New life for the Barbary

Music Row
By Brian Rademaekers

The last half-century has been a turbulent time for the Barbary, one of the city’s most-storied music venues.
After being closed for nearly a decade in the 1990s, the Fishtown bar and club re-emerged under new ownership as the Barbary Saloon in 2004.
For a while, the place did well, serving beer, food and a steady diet of punk and DIY-oriented rock.
Just three years into the new incarnation, a lawsuit over an injury hit the owners in their pockets hard enough to shut the place down. The doors closed last May.
Now — almost as if resurrected by an interminable, music-loving spirit — the sound of guitar riffs and drumbeats is again filling the red-brick building, and the Barbary, at 951 Frankford Ave., is showing heaps of renewed potential as a Philly hotspot.
The man behind the latest rebirth is John Redden, a 29-year-old Fishtown resident who bought the Frankford Avenue bar in September.
"It was pretty dilapidated when we bought it," said Redden, noting that renovations included replacing the walls, ceilings and floor.
Today, the bar boasts a simplistic interior, with a dance floor, small stage, a DJ booth and ripping new sound setup.
"For our size, we have one of the best sound systems in the city," said Redden.
Teaming with his sister Danielle, Redden plans to offer a venue that will dish out an eclectic mix of well-known DJs and live music.
A seasoned DJ himself, and somewhat of a figure on the city’s music scene, Redden is probably best known these days for hosting a raucous weekly "Hands + Knees" bash at the nearby M Room on Girard Avenue.
Before that, Redden and his sister got their names out by keeping the dance floor alive at Northern Liberties’ Silk City, where they offered their own handcrafted style of body-rocking jams.
At the M Room, Redden maintained that tradition and was joined fellow DJ Ian St. Laurent in spinning a throbbing mix of indie, soul, electro and straight-up rock that made Hands + Knees one of the city’s most sought-after parties before they packed it up last spring.
A quick look at the Barbary’s roster, however, shows that Redden is looking to reapply that successful formula just down the street.
With its diverse mix of highly danceable, genre-jumping music, affordable cover charges and cheap drinks, the Barbary has been a player on the city’s indie rock-club scene since opening on Nov. 15.
Last Friday, the Barbary hosted its first a sellout show when a soul party brought in more people than the 230-capacity club could fit.
Tonight will see Redden (it’s "jhn rdn" when he’s at the turntables) spin some electro hip-hop dubs alongside DJs Diamond Girl and Scotty Ack, while Friday will see DJ Deejay’s "Rock "n Roll Circus" take a whole other tack in the drive to keep bodies moving.
Redden also gave a good endorsement for Saturday night’s "Sorted" set, a decade-old party that features Brit-pop and indie rock.
But the Barbary won’t strictly be a DJ club for long, Redden says.
Look for this new venue to become an integral part of the live-music scene in the coming months as more bands book for 2008.
Already, their first Friday night saw Philly’s venerable psychedelic pop-rockers, the Three Four Tens, take the stage, and Redden’s friendship with R5 Productions founder Sean Agnew will likely see to it that plenty of R5 shows are booked there.
Redden said future shows at the Barbary will see two bands showcased early in the night, with DJs following late, a style of scheduling more commonly found in Europe.
By mid-2008, Redden hopes to transform the second floor into a more traditional-style bar, with booths and a fully equipped kitchen selling (again, cheap) food.
Having the Fire, the M Room, Johnny Brenda’s and now the Barbary — all within walking distance of the Girard Avenue El stop — may well have pushed the Fishtown/Northern Liberties area to the top echelons of Philly’s most-rocking neighborhoods.
And with $5 cover charges, cheap beer and good tunes, you won’t find Music Row complaining about the new neighbors any time soon. ••
For more information about upcoming shows at The Barbary, visit myspace.com/thenewbarbary.