Neptune Rising

It came to us last week: a grubby brown carpet sample, perhaps three inches square, lovingly packaged in plastic and labeled "The Official Mercury Theatre Stage Carpet" (ingredients: carpet fiber, beer, whiskey, John Davis cigarette ash, Jon Spencer sweat, V-roys ice, BR-549 skin, Todd Steed ear wax, etc. etc.). Said sample was Mercury management's clever way of letting us know that Knoxville's favorite long-running rock 'n' roll hovel had officially vacated its outpost on Market Square for posher digs (and a new name) in the Old City.

After a month of wrangling over beer-licensing issues, the Mercury closed as of Saturday, Feb. 28, and moved to its new location—dubbed the Neptune—in the Old City on Sunday, March 1. You may remember that the new space, at 125 E. Jackson, held the late Black Sheep Cafe a few years back and was most recently home to Cajun eatery the Big Easy. Now its large patio space, high arched windows, and cavernous (especially compared to the Mercury) interior are in service to the unique aesthetic which made the Merc the coolest little hole-in-the-wall rock club in town.

Opening week at Neptune consisted mostly of the popular Gothic and fetish dance nights that had become so popular at the former club, but Saturday was reserved for what has always been the venue's staple: live music. Local performance art metal combo Captured By Robots kicked off the night with a bizarre but captivating set that left the crowd (and it was a crowd, perhaps 200 or more by loose count) in awe of both the band's bludgeoning tuneage and its, um, unique stage props. (Trust us—you gotta see this one to understand.) The headlining slot was reserved, appropriately enough, for local mosh-funkateers L.I.F.E.—veterans of countless Mercury shows—who put on a typically energized show, marked by plenty of rump-wagging and head-banging alike.

Reaction to the Old City's newest planet was resoundingly favorable, especially given that Neptune has considerably more space and far nicer amenities than its notoriously dank Market Square predecessor. L.I.F.E. bassist Adam Bucco admiringly declared the new club "the place for local music in the Old City," while A.C. Entertainment promoter Benny Smith commented on the "nice bathrooms," his tongue only half-way in cheek. "I almost thought I was in Shoney's," Smith said with a grin, before adding on a more serious note that, "This icould be the shot in the arm the Old City needs."

Neptune owner Kevin Niceley says the Neptune will maintain the Mercury's winning combination of off-beat dance nights and out-of-the-mainstream local, regional, and national bands, with perhaps a few interesting twists. "We're going to take the best parts of a dance club, the best parts of a rock club, and the best parts of a patio bar, and put it all together," explains manager George Bove (that's right—he of GTV cable access fame.) The Neptune layout encompasses a patio, dance floor, bar and lounge area on the sprawling, circular bottom floor, plus several more rooms upstairs, including a large storage space that Niceley says will be renovated as a second stage. His long-range vision calls for a multi-level club that can host DJs and live music on the same nights. "Ultimately, we'll let the public decide," says Niceley. "Whatever they want, we've finally got the space to make it come alive."

Upstairs renovations are still in progress, so the ground floor will host most of the action for the time being. But Bove hopes that at least a portion of the top floor will be finished and ready to rock in a matter of weeks. In the meantime, local dj extraordinaire, Mercury Theatre doorman and carpet preservationist Col. Bacchus, celebrated the new club with a toast to its shiny checkerboard floor. "Hopefully, it'll last long enough that one day we can package up pieces of the tile."

Don't Know From Shinola

Knoxville expats Shinola, featuring ex-Dirtclods Mark Brooks and Brian Waldschlager and Dolly Parton's cousin Richie Owens, have—at the same time the lineup has solidified—been faced with a name change. Brooks, bassist in the 'clods and their hometown offshoot Huevos Diablos, has made the move to Nashville to join former bandmate Waldschlager in Shinola—he's just going to have to join a band with a different name. It seems "a band in Seattle that nobody knows anything about has been using [the name Shinola] for about three years and had trademarked it," according to Kay Clary, who handles some of the band's Knoxville bookings. Before the unveiling of the new name, however, the band is headed to the South X Southwest Festival to give the old name a big farewell. To prime themselves for that industry showcase and the release of their first album later in the spring, Shinola will play at Barley & Hopps with the Psychaderelicts on Saturday, March 14.

—Zippy "I Could Use a Name Change Myself" McDuff