Kobo, the old Oldfield’s, as its sometimes called, has quickly established itself as a venue where unique local and national bands come to perform for those eager to see new artists or old favorites. I asked co-owner, Jacob Wooten, a few questions about a bar that myself and the majority of my friends frequent. Wooten will also play, among other local musicians, on Saturday in a Foo Fighters tribute band. This week, Kobo is celebrating its second anniversary with a solid lineup of bands starting tonight. At 7:30, The Lost Revival will play some songs from their new album, followed by an acoustic set. Bonneville, Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun, and Alert New London will follow. Tonight through Saturday is jammed solid with enough bands to make your panties moist.
Briana: What are the origins of Kobo, and what is its relationship to the Evolved family?
Jacob: Nick Wolak from Evolved and I are partners at Kobo. We have worked together for over 5 years on TRAUMA and other events around town. Kobo has been our most recent project together. It was a long process taking over, but when it finally came time for the change it seemed like it had all happened so quickly
B: What changes have been made to the bar/any future plans?
J: Over the last few years we have changed the overall appearance of the space and gave it a bit of a face lift. The walls use to be painted black and dark green and had over 140 beer signs up. Now the bar is well lit with framed poster art covering all of the walls, including the bathrooms. We turned the back storage room into a nice green room for the bands to hang out it. This is always a favorite for touring groups. They like having a room to relax on a comfortable couch and play Sega and Nintento 64. We also added craft beer on tap. We now have 10 micro beers on tap. Along with raising the bar on the draft beer, we also switched over to all canned beer for domestic and imports. We crush and store all of our cans, and every few weeks Eartha (http://www.earthalimited.com/) picks up our cans and stores them in their warehouse. Last I checked we had almost 7 pallets of crushed cans in Eartha’s warehouse.
B: The line-ups for some of the bands that come through are increasingly stellar. Do you have any big shows coming up?
J: Some of the shows I am looking most forward to are: You Won’t with Dolfish and Johnny Newman on May 27th, The Hot 17 Book Release Show on June 1st and 2nd (The lineup hasn’t been revealed yet, but the release shows are always stacked!), The Spruce Campbells album release show on June 9th with Indigo Wild, and The George Elliot Underground, Town Monster, Estocar and The Lost Revival June 22nd.
The line-up for this week is as follows:
Tuesday 5/8, doors at 7 $5
- 7:30 – Catch a sneak peak of the new Lost Revival album
- 9:00 – Lost Revival (acoustic set)
- 10:00 – Bonneville
- 11:00 – Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun
- 12:00 – Alert New London
Wednesday 5/9, doors at 8pm $5
- 9pm – Blake Skidmore of Old Hundred
- 10pm – Time and Temperature
- 11pm – Dolfish
- 12am – Saintseneca
Thursday 5/10,doors at 8pm $5
- 9pm – Sleepers Awake
- 10pm – The Black Antler
- 11pm – Bringers of Disease
- 12am – Cadaver Dogs
Friday 5/11, doors at 8pm $5
- 9:30 – Petit Mal
- 10:30 – Human Cannonball
- 11:30 – She Bears
- 12:30 – Netherfriends
*Netherfriends is also doing a DJ set to close the night out after his original set.
Saturday 5/12, doors at 8pm $5
- 8:40-9:05 – The Dead is Dead
- 9:15-9:40 – In Silent Movies
- 9:50-10:15 – Bigshot
- 10:25-10:50 – Ease The Medic
- 11:00-11:25 – Bicentennial Bear
- 11:35-12:00 – Joshua P. James and the Paper Planes
- 12:10-12:35 – George Elliot Underground
- 12:45-1:25 – Foo Fighters tribute featuring Mike Finch, Jacob Wooten, Will Ong, and Jack Huston
Acts Kobo introduced me to, such as Wilson and Valient Thorr, are the reason why this venue is so cool. It’s also useful in that I know I wouldn’t have come in contact with these artists had I’d gone some place else. I come here so much, that a direct deposit option of my funds to the bar would be an option I would utilize. Happy anniversary, Kobo! You’re doing it right.
