Photo by Ben Kaye
It’s not terribly unusual these days for musicians to get into the food and beverage service industry. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has his Brooklyn wine bar, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne have their Haitian eatery in Montreal, and even El-P is co-owner of a Jewish deli. Now you can count Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock amongst the ranks of musicians/restauranteurs, as he’s just signed a lease to open a bar in Portland, Oregon.
According to WWeek, Brock has teamed with Matt Brown of Bunk Bar and newly formed restaurant and bar company Title Bout on the project. The two have been pals for awhile now, and opening a tavern together has long been their dream. The establishment will be situated in the Northwest 28th Avenue building that used to house Red Flag a decade ago, but a new name hasn’t been locked in yet.
“Isaac would really like to call it Glory Hole,” said Brown. “I don’t know if we’re going to go for that one.” Other names that have been batted around include Missionary Position and Trash Panda. “One morning Isaac is going to wake up and text me something genius and that will be the name.”
(Read: The Unusual Hobbies and Careers of Rock Stars)
As for the atmosphere, 100% of the mid-concept decor will be coming from Brock’s mind — and his warehouse of oddities. “Isaac’s good at creating worlds—whether that’s on an album, the interior of a space or an exterior,” Brown said. “He has a god-given talent for landscaping. So Isaac’s role will be to create what this thing looks and feels like; I want it to be one of his worlds. I took the architect and the designer to his warehouse and it blew their minds — it’s weird, ethereal, otherworldly, and a little jokey. The architect said, ‘If we can just have a 20th of the items in the warehouse, we’re set.'”
Brock only signed the lease on Friday the 14th, however, so details on exactly what Glory Hole will be — and what it will actually be called — are still being worked out. Meanwhile, Modest Mouse just expanded their 2017 tour dates with a fresh run of September shows. Find their full itinerary here.
