Tips on running a club in the suburbs

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San Fernando Valley Business Journal, 1/22/07 - Valley's Rock Mogul: "Soon after Lance Sterling opened The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills he bought a limo. Not so much to show off his new stature as perhaps the only impresario in the West San Fernando Valley but because he was pretty much the only one.

Soon after Lance Sterling opened The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills he bought a limo. Not so much to show off his new stature as perhaps the only impresario in the West San Fernando Valley but because he was pretty much the only one.

Visitors to his new club sometimes left after having one too many, and, with so sparse a nightlife landscape, there wasn’t a cab to be found in Agoura Hills. So Sterling offered to drive them home in the limo.

Question: What made you think a rock and roll club would fly in a city like Agoura Hills?

Answer: When I was at House of Blues and I booked the Doobie Brothers and it didn’t sell out, I realized the demographic I was trying to get lived in Agoura Hills. I saw there was an entire community of 40,000 or 50,000 people that were all demographically the same. And driving into Hollywood is a miserable experience. And most of the people who live out here work there and they don’t want to drive back there. And I was trying to drag these people out of their homes on a Tuesday night to drive to Hollywood and spend two hours on the road there and two hours back, and I always believed that if House of Blues was located in the Valley it would be a huge success. ...

Q: Did you have trouble convincing the bands to come to Agoura Hills to perform?

A: When I first opened up this place there were people who showed Pat Benatar the venue and she loved it. Then I could go to the Doobie Brothers and say Pat Benatar liked it. And they all know each other. Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon is probably one of the greatest fans of the venue, so because the manager of Styx is friends with Kevin, Kevin talked Styx into coming. If you look at our roster and the Hollywood Bowl roster, we share a lot but I like to believe the bands love this place because it’s built by somebody who cares about music as opposed to somebody who wants to make money. There are a lot of bands that play Canyon Club that deserve and can play at bigger venues.

Q: Obviously though, you have to make money to stay open. How do you do that?

A: The majority of our bands, we have a rule. We don’t make money off the bands. Our job is to make money off food and drinks. The majority of my business is private events. The majority of profit comes from corporate events. We do Guitar Center and THQ’s meetings. We’ve been doing that for seven years.

Q: How do you decide what bands would be successful here?

A: I always like to say I want bands that we don’t deserve. We demographically go 30 to 50. Your area dictates the draw. If your fan base isn’t here you can’t do it. Linkin Park wanted to do a benefit here and we were just terrified. Hoobastank, which is a 17-year-old demographic, did a benefit here and we were surprised. There were at least 3,000 people who showed up for a concert that could only accommodate 1,300. When we have Pink Floyd or those bands, it’s all a bunch of 18 year olds (who have rediscovered 60s and 70s rock bands), and the whole family comes in. The only thing I can’t make work is R&B and rap and hip hop is not huge here. We’re known for large concerts, so bands that track don’t do well here. When people come here, they want to see the whole band. ...

Q: The club regularly features Boogie Knights and Spasmatics in addition to the name acts that appear. Why have two shows a night?

A: They’re here because I guarantee that you’ll have entertainment every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We book them permanently. On Thursday its Spasmatics, on Friday it’s Boogie Knights and on Saturday there’s a tribute band. So if I don’t have anything, at least they will be there. And a lot of people who live in Agoura, let’s say they have friends in town and they want to show them the place. And their friend is 24, and they don’t want to see Wayne Newton, so they can come to the second show."

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