Fans of live, local rock and roll likely appreciate Charleston’s Empty Glass for the same reasons the Pistol Whippers do. The Campbells Creek-bred hillbilly punk rock four-piece will reunite this Saturday, March 29 to help the Glass celebrate being named one of the top 100 bars and nightclubs in the country by Nightclub & Bar Magazine.
It’s the band’s first show in two years, but the guys aren’t worried.
“It’s been a while, but we’re gonna try to pull it off,” guitarist Dirt Reynolds said. “It’ll come back like second nature, like riding a bicycle.”
“Yeah — a bicycle without a seat!” singer Guy Parker laughed.
Reynolds explained how the reunion came about.
“Billy’s [bassist Billy Dynamite] brother was going to do a documentary where the Glass got the Top 100, and he thought, what better way to celebrate it than to have us come back because we pretty much made this place happen,” he said sarcastically to much laughter.
“I think it might be the other way around,” Parker noted.
Sitting in the Glass on a Saturday afternoon, listening to the Whippers reminisce about the East End’s historic bar, it’s clear how important the Glass has been to them over the course of their 10-year history.
In fact, the venue can be credited with starting the Pistol Whippers. Seeing Ohio rockabilly bands like The Cowslingers and Lords of the Highway at the Glass motivated the Whippers to do their thing, Dynamite explained.
“We were sitting at this table right here, and we decided to start a band. There were no local bands like that — no high-energy bands,” he said. “We really wanted to do that, and it caught on and people really enjoyed it.”
They also extolled the virtues of the place.
“It’s a welcoming place to come hang out; you can talk to a stranger in here, and you know there’s not going to be any problems,” Reynolds said. “It’s aged like a nice liqueur.”
“It’s like home,” added drummer Lance Steele.
Dynamite waved his hand as if to give a seated tour of the bar. “Look, you got this s--- all over the walls, all the fliers and the stickers and everything. You compare this bar to the other bars in town, and it’s just a lot more comfortable. It’s like being in someone’s basement hanging out.”
The Whippers recalled with fondness different run-ins at the Glass, including Parker’s head being bloodied by a run-in with Dynamite’s bass the night they opened for Clutch and the time Hasil Adkins cut his hand on their cymbal.
Parker also noted that the best advice they were ever given came courtesy of Mojo Nixon during a show they played with him at the bar.
“He said, ‘It doesn’t matter if you know how to do it, as long as you act like you do.’”
Despite their breakup for eight months in 2005-06 (“inevitable” was how Parker described his leaving the band), the biggest thing for the Whippers is their 20-plus years of friendship.
“I think the friendship was always more important than the band. The band kind of happened because we were friends,” Parker said.
“That’s the reason it lasted as long as it did,” Dynamite said. “When we broke up, it was like getting divorced from three different wives at once.”
The Whippers and their fans are pumped for Saturday’s show at the Glass. “We’ve been getting phone calls from people in Roanoke and North Carolina, and they’re driving up here just for this show,” Reynolds said. “We’ll be bringing some new tricks into it, too — some stage antics, maybe blowin’ some fire. Whatever it takes.”
“It feels good to do it for the Glass, too,” Parker said. “Because, really, this is where we got inspired to do what we were doin’, and they let us do it.”If you go
The Empty Glass Top 100 Party begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, featuring (in order) Comparsa, The Spurgie Hankins Band, Blue Million, The Carpenter Ants, Diablo Blue, Buckstone and the Pistol Whippers. Each band begins its set on the hour. Cover is $8 and includes a special-edition Empty Glass T-shirt. Call 345-9893 or visit www.emptyglass.com.