EXCLUSIVE: Beloved Casbah will soon stop rockin’

One of Hamilton’s most important and vibrant live music venues will close in January to make way for condos, says owner and operator Brodie Schwendiman. 

The Casbah will soon rock no more. 

That is the momentous news emanating from the corner of King Street West and Queen Street North in downtown Hamilton. The beloved music venue is shutting down early next year.

“The Casbah will be closing its doors in January 2025, following the sale of the building by its 24-year landlord to a local developer,” Brodie Schwendiman, owner and operator of The Casbah since spring 2004, told Hamilton City Magazine.  

“We intend on going out with a bang. We are hoping to give as many local acts (past and present) as possible an opportunity to play our stage one final time if they have interest … and throw a lot of parties.”

Schwendiman chose HCM as the media outlet to break the news of The Casbah’s impending closure, one that will deal a major blow to Hamilton’s live music scene and the region’s music community, especially after the closures of music venues This Ain’t Hollywood, Artword Artbar, and the Pearl Company in recent years.

In a recent interview in the cozy confines of The Casbah Lounge, the smaller of the two music stages within the venue (a 60-person capacity compared to the Casbah Main Hall at 160 patrons), he reveals that after the recent sale of the building, his new landlord is forging ahead with plans for a major condominium development on the site.

Schwendiman had seen this writing on the wall for some years now. 

“I have expected something like this to happen for a long time, as soon as I saw the city in general and all the development projects that have gone on over the last decade here,” he said.

“Then, more immediately, right around me at this intersection, I was aware of those (major construction projects) well before the pandemic happened. I sat down with my landlord, pre-pandemic, and asked, ‘Is there a timeline on your building? I’m sure you’ll get offers if you haven’t already.’”

The good news is that it is business as usual at The Casbah through the end of the year, marking the venue’s final holiday season. 

“This has always been a special time at The Casbah through its various holiday concerts, food drives and parties,” Schwendiman said. “There are a number of holiday concerts here that people have grown used to and enjoy and every year there are new ones that come along. I want the community to know that the holiday season here can be as festive as possible for anyone involved.”

Coming up at The Casbah are the always popular Bands For Boobs fundraiser (Nov. 10) and the holiday edition of the Punk Rock Flea Market (Nov. 24). There’ll also be the usual slate of music bookings for both The Casbah’s Main Hall and Lounge stages.

It is hard to overstate the significance of the impact of The Casbah on the Hamilton live music scene over the past two decades-plus. The busiest of all local club venues in terms of its booking over that period, it has afforded local music-lovers the chance to catch major artists from across Canada and beyond in a comfortable and intimate environment, one known for the quality of its sound.

Just as important are the opportunities the two Casbah stages have provided up-and-coming local bands and solo artists to develop their sound and build an audience that can possibly follow them into larger venues.

“The heart of The Casbah has been the local music community,” reflected Schwendiman. “The local bands. The local songwriters. The local audience. The local people that have been a part of our staff over the years. We definitely hosted a lot of music from outside our city, but it's what's within our city that has been the bloodline to our venue's lifespan. I'd like to think we played a pretty good host.”

He notes that “Casbah was also the birthplace and a participant as a development location for acts such as Arkells, Monster Truck, and Terra Lightfoot, while an infinite number of local talents has blessed us with their presence at 306 King St. W.”

Asked to single out shows that stand out as highlights of his long run at The Casbah, Schwendiman pinpoints indie rock royalty, citing a “secret” Pixies concert in August 2009. Other international highlights include Bob Mould (Husker Du), Sebadoh, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Tobin Sprout (Guided by Voices), and Grizzly Bear.

“The list of Canadian artists that have played our stage on multiple occasions is long and decorated – Sloan, Broken Social Scene, Weakerthans, Kathleen Edwards, Joel Plaskett, The Sadies, The Constantines and so many more.”

The Casbah also served as a welcoming refuge for local music lovers during the dark days of the pandemic. Once he was cleared to open The Casbah’s well-appointed patio, Schwendiman booked local DJs and artists like Martin Verrall to play, and Hamilton legends like the late Gord Lewis of Teenage Head and Chris Houston could be spied hanging out there.

Thanks to Schwendiman’s musically eclectic booking policy, virtually every genre has been represented on The Casbah’s booking calendar. As a result, if you are a music lover based in Hamilton or the vicinity, the chances that you have been through these doors at some stage are very high.

Reminiscing upon his time at The Casbah, Schwendiman notes that “I’ve operated here for a period of time well beyond what most commercial tenants operate in one location, especially in live music. With most live music venues that have operated for decades, more often than not they are the building owners. I don’t think we’ve overstayed our welcome at The Casbah, but I do feel we’ve defied the odds.”

The history of The Casbah does predate Schwendiman, but he fills HCM in on its origins. On Dec. 31, 2000, Casbah hosted a NYE party with Hamilton reggae stars, The Inspirators. They later would evolve into The Riddim Riders, who still play Casbah a couple times per year.

“Following the NYE bash, the venue shut the door for a couple weeks to tweak a few things in preparation for the official opening in mid-January 2001, which included the much-talked-about album release show for Pixies frontman Frank Black and his group The Catholics. 

“Casbah then operated 2001 into 2002, before the business closed, and new operators arrived and rebranded as Star Club in late ’02 into early ’03. Under this ownership group, they ran things predominantly as a dance club with not a ton of success. The venue went dark for a while, and then re-opened under another ownership group in late 2003, returning to the original name The Casbah.”

The next six months produced some great concerts (Blackie & The Rodeo Kings for example), but profits were hard to come by, Schwendiman recalled. 

“Spring 2004, the ownership group made management changes, and myself and my partner took over operations of the venue. A successful remainder of that year created some leverage for us to purchase the lease at 306 King St. W. going forward. The operation of The Casbah has been directed by my company ever since.”

Hamilton music owes Schwendiman a major debt of gratitude for the commitment he has shown to it over the past quarter century. You could say that teaching’s loss has been the local music community’s gain. In his early 20s, he seemed destined for the classroom, not running a music venue.

“This is pretty much the only thing I’ve done my entire adult life, and I have just turned 50,” he said. “Out of university there weren’t many other jobs I took before I got onto doing this.”

His career as a music booker started in summer 2000 at The Hudson (233 King St. E.). Then, while commuting to teachers college in Buffalo every day, he started booking music for The Raven, a now long-gone bar at John and Augusta. 

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Schwendiman confesses that at those early gigs, “I wasn’t thinking commercially or for this being a career. I was just tired of having to drive to Toronto to see the bands I wanted to see. I wanted to bring them here to see how much Hamilton cared about them. Sometimes it worked, to the point that when The Raven closed I got offers rather than having to chase work in the field.”

His Raven stint ran to May 2002, after which he started booking The Underground (41 Catharine St. N.).), until August 2007. “From March 2004 to August 2007 I was programming the live music at The Underground and The Casbah at the same time. Busy days.”

A life-long sport enthusiast (he was once on the radar of the Cincinnati Reds as a pitching prospect) and now a family man (three sons), Schwendiman has admirably retained his passion for music through all the ups and downs of a career booking bands and selling beer. 

His former regular show on CFMU-FM, Bailey Quarter’s Overdrive, revealed his deep musical knowledge, and he tells HCM that his role of music curator is the one he has most enjoyed as owner and operator of The Casbah.

“My favourite thing is curating something and seeing if Hamilton cares. Sometimes I put something together and Hamilton doesn’t care. Other times where I don’t think they will, they do, and that’s the best. Sometimes we are all on the same page and I like that part too.”

Looking ahead, Schwendiman said, “I still want to present to people live music in some form, so I don’t rule out finding a job in the live music industry. Booking music for the community is a passion of mine, and in some form I'll pursue other opportunities for that.”

To check out the complete schedule of concerts and events at The Casbah. Go to casbahlounge.ca/calendar/
Bands and artists wanting to contact Schwendiman to explore the possibility of a final booking at The Casbah can email him at casbahbrodie@gmail.com.