Of all the potential venues that might’ve picked up where the now-shuttered Bunkhouse left off, few would have guessed little ol’ Sayers Club at SLS. Originally intended to be a trendy live music go-to like its sister club in LA, it soon settled on open-format DJs and a house band playing covers. “We were banging our heads against the wall because the Bunkhouse [programming] was everything I wanted to bring to Sayers,” SLS Regional Director of Marketing, Nightlife and Entertainment Kozmoe Alonzo says. And then he did just that with the Bunkhouse Series after the Downtown venue closed.

But what about all those local bands who lost a reliable stage on which to perform? Well, the Sayers Club is now hosting them along with KXTE 107.5-FM and its Vegas-centric “X-Effect” show. The station books acts like The Dirty Panties, Avalon Landing and Shallow Like Me for both the Sunday radio program and the new Wednesday show at the venue, which offers free admission for locals and drink specials—think beer and whiskey, not the usual open bar with sponsored vodka—to sweeten the deal.

Alonzo essentially retooled the live concept he implemented while working at Revolution Lounge seven years ago, while the strategized partnerships with outside players—as with the Bunkhouse Series—help maximize both venue profitability and fan affordability, appealing to both the tough-to-lure locals and his bosses. “It’s a hard line to walk, but now we know where we fit into the marketplace,” Alonzo says. “We’re not a south Strip property, we’re close to Downtown.”

Thanks to opportunity, strategic programming and location, the Sayers Club may have finally found its niche—as exactly what it was always meant to be.