Tim Kam is excited for what comes next.
“The music venue aspect is kind of new to me, so I’m learning constantly,” says Kam, co-owner of Arts District music venue Swan Dive and Fremont Street dance club Oddfellows. “Mike Henry has been around for a while. He’s going to bring a lot of cool indie stuff to Swan Dive.”
If you’re one of those fortunate souls who frequented Fremont East’s Bunkhouse Saloon through the 2010s, your head may have exploded a little bit just now. Henry was responsible for many of Bunkhouse’s most memorable bookings, including Built to Spill, Deerhunter, Guided by Voices, Bob Mould, Panda Bear, Rakim and Japanese Breakfast. He helped to make that 300-capacity club—and its spacious, open-air “backyard”—the place to be on Fremont Street several nights a week.
Now that Henry is the main talent buyer for the 450-capacity Swan Dive—with continued, additional bookings by We The Beat co-founder Kirk Reed, who’s also brought a number of great shows to the venue over the past year—it’s hard not to get that Bunkhouse feeling again. We’re back, baby.
“Since we lost Bunkhouse, I can honestly say there hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t thought about DTLV, the amazing music scene here and all the friends I made,” Henry says. “I’ve been hoping for a chance to jump back in, and I dig Swan Dive. Couldn’t be more psyched.”
Swan Dive on Main Street
A modest, soft-spoken veteran of Austin’s celebrated music scene, Henry is quick to praise the rest of “Team Swan Dive”—general manager Chauncy James (another Austin transplant that Henry calls “a bar whisperer, operational wizard and force of nature”) and Kam (“Tim books and produces lots of incredible dance parties … it’s super fun to be in the same family as Oddfellows.”).
But there’s another partner that Henry is depending on: the locals that frequented Bunkhouse. Even if we didn’t always go inside for the music—sometimes it was enough to just enjoy a beer in the yard, talking to friends who had bought tickets when they came outside for air—it was always a good scene. Swan Dive, with its giant second-story balcony overlooking Main Street, could bring back that vibe.
“We’re planning to upgrade [Swan Dive’s] patio,” Kam says. “We’re making it more of an area where people can hang out. … We’re figuring out how to keep an audience hanging out, both before and after a show.”
“Bunkhouse and Swan Dive are kindred spirits—amazing places created and run by groups of people who live for live music,” Henry says.
Henry even suggests that Neon Reverb, the homegrown Vegas music festival that brought the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Ty Segall and The Drums to Bunkhouse, may be resurrected with Swan Dive as its epicenter: “It’s destined to ride again. It’s too good of an idea.”
At press time, Henry didn’t have any shows ready to announce—booking a calendar takes a minute—but he’s pumped for the gigs other promoters have booked for the venue, including We The Beat’s Tennis show on May 16 and Pulsar Presents’ Frankie and the Witch Fingers concert on July 31. He’s as excited as we are to get back to Bunkhouse-like business.
“Nothing will ever replace Bunkhouse. But it’s time for something new,” Henry says. “I can’t wait to see where Swan Dive can go. We got shows to see, people.”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!
