Interview: Club X founders Michele Mas and Misti Watts talk booking in Austin

The Cosmic Clash sat down with local event promoters Michele Mas and Misti Watts who produce Club X, happening every second Sunday at The 13th Floor Bar downtown. Mas operates a record label and booking operation (Mas Music) of her own while working at Far Out Lounge, while Misti performs in local acts, Daiistar and Pale Dian. Their next event happens this Sunday, February 12 with Transy Warhol, the Dead Coats, and Cheeky Orange. You can find them on Instagram at @clubxaustin or on Facebook. Read what they’ve been up to:

What got y’all into the music industry? How long have y’all been involved?

 

Michele: I was never in the music industry before I came to Austin. I come from project management in tech. I came here and there was no structure. I decided to start a record label. The organization is the easy part. I didn’t know anything about recording; I didn’t know what a backline was. I dove in and met the guys from the Sun Machine. They were doing everything DIY. I realized I’ve been doing this since 1986 in California. I grew up in the DIY scene, punk, goth, in the Bay area. We had to book shows. Booking shows became part of the regime. Misti and I met 2 or 3 years ago at a birthday party and we were both like “Who are you?” We became the evil twins from that night on. Misti happened to be in bands that I loved. It was a good fit when the 13th Floor came up. She [Misti] knows a ton of people, she’s played a ton of shows, she sees the whole one side of it, and I had already been booking for four or five years now.

Misti: It was easy for us to make it work. I already knew the owners of The 13th Floor. No-brainer, Michele and I need to do something together. My experience comes from being in a band and booking tours for bands. It was very DIY. I already know all these bands.

Michele: Between the two of us, we know a lot of fucking people. When we go out together, there’s a ton of people that she knows that I don’t know. She’s been in Austin a lot longer than I have.

What type of scene are y’all trying to create with Club X? What inspired it?

Michele: We were looking for more adult bars, especially on Red River.

Misti: It’s changed a lot.

Michele: I like a good cocktail at a place I can sit at the bar. I went to the 13th Floor and it was The Black Angels. That was the holding pin. There was the Austin Psych Fest. Otherwise, I would’ve never come to Texas.

Misti: We both had love for the 13th Floor from the beginning. Those guys have done so much for the Austin music scene. I didn’t realize how much they’ve opened up opportunities for bands here.

Michele: …Or even just brought people to Austin. It’s done with reverence. It’s done with honor. I find new music where there’s a scene.

Misti: For me, Club X was creating that as a place to contribute our skills and help the 13th Floor. Every second Sunday, we are making sure the 13th Floor stays on Red River Street.

Michele: It’s a lot of networking also.

Misti: We want the new kid in town who doesn’t know a lot of musicians to show up. Like “Hey I heard a lot of musicians hang out at Club X.” They talk about music, there’s DJs, everyone is approachable. We want to create a network with it; not just supporting the scene and 13th Floor as the psych venue. We want to bring together like minded people.

Michele: Elysium is right next door. If you come into our bar, then you can go to Red River and dance for $5.

Misti: It’s a mixture of both networking and introducing people to new music. She [Michele] brings people from the label and photographers. I bring musicians. It’s exposing people to bands we like.

Michele: We met through somebody accidentally. We’re both social and try to connect everyone with people. If we all work together, it’s going to be amazing.

 

What type of scene did y’all go to before Club X?

Misti: I grew up in Dallas. I went to a lot of Dallas punk rock shows when I was younger. SXSW was a big reason why I moved to Austin. I was playing music and when you get to experience it, you get to see everybody. Then, I got to experience the first Austin Psych Fest.

Michele: I grew up in the Bay Area in the late 80s. I had friends that would run crazy ass parties. They would rent out the Kabuki Theatre and get a liquor license, then throw goth fashion shows and dances. Back then, it was $10 to go.

Misti: I wish I grew up in the Bay area. It was happenin’.

Michele: I am from San Jose and San Jose had a great punk scene. A couple of guys we knew started these venues. They had Filter come through, Alanis Morissette, huge bands that they could get before they got big. A bunch of them were skaters, they had all these other kinds of connections, but again it was all super DIY. We lived by a college downtown. It was acceptable to party like no one cared. Those skater guys still have a club in San Jose.

 

Was that when you departed?

Michele: I went to Seattle for a while. Seattle is a weird place to move to. If you moved to Seattle with a partner, it was better. Also, it was after the market crash, guys were extra broke, fun! It just wasn’t my scene. Then I went to Ireland. The music in Europe is so much easier to travel around to. I stayed in Ireland, overstaying my visa. You only get three or six months to go in. I went to Barcelona Psych Fest and met all the people and Liverpool Psych Fest. It was easier to find people into psych rock. If you saw someone wearing a Brian Jonestown Massacre t-shirt, you knew they were fucking cool. That was that 2015 era. I couldn’t stay there anymore, so if I have to move to the United States, I decided on Austin. I only knew one person and got a sublet.

Misti: Her story is so much cooler than mine.

Michele: It’s because I’m old. What’s good is: I wasn’t here all those years that she was. When you’ve been in town for fifteen years and played in amazing bands, you know a lot of amazing people. Our bond just felt right. Misti has an important big girl day job; she’s very organized. Whatever I don’t do, she’ll do.

Misti: We’re definitely “work” people. We work.

Michele: It’s always fun. If we’re not having fun, how is anybody coming to Club X going to have fun if we aren’t? We’ve only been doing Club X for several months. We had timing difficulties. We had Austin City Limits during the first one, we had the Levitation clauses (radius clauses) for the second, then we had the Sunday after Free Week. Next, we have the Super Bowl.

Misti: It has definitely been a challenge, but I think we are doing well.

Michele: Everybody that played a show at Beerland. They came and saw Beerland transform into something…

Misti: We were talking about the psych scene, there’s so many great bands that played when it was Beerland. A lot of people because they saw a punk band they liked. I saw The [Black] Angels play there way back.

Michele: I did my first record release there.

Misti: I’ve seen crazy cool shows there. Between the love of 13th Floor and the nostalgia of Beerland. That’s the thing: I do see 13th Floor as a sustainable venue. I want to see it continue. You saw the 13th Floor during Levitation, you saw the 13th Floor during Free Week. They became the headquarters for these festivals.

Michele: They were at the Oblivion Access festival as well. They’re in a great spot next to Valhalla. All those venues work together and you can have your own mini festival.

Misti: Free Week was great!

 

What challenges have you faced being women in the industry?

Misti: People not trusting your opinion. People not trusting the gut instinct. If a guy said the same thing, they’d have more authority.

Michele: In Austin, most bookers are women. Once you get past the (lower) level of booking, it’s mostly been men. There is a glass ceiling. Oftentimes, you get outvoted.

Misti: It’s better now. Even five years ago, it’s way better.

 

Do you have any dream bands you would like to see booked for Club X?

Michele: Siouxsie [and the Banshees]!

Misti: I could go down a list, but Levitation and Psych Fest would have my list.

Michele: Nolan Potter! He’d be a great intimate show on a Sunday. American Sharks. There’s so many great bands in this town.

Misti: Everyone I have heard that went was like “Oh this is great!” or “I can’t wait to go to the next one.” We’re making that momentum together.

Michele: It’s best to start with a headliner as a band that has momentum..

Misti: What we want to do: we want to introduce people to bands but first, we have to know we have that built in crowd. Then introduce new music.

Michele: And new people. The way the 13th Floor is set up: the music is definitely set up on stage, you have that whole area by the bar to sit there and chit chat with people. Then you have the area out front. They’re a 200 person capacity venue.

Misti: Our ultimate goal is to create something you KNOW you can go and see something cool. This guy did that with (a residency), Nite School a long time ago. It was a goth spot, you went, you knew you were going to see electronic bands, darkwave, new wave. You knew what music you wanted to hear. Shows are always going to be cool, always running into people.

Michele: When I came here and didn’t know anyone, you could go to the Electric Church or Hotel Vegas, sit down with anybody that looked cool and start chatting with them. I miss that about Austin. 13th Floor, where everyone itches for a conversation.

Misti: When you go outside to smoke, you’re forced to talk to people. It’s so small. They moved the DJ booth up further. The DJ booth is a bigger part than what we were initially thinking of. 13th Floor is promoting many cool musicians DJ-ing. We love that too. We get to have a DJ that is either another musician or is a local DJ.

Michele: When I grew up Club X was this thing that everybody went to. There’s this Club X in Germany that is Bauhaus-y.

Misti: They’re all European. We’re bringing the European style to Texas.

 

Can we expect a Berghain event? All black and leather?

Misti: We want to do black balloons. We want to do where the balloons fall on the ground. We have to cover it all in balloons. I was going to start posting balloons when I poster. When you see a black balloon around town, “Fuck! That’s Club X.” No information about the show. It makes an experience. I don’t want people to come for just, the band. I want them to come for the experience, the people.

 

What are y’all listening to right now?

Misti: Nothing right now. I’m working with a few other bands, so nothing new right now.

Michele: The new Die Spitz. Sludge is one of my favorites. Pinky Rings.

Misti: Borzoi!