The local punk scene was shocked when longtime local punk bar the Cooler Lounge announced that it would be closing its doors May 31, ending the reign of the oldest punk bar in Las Vegas.
For a number of longtime underground music fans, the bar represents not just a place to play shows, but also one of the only places that anarchist madness was allowed to run free. A place where what punk once was lived on in all of its madcap glory.
Besides tales of drunken mayhem involving food fights, baby powder, midgets, onstage Dumpster diving, strange fist fights between bands and violent and bloody black metal shows over the course of the bar’s nearly 26 years, the Cooler also represented a place where Vegas’ once vibrant punk past was still encouraged to grow, regardless of the era.
According to longtime local punk rocker Dirk Vermin, the bar on the west side ended up being not only a launching pad for bands like his own group The Vermin, but also a place where past legendary local groups like Self Abuse could wreak havoc on stage.
And throughout the club.
“[Self Abuse] was playing, and there was a blackout. So they were playing, and there were no lights and no air conditioning,” Vermin says.
“It was nasty as hell, but really fun.”
Just the way punk should be.
And so we hoist a drink to the memory of the local punk scene’s hot spot.
The final show for the Cooler Lounge, featuring The Bad Samaritans, Back Stabbath, Give Em Hell and Dirty Sanchez is May 26 starting at 6 p.m. Admission is $10.