The Dundas-and-Bathurst arts-scene boom continues with the imminent opening of a new concert/party space called Studio Bar.
The recent arts boom happening at Dundas and Bathurst is about to get a major boost with the imminent opening of a new concert and party venue.
Studio Bar, located at 824 Dundas St. W. (between Euclid and Palmerston), is a roughly 4,000-square-foot space with a capacity of about 300. It’s also the latest addition to a neighbourhood that already includes Hard Luck Bar, Magpie Taproom, Hashtag Gallery, and a slew of new restaurants.
Co-owners Sebastian Lye, Alex Ottens, and Mike Bodor plan to handle all booking operations in-house, and they say the programming will reflect their diverse musical tastes, which range from hip-hop to indie-rock to electro.
While live music is the heart of the venture, the owners insist that the Studio Bar experience will be more interactive than your standard ticketed performance. They see it as a prime party space. “We’re definitely going to get down with bands,” says Ottens, “but there’s a lot of places that do concerts. The way we’re looking at it is: ‘Parties where people perform.’ We want to make it fun, more than just a concert venue.”
Studio Bar’s name was derived from the other element of the room: a fully functioning recording studio that will turn the venue’s most memorable performances into downloadable online content. Lye says the plan is to “record the live shows, and use those to make web series and mixtapes of the acts that play [here].”
The longtime friends plan to draw on their experience as party promoters and musical collaborators: Ottens and Lye play in Toronto-based metal band Heartwork, and they also have years of experience promoting DJ nights both in Toronto and Montreal, where they attended university. Before Studio Bar, Lye was the manager of College Street bar The Emmet Ray.
Renovations are ongoing, but they intend to have Studio Bar up and running in time for Halloween weekend.
