”
CBD exceeded my expectations in every way thanks https://www.cornbreadhemp.com/products/cbda-oil . I’ve struggled with insomnia looking for years, and after demanding CBD for the from the word go once upon a time, I at the last moment knowing a busty evening of calm sleep. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The calming effects were merciful despite it sage, allowing me to meaning afar uncomplicatedly without feeling punchy the next morning. I also noticed a reduction in my daytime anxiety, which was an unexpected but welcome bonus. The tactfulness was a fraction lusty, but nothing intolerable. Overall, CBD has been a game-changer quest of my siesta and uneasiness issues, and I’m grateful to have discovered its benefits.