Daniel Robertson Jr. lived in Savannah until he shut down his venue, Live Wire Music Hall, in January 2013. The venue faced off against financial struggles resulting from decreased tourism and city law banning anyone under 21 from entering the establishment.
Robertson thought his career managing music venues was over. However, shortly after moving to Athens, he found himself in charge of New Earth Music Hall, which at the beginning of this year became Live Wire Athens.
“I personally moved to Athens just to start a new life for my family,” Robertson said. “[Buying the property] just kind of fell into my lap as an opportunity. Once I heard about the opportunity and I figured out that it may be a good thing to do, I contacted both of my brothers.”
Originally, Robertson started off as New Earth Music Hall’s general manager alongside his brothers, Brenden, the venue’s production manager, and Andrew, the venue’s operations and bar manager.
After running the venue for some time, Robertson said he “didn’t like the way that [New Earth Music Hall] was being run” and wanted things done his way. He changed the name of the company to Live Wire Athens and made alterations to the company’s organization and efficiency.
Robertson plans to use the venue for numerous purposes such as corporate meetings, cocktail hours and a rental room for Greek life. The building has already held a wedding and is being used weekly for a music class.
Robertson is also working with a food service, Holy Crepe, to install a food truck next to the venue.
“We aim to be a home for musicians — local, regional and national. We want both musicians and customers to be warm and welcome while they’re here and want to come back for that reason,” Robertson said.
The path to these changes, however, was tumultuous, as the property at 227 West Dougherty St. has a history of complications.
In 2009, Athens was without a medium-sized music venue for artists. Property owner Mark Bell rented the space to Adrian Zelski, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the Athens band DubConcious, to create New Earth Music Hall.
“I thought that there needed to be a smaller venue in Athens,” Zelski said. “There needs to be a mid-ranged venue.”
Zelski had been booking shows and touring with his band DubConcious since 1998 and understood what equipment and atmosphere a venue needed to provide for its audience and artists.
For two years, the venue prospered as the Georgia Theatre underwent renovations following a massive fire. However, once the Georgia Theatre reopened in 2011, New Earth’s finances began to fall apart.
“The Georgia Theatre came back and just ate up the whole town,” Zelski said. “It was hard to stay open.”
Zelski said New Earth Music Hall’s property looked “beat up and ugly” and attempted to attract more customers by improving the appearance of the building.
“To build an outside that anyone wanted to come and see or be around — the curb appeal — it was about a $100,000 renovation,” Zelski said.
New Earth Music Hall was constantly renovating — furnishing the interior, adding an outdoor stage and courtyard, installing monitors, professional lighting and sound systems and making the venue a B-Corporation, a company that defines goals to improve the environment and the society.
When Zelski asked Bell for a discount on the improvements, he was denied.
“It was never a very healthy relationship. We paid a very high rent; [we] bought the business for a very high dollar,” Zelski said.
Zelski described the company’s relationship with Bell as a “nightmare,” explaining how he would frequently visit to threaten to take the building back.
“He didn’t like the way we did business. Everything we did to try to improve the place, we never got any credit for [and] we never got any discount for,” Zelski said.
In May 2014, Zelski decided to buy the building and pay Bell in order to receive an appraisal of the property. Soon after the payment, Bell posted an ad on Craigslist to sell the location.
According to an interview with Flagpole, Bell had been trying for months to sign a new lease or sell the building to New Earth Music Hall but could not reach an agreement. In response, he looked for new prospects by posting the ad.
An agreement was reached when Robertson worked with Zelski to buy the property. The two worked with Robertson’s father and another investor to create a holding company, New Earth Athens LLC, and buy the property for $650,000 in September 2014.
“He was playing hardball, which you have to do when you’re protecting your real estate. He wasn’t willing to budge on his asking price at all … It’s a downtown commercial spot, it’s a big space, it’s worth it — that wasn’t his fault. That’s what he felt he needed,” Zelski said. “The hard part was just how many improvements we had done over five years. I had put a lot of money in, a lot of energy in and to watch it all just become his value, it was just like, ‘Ah, really?’”
Bell declined to comment on his former relations with New Earth Music Hall and said that the situation has passed and should be brought to an end.
“I wish them the best,” Bell said.
He also said he believes the company has all the workings to run a great business.
Originally, the building was home to two nightclubs geared toward the homosexual community. The first company to occupy the building, Detour, opened in late 2006 to replace the closed Boneshakers as the only gay club in Athens.
After one year, Detour closed and Club Blur occupied the space. Once it closed in that same year, Bell, owner of all three clubs, bought the building outright.
Now, in Asheville, North Carolina, Zelski runs another music venue: New Mountain Asheville.
“It’s a dream venue. It’s got three rooms, it’s got an outdoor amphitheater area; it’s got a rooftop bar,” Zelski said. “Asheville is a great town; it’s doing great things.”
Zelski still works with Live Wire Athens as a financial supporter and strategy coordinator.
Live Wire Athens’ grand opening took place Feb. 5, where a crowd of nearly 200 listened to the bands Lullwater, Roots of a Rebellion and Brenden Robertson’s band, Passafire.
“We’re definitely looking forward to being here a while,” Daniel Robertson said. “We love Athens.”
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