Decade after nightclub tragedy, live music back in town

BEAT IT: Jim Vickers, manager of Manchester 65 in West Warwick, says less violence and an easier regulatory environment make West Warwick preferable to Providence. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
BEAT IT: Jim Vickers, manager of Manchester 65 in West Warwick, says less violence and an easier regulatory environment make West Warwick preferable to Providence. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick was 10 years ago, but the impact of the blaze on Rhode Island hasn’t diminished at all. In West Warwick, The Station fire, caused by a pyrotechnics display gone wrong, marked the end of live music in the town – until now. Seeing the return of live music as a chance to heal and help invigorate the community, veteran Providence club manager and magazine editor Jim Vickers converted an old mill on the Pawtuxet River into Manchester 65, a rock club that opened in early August. The club specializes in classic rock – in many cases features bands that wouldn’t have been out of place at The Station – and has so far received a warm reception.

PBN: Why did you decide to come to West Warwick?
VICKERS: Providence nightlife has become a little like the Middle East in terms of it being a war zone. You read every week about a stabbing or shooting or riot at a Providence nightclub and I got to thinking that maybe Providence isn’t the best place to have a live-music venue. I have made kind of a career of, when everyone goes right, I go left. The city really takes so many fees that make it difficult to do business. So I have a friend who has a company called We Love Lofts. He deals exclusively with mill spaces and I asked him if there were any spaces suitable for a midsize, live-music venue. And he got me down here to the Evolution Mills in West Warwick and they had some old space. … There is an outdoor courtyard that overlooks the Pawtuxet River. There is a pond there and a little waterfall. … It’s pretty idyllic.
PBN: What was the mill before you got it?
VICKERS: Some kind of textiles, no one was really sure. It hadn’t been touched in 20 or 30 years. It used to be called Crompton Mill.

PBN: What kind of condition was it in?
VICKERS: The building structurally is fantastic. It has brick walls all around, concrete floors, 22-foot ceilings all post and beam. The building is a rock. … These mill spaces are just ideal for arts businesses. It is a lot of work. We had to bring in sewer lines and the floor is 2-foot-thick concrete to cut out. But they are just so worth it because of the ambiance and people love that industrial-arts feel.
PBN: How much did it take altogether to clean it up and get it ready to use?
VICKERS: [More than] $150,000. Somewhere between there and $180,000 and that was done with a lot of favors and a lot of love from friends and contractors. It could have been much more.

PBN: So what kind of shows should we expect at Manchester 65?
VICKERS: Our thing is roots-based music and some classic rock. Absolutely no hip hop whatsoever, because that’s what brings trouble. So far we have had the Slackers, a New York ska band; The Wailers, the most renowned reggae band in the world; we had Rebirth Brass Band from New Orleans which just won the Grammy. … The idea is roots-based music and music that appeals to a slightly older crowd, but not teenagers, 25 to 50, that kind of thing.

PBN: Is there any lingering apprehension in West Warwick about live music after The Station?
VICKERS: Initially there were some people who were nervous about that but we have worked hand in hand with the Fire Department in West Warwick. Every week we have been here we have seen at least one fireman and they have come down, not to give us a hard time, but to help and they were an enormous help. I get such an education in fire safety from these guys. … The main thing is always sprinklers and our system pushes out double the amount of water required by code. We can exit twice the number of people as our capacity is. Our capacity is 531 and we can exit 1,200 by code. Everything is built of nonflammable or fire-retardant materials. Our stage is built out of fire-retardant wood with fire-retardant ink. It is as safe as it gets. One of our goals coming to West Warwick as a lifelong Rhode Islander: we are very aware we are doing something here that every aspect needed to be exceeded because people had to feel safe. For many Rhode Islanders The Station was yesterday; it wasn’t 10 years ago [last] February. You have to think about it in context – there is a lot of fear and we have to alleviate that fear. We call this the safest live-music venue in the state.

PBN: Is the demand for music still there?
VICKERS: The Station fire was a tragedy but those people were there because they loved live music. The demand is still there. People every day ask about concerts, talk about bands they would like to see. People have embraced it. People are happy. Some of the initial fears have passed.
PBN: And if any band mentions pyrotechnics they are out, right?
VICKERS: There will be no pyro in the state of Rhode Island in our lifetime. … And one other thing about being in West Warwick instead of Providence, it is the easiest town imaginable to work with. There are a lot of regulations that become obstacles to business and these people understand you need to bring business into town to grow the tax base and they go out of their way to help you be here. •INTERVIEW
Jim Vickers
Position: Manager of Manchester 65
Background: Starting at the original Lupos Heartbreak Hotel in the 1980s, Vickers worked in and managed an assortment of Providence nightclubs and dance clubs until founding Motif Magazine, which covers Rhode Island arts and culture, eight years ago. Last August, Vickers sold the magazine and began working on opening a new live-music club.
Education: Master’s in English from Rhode Island College, 1998; bachelor’s degree from Rhode Island College, 1995
First Job: Construction work for his father
Residence: Richmond
Age: 51

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