Studio Seven’s Closure: An Exclusive Interview With the People Behind the Iconic Venue

Those earlier memories of the venue and the DJ’s there, will any of those DJ’s be playing at the final shows coming up this month?

Marble: Yeah quite a few of the kinda old-school guys are going to be incorporated on the lineup and a lot of people are kind of sad but excited at the same time just to play there one last time. The thing with Studio Seven is that it is one of the longer venues in the city to support the electronic scene. They have always been willing to take the risk with the city … it was really nice to have a venue kind of go to bat with us on that kind of stuff.

All the equipment that is part of the venue now, there has been talk of a new location – is that equipment going to carry over?

Studio Seven: There will be some of it that carries over but we are still working through negotiations with a couple different venues on placing our shows and getting things in alignment for our other partners that we have been working with through the years.

 In one word, could you describe the atmosphere of “S7” during one of those types of events with three stages?

Electric Nights: Frantic [laughs].

This last party coming up, the Farewell, how do you think it will compare to the other raves that have been thrown there in the past?

Marble: Well, I mean, we are expecting a pretty good turnout just because it is of course the last show … yeah it should be pretty crazy. I mean we had the opportunity to do the last event at Motor when that closed up and that was a big night as well … I think that from a DJ/production standpoint it will be a really good lineup, like I said new + old DJ’s, a lot of genres represented and then we are going to have a pretty good production in there for the money … so its like the big LED wall is installed in there and a few other kind of surprises. No alcohol, like the bar is going to be open to everybody that night … Normally all the events I do are 18 plus these days but just because its the last show at Studio Seven we are gonna allow 16 plus, so if the 18 year olds have younger friends they can come in and check out the venue one more time before it closes up.

Was there any anxiety or apprehension when the first EDM show was hosted there?

Studio Seven: Not really. We always were about trying to make it about all genres of music for all ages of people. So most music that came our way we were really happy to work with and help promote it and elevate it off and get it launched into the scene. … we never really had any apprehension about dealing with the EDM crowd. You know there has been some things that have happened through the years and literally when they were wanting to not have EDM we stood solid and you know dealt with the city and kept the shows going there and tried to always keep dealing with them [the city].

Looking forward, how do you think this will affect the Seattle scene and where do you see the current party goers going?

Electric Nights: Well … what this is gonna do is it’s going to force promoters to take more risks … If they really want to see the scene move forward they have to take a risk and have to break open a new venue. It is very difficult to find a space that will allow you to do what we’re doing, and a lot of the times even when you have the ability … and you secure the space … they pull out last minute … people will have to take more risks if they want to see the scene survive … unfortunately there’s financial risks and also reputational risks. Every time you do a show and it has the possibility of getting cancelled you can overnight destroy your reputation for doing good parties by having something completely out of your control happen.

So our readers know, what is the true reason for Studio Seven closing?

Electric Nights: The lease did not get renewed … the owners of Studio Seven went to the building owners to renew their lease and the building owner decided they wanted to do something else for the venue.

So this is not the end of the Studio Seven family?

Studio Seven: No its not the end of the Studio Seven family. A lot of our employees will be going with us to our new ventures.

How would you like Studio Seven to be remembered?

Studio Seven: That we have been a stronghold in the music community of Seattle for 18 years and we have been a home to numerous local bands that had rehearsal rooms there for years and years. We have had people that rehearsed there that have gone on and launched into larger bands and become members of larger bands. We’ve been a home to international and national bands and DJ’s and have been a stronghold as much as we could be for the EDM community and have tried our best to keep everybody safe and happy throughout the years … it is a hard time for all of us to be dissolving what has been a stronghold and a family unit for so many years.

UPDATE

The building/property owners decided to force a cancellation the day of Bubble Bobble-13. The show will be on Thursday June 7th at Aston Manor. The Farewell show, originally planned for June 9th, has been cancelled entirely. The official statement reads:

Due to circumstances beyond our control this event is being moved to Thursday, June 7th and will be at Aston Manor. The show will remain 18+ with 2 stages, foam will still be on one stage.

This morning we received a call that the building owners were locking everyone out of the venue prior to the lease date running out. This was infuriating to find out to say the least. We scrambled to find another location and this has been the best option.

For those that purchased a pre-sale and do not wish to attend with the new date and location you will be issued a refund, simply email electricnightsseattle@outlook.com to have your refund processed. Those that still wish to attend your tickets will be honored at the new date and location.

We are very sorry that this has happened as we all looked forward to partying in S7 a few more times.