In Austin’s Red River Cultural District, the 9-year-old venue Red 7 is closing at the end of September. The venue’s management could not come to terms with the owner on a new lease.
The venue and bar space at 611 E. 7th St. is listed at $14,000 a month, and the current managers were paying "around $10,000," Red 7 partner and Transmission Events co-owner Graham Williams says.
"That's the nature of the beast," Williams says. "I was born and raised here. I've seen a hundred clubs open and close. Some of my favorite places to see bands when I was younger are no longer here, yet there's a bigger music scene than there ever was."
Williams and other Red 7 partners Jared Cannon, Tyson Swindell, Richard Napierkowski and Benjamin Corwin are teaming up with Elysium owner John Wickham to open a new bar called Sidewinder in a space formerly occupied by Red Eyed Fly at 715 Red River St. The space will be renovated and decorated by Prototype Vintage, according to a press release.
“I’m really excited about the future for this," Swindell says. "I know this is a very bittersweet moment for me and for the Red 7 guys, but Austin is changing, and to be a successful business owner, you have to be able to roll with that stuff.”
The news about Red 7 comes weeks after a neighboring venue, Holy Mountain, announced it's closing at the end of September, because its manager also could not afford a rent increase.
