The Southgate Lounge on North Washington in Grand Forks ND has been serving patrons for 35 years. Their expanded facility was done after the Flood of 1997 and offers more tables for enjoying a brew or cocktail and some great food. The owner Tom Montgomery also is serving up some great local music to add spice to his already great recipe for a good time.

“We’ve had live music for quite a few years now,” Montgomery says. Most bands play on a Friday night, but some weekends Montgomery books in a band for two nights. “We run a lot of theme parties. We have those on Saturdays and then we’ll have bands on both nights, Friday and Saturday,” he says.

Grand Forks has been blessed with several venues that play danceable music, including Southgate. Big Daddy’s, for example, has recently started booking in blues bands a couple of times a month. “It’s tough to have bands every night. You need a wide variety of bands that fit your image,” says Montgomery. “That’s hard to do in a town this size.”

But there are bands here that play locally as well as a number of regional touring bands that play the circuit of Grand Forks clubs. “If they’re not playing here, they’re at Charley Brown’s or at the Diamond,” Montgomery says.

But Southgate, however, has made it a priority to select local bands to play on its stage. Sometimes Montgomery, who does the booking for the club, takes a chance on new, emerging talent. “We see what’s out there,” he says. “Hopefully, new bands will keep popping up and we like to give them a try.”

One of those new talents was Whiskey Vaccine, a rock band, that played Southgate’s service party that was held outdoors. “They did a fantastic job,” Montgomery adds.

He also booked the horn-heavy jazz band Downtown Horns when it first formed. “They do a different variety of music,” Montgomery says, and that’s important to his customers who who broader tastes in music. “Most people have been in every bar in this town, and they know the image we have at Southgate. We’re not going to hire somebody who plays Metallica the whole night,” he explains. “We have different bands that do different styles of music, and we try to fit them in with what our party theme is. Different styles of parties need different music.”

Montgomery finds these bands usually by word-of-mouth recommendation or from local bands contacting him. “ We strictly do our booking in-house here,” he says, and welcomes new ideas. “If you hear of any new bands, give us a call. Our eyes and ears are always open.” But he would really appreciate contact information if you have it. “Somebody can recommend a band and it’s sometimes hard to make contact. They give us the name, but we don’t know how to get in touch with them.”

Currently, the Southgate Lounge is booked up through January, plugging in a couple of bands this month and more to follow with all of the holidays coming up. Fire will be playing September 25. Check Fridays on the Refrain calendar. New dates will be added as they come in.

The Southgate Lounge is a full service bar and casino with drink specials and a full menu. Montgomery has been serving food there for the past 12 years. He also offers a couple of really great meal deals. “On Thursday nights, we have our 99c burger,” he says. “It’s the same burger that we run everyday with lettuce, tomato, and onion on top.” They also offer great Tips and Toast and their Southgate Lavosh.

Finish your work week by listening to a great local band at the Southgate Lounge or come in during the week and enjoy their great food and drinks.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Issues, September 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.