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10 Years of Johnny Brenda’s, the House That Built DIY


  The intersection of Frankford and Girard Avenues in Fishtown could easily be considered one of the fastest changing areas in Philadelphia. Old mom-and-pop shops and residential buildings have given way to cab-lined establishments like Frankford Hall, Fette Sau, and the newly opened Fishtown branch of Garage. Then there’s Johnny Brenda’s, a strange idol that represents both Fishtown’s past and recent rebirth. On one hand, Johnny Brenda’s had already been Johnny Brenda’s since 1967 when it was opened by boxer John Imbrenda. On the other, Johnny Brenda’s became the seminal establishment of “new” Fishtown: interesting food, good beer, and, of course, great music.

  Paul Kimport and William Reed, the owners of Johnny Brenda’s, met at Zocalo, a restaurant in West Philadelphia the two worked at in the mid-90s. Kimport was a bar manager and Reed was waiting tables while studying at Drexel. The two soon found common ground. “

  We were both in the industry and had a shared affinity for food, brewing, music, culture,” Kimport said. They took these shared affinities and bought and opened Standard Tap.

  After Standard Tap had been open for some time, Kimport decided he wanted to open a bar in his new home of Fishtown. “After opening Standard Tap I moved to Fishtown with my wife,” Kimport said. “We bought Johnny Brenda’s because we wanted to have a neighborhood place that we thought the community would support where we could have local food and local beer.”

/Matthew Albasi

/Matthew Albasi

  At the outset, Kimport and Reed never intended for Johnny Brenda’s to also be a music venue. Kimport and Reed began buying up the lots around the original bar to protect the business while also setting their sights on expansion. Once the first floor was made into a large dining room and bar area, the idea for a second floor venue came up.

  “We both really enjoyed music. We would go to Khyber Pass. We had friends in bands and we always had a great experience — we found community in such a small venue,” Kimport said, “We thought, ‘well, maybe we should do an independent music thing. An intimate space. It helped that we had a bar and a restaurant downstairs that was always comfortable and open where you could meet someone before [a show]. We thought they could work together.”

  The bar and restaurant working together is quite the understatement. In the 10 years the venue has been open, the calendar is consistently full with some of the best local and touring artists for a room of its size. Being that Johnny Brenda’s venue capacity is 250, it serves as the next logical step for Philadelphia’s roster of rising DIY bands. The philosophy Kimport and Reed share about supporting local food and drink permeates into the process of choosing the venue’s music week after week.

  This is where Johnny Brenda’s talent buyers (or show bookers) Barrett Lindgren and Chris Ward come in. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Johnny Brenda’s, Lindgren and Ward cobbled together a week of performances running from 12th-17th by artists that represent both the venue’s past and present. Philly bands such as Bardo Pond, The Album Leaf, and Birds of Maya were heavy in Johnny Brenda’s rotation in the early days of the venue. Bardo Pond goes back so far with the venue that they played one of the first shows ever Johnny Brenda’s in September of 2006 with The War on Drugs. Frances Quinlan (of Hop Along) and Hurry, who played on Monday, on the other hand, represent Philadelphia’s more current music activity.

  “I’ve been here almost the whole 10 years,” Ward said, “so yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about it.” Ward joined Johnny Brenda’s in 2007, one year after the bar and venue opened its doors. Ward got his start at Johnny Brenda’s doing sound for the bands each night. Two years later, in 2009, Ward took on the position of assistant talent buyer (Lindgren’s current position), primarily booking local bands to serve as headliners to touring bands or shows with primarily local bills. In 2011, Ward took over for Johnny Brenda’s first talent buyer, Brandy Hartley, and began booking the shows on his own.

  Lindgren, much like Ward, cut his teeth in the DIY scene—primarily booking shows in West Philadelphia at DIY spaces like The Great Indoors and Golden Tea House. After being recommended by his predecessor, Brendan Mulvihill, Lindgren took the job as assistant talent buyer. “The story goes, a friend of mine told me, ‘I went to this DIY space and it was as organized as Johnny Brenda’s was. I had never been to a DIY space that felt this good.’” Ward agreed to interview Lindgren, and was impressed, “Great temperament (“great beard,” Lindgren interrupts), great beard, super great head of hair—but yeah, great fit.”

Khruangbin performing at Johnny Brenda's./Sean Kearney

Khruangbin performing at Johnny Brenda’s./Sean Kearney

  Despite the recent success of Johnny Brenda’s, Kimport, Ward, and Lindgren seem to believe in preserving the spirit of DIY music. “This is important to Johnny Brenda’s, and in some ways some of our ethos comes from the DIY world. The thing people don’t realize about DIY, and this is extremely cheesy, is that it doesn’t just book any show. It books certain shows, and others it totally ignores. [That’s] the curatorial spirit. We’re not an open venue that’s puts on any show you want,” Ward said, “If you go to a DIY show, even if it’s the crappiest venue you’re going to, there’s still such an air of ‘I give a fuck about this show,’ right? It’s not just a box to sell beer.”

  “A lot of us put a lot of care and love into making sure [the show] is inclusive and that it’s interesting. We’re making sure it’s diverse every month. We’re doing a lot of different kinds of shows and we want to bring the best of that that thing. That’s what we want to bring to JB’s,” Lindgren said, “everybody’s got to have that ideology. It’s all people that have been on tour, been in bands, done DIY shows—you know, been in the game for no money for a long time.”

  As Fishtown grows, so does Johnny Brenda’s. While some older businesses have been swept up in the neighborhood’s own success, Johnny Brenda’s has the particular pleasure of being successful because of its ideals, not in spite of them. Ward and Lindgren have said that there is never pressure to sell out the venue each night. That way, Lindgren and Ward are free to curate as they see fit while paying homage to the DIY mechanism that built and continue to rebuilt the Philadelphia music scene. “We get the benefit of keeping the ship going the same way,” Ward said, “the venue is still doing what it set out to do in 2006: put on music by people who like music. Everyone that works here likes music, all we do is talk about music. We all live and die by it.” Lindgren adds, “We’re all so obsessed with it that I don’t think we’d be able to do other stuff.”

Concert goers watch Khruangbin perform at Johnny Brenda's from the venue's balcony./Sean Kearney

Concert goers watch Khruangbin perform at Johnny Brenda’s from the venue’s balcony./Sean Kearney

  Luckily for Lindgren and everyone else involved at Johnny Brenda’s, if the venue’s first 10 years are any indication, they probably won’t have to.

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