In Search of Lost Venues

Terry Ondang has been running music shows since she was a teenager. She put on shows at the Java Joint in Surrey before promoting shows around Vancouver, co-owned The Hive recording studio and ran Hive Fidelty record label. She lives on Gabriola Island where she runs The Noise Floor recording studio and released an album under the name Coco Koop.
Venues visited:
The Royal Hotel, at 1025 Granville Street, built in 1911 as a single room occupancy hotel. In the early 2000s it hosted at least two music shows (Smog, Interpol) in the hotel pub.

The Sugar Refinery was a vegetarian restaurant and music venue from the mid '90s to 2003 at 1115 Granville Street. It was known for fostering local music projects which were experimental, collaborative, and whimsical. It was the site of a 48 hour show by the band Beans, who played there dozens of times.

Richard's on Richards (1036 Richards) started as a yuppie nightclub in 1981. In the late 1990s it became a live music venue, hosting hundreds of bands until 2009, when it was demolished.

Bill Copeland Sports Centre is an ice rink and arena in Burnaby. Terry put on an iconic show for Fugazi here on July 7th 2001.

The last location of the The Hive Recording Studio in Vancouver was at 8561 Goverment St (Burnaby) from 2003 to 2013. It hosted some live sessions. The previous location of The Hive was a house at east 5th Avenue and Kamloops Street and also hosted shows.
Other venues mentioned: The Aquatic Centre, The Starfish Room, the Waldorf, the Java Joint.
Bands discussed: Interpol, Radio Berlin, Beans, The Strokes, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Fugazi, p:ano, Pedro the Lion, Veda Hille, Thanksgiving, Jon-Rae Fletcher, Burquitlam Plaza, Great Ant Ida, The Secret Three, Parks and Rec, Chet, Murder City Devils, SNFU, DOA, Gigi, Hot Hot Heat, Jerk with a Bomb, Destroyer, Black Mountain.
This episode features the following music:
Radio Berlin: Rote Lippen from Glass (2003)

Beans: Tired Snow from Tired Snow E.P. (2000)

Fugazi: Long Division from Live Recording July 7 2001 at Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

Reserve 34: Cold Front from Rain City Games (2000)

Coco Koop: Faded from Try (2024)

Thank you so much to everyone who listened and participated. There will be a new conversation in the next few months, and the occasional bonus episode. I always saw this as a finite project; there are way more stories to tell but I don't want to get repetitive in my own angle into this topic.

Luke Meat was the music director at CiTR radio during the 2000s. From 1998-2000 he was the DJ at the Brickyard under the name Audio Where. Luke was a member of the bands Damn Fine Sandwich, Storc, Value Village People, and Zero Percent Interest and currently in Bat Leather.
This conversation was recorded on January 15 2026.
The Brickyard was at 315 Carroll Street. In the late 1990s and early 2000s it was one of the main venues for local bands and out of town bands looking to play smaller venues. The building still exists and has been renovated into a  bakery, vintage shop and coffee shop.
Other venues visited: Selectors Records, Blim.
Other venues discussed. Columbia, The Old American, Smilin' Buddha, Hoko's, Web Cafe, Starfish Room, Richards on Richards.
Bands discussed: Chixdiggit, Fluff, Sunn O))), Boris, Groovy Ghoulies, Smugglers, Maow, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, At the Drive-in, Matmos, Modest Mouse, Close Caption Radio, Wide Mouth Mason, Kinski, Industry & Agriculture, Unclean Wiener, Destroyer, Jerk with a Bomb, Jennifer Gentle, Sleater Kinney, The Evaporators, Seam, GOB, d.b.s.
 
This episode features the following music:
Kinski: Point That Thing Somewhere Else from Semaphore EP (2002).

d.b.s.: Galleon's Lap from If Life Were A Result We'd All Be Dead (Originally released on Crap records, 2014)
Bat Leather: Pageantry (2025)

Dennis Mills has been playing with bands in Vancouver for over four decades. He was in AKA and Rhythm Mission, and still plays with the Judys and the Jazzmanian Devils.

This conversation was recorded on November 28th 2025.

Venues visited:  Tamara Restaurant (311 W Hastings), site of the first Jazzmanian Devils show in 1983. Warehouse show location (152 West Hastings). Helen Pitt Gallery (163 W Pender), The Lotus, In Concert, the Lamplighter, the Town Pump, John Barley's, the Savoy, Gambados, Lanalou's, City Space.
Other venues mentioned: the Railway Club, the Commodore, PUMPS, Smilin' Buddha, the Plaza, Cinderella Ballroom, Glass Slipper, Cambrian Hall.
Musicians mentioned: Captain Beefheart, UJ3RK5, Zealots, I Braineater, the Psychic Healers, 54-40, Los Popularos, David Thomas, Tragically Hip, Red Herring, Death Sentence, the Odds, The Rheostatics, the Clash, the Dishrags, Bo Diddley, Los Lobos, the Frights, the Moral Lepers, the K-Tels, Subhumans, DOA, the Pointed Sticks, Work Party, Emily Faryna, Tin Twist, the Dils, Rank and File.
This episode features the following music:
AKA: CIA from Dead Therapy
Rhythm Mission: Shudderdown
Tin Twist: Sitting Here, Waiting Here (Mo-Da-Mu 1980)

Ziggy (Yuriko Iga) opened Blim in 2003, after graduating from the Alberta College of Art and Design and starting a venue called Kisaten in Calgary. Blim was a music venue performance space, art gallery and much more. Blim hasn't had music events for about 14 years but is still a shop/retail art installation.

Blim began as a venue  in 2003 in the penthouse at 23 W Pender St in the old BC Electric Building. It moved to 197 E 17th for 2005-2010 and then to its current location at 115 E Pender.  This coversation was recorded on November 26, 2025.
Venues visited: 3 locations of Blim
Venues mentioned: Unit/Pitt, the Sugar Refinery, the Binding Light!, Kisaten, Squib.
Bands mentioned: p:ano, Nicholas Krgovich, Tygh Runyan, Crys Cole, Tunnel Canary, Joshua Stevenson, The Hidden Cameras, Dandi Wind, Josh Rose, Brady Cranfield, Loscil, Fieldhead, Lee Hutzalak, Cartoon Express, connect_icut, Prophecy Sun, Jeffrey Allport, Johnny Wakeham, Standard Grey, Pink Mountaintops.
This episode features the following music:
p:ano: Trouble Ahead from Ghost Pirates Without Heads (Mint Records, 2005)
Kellarissa: Harlean from Superstar EP (2008)
Fieldhead: he'd found the sea from they shook hands for hours (2009)