In June, Tampa’s DIY community kicked off their summer with news that longstanding venue Transitions Art Gallery would shutter its doors by the fall. The rumors arrived three and a half years after original manager Matt Welch passed the torch to Tampa musician Matt Ostraco, who rechristened it it Epic Problem in 2013. It’s been less than a year since Ostraco stepped down and promoter J.B. Betz renamed it Transitions Art Gallery.
UPDATE 2: Looks like King State is moving to Tampa Heights.
UPDATE: Technically, the skatepark does not control the keys. That role falls on Interstate Warehouses LLC, where sunbiz.org shows skatepark head honcho Brian Schaefer on the papers as the registered agent. Here is a Hillsborough County tax receipt.
Last month, Transitions had one last show and closed the book on a space where a thousand kids likely went to their first show and countless others — outcasts in their everyday life, but accepted within the venue’s walls — felt at home. Reactions to the last days were predictably impassioned. Essentially, it was Kübler-Ross’ stages of grief manifesting themselves in Internet comment threads. A change.org petition surfaced. Today it has over 1,000 signatures begging the Skatepark Of Tampa, who hold the keys to the venue, to keep Transitions open. Comments echoed the conversations regulars were surely having with each other in real life, because most everyone who frequented Transitions described the space as the place they first met real friends, people they could count on.
“I felt truly welcomed, unlike at school where I was usually the only kid, let alone black kid, who was into DIY music,” Christian Costello told CL. The Tampa filmmaker/musician first landed at Transitions in 2005 and built his world around the community he found.
“I think I was 11 at the time. I started filming bands there, which turned out to be what I majored and graduated in. Without it I have no clue what path my life would've gone down or what career choices, if any, I would've made,” he said.
Today the space, located at 4215 E. Columbus Ave in the shadow of Interstate 4, is poised to make another metamorphosis as King State Coffee takes over and remodels towards a facility that will serve as the Tampa coffee roasting company’s main production hub, office, packaging and fulfillment facility. There are no tasting elements for the public planned, and it isn’t another coffee shop as many have speculated. Still, King State co-founder Tim McTague is aware of the turbulence his company’s move into the building is causing.
“I’m not mad that we’re getting a bunch of shit,” McTague, told CL over the phone in June, just days after Transitions announced the closing.
He understands the anger and frustration and why it would be pointed at King State, which has outgrown the tiny garage they were operating in. He says that while he personally did not play a role in what Transitions accomplished for the hardcore and punk scenes, his band, Underoath, were direct beneficiaries of that work. He hopes to pay tribute to it with King State’s own DIY attitude.
“It’s the same as someone losing a family member,” McTague, said. “In no way do we want to disrespect it with what we are doing — we are going to honor the community and hopefully give back back as much the venues before it did.” He cites the roots in Tampa he and King State partner Nate Young (who plays in Winter Haven alt-rock outfit Anberlin) have put down for the last dozen or so years.
“In that respect it’s a perfect fit. [Transitions] was birthed in music and now people who come from music are taking it in a new direction. Whether it ends up being bad or good, it’s another local business run my local musicians who want to take Tampa to the next level.”
Transitions’ run was impressive.
“Most places are lucky to keep an all ages spot open for one year, let alone over a 15+ years,” said Costello, who is now growing his own community at Lucky You Tattoo in Pinellas. “People have been doing shows in houses, storage units, warehouses, record stores, and everywhere else for years, even before Transitions was even an idea.”
So what does happen to the community Transitions served so well? Most agree that DIY will never die, but Welch, who mentored kids like Costello when he was running the venue for eight years, is unsure about how to answer that question. He says it might not even be his place to do so.
“DIY has consistently been about empowering young people, and I definitely don't fall in that age range anymore,” Welch said. He fears that most 17-year-old kids aren’t allowed to go to events like Gainesville’s weeklong punk rock bacchanal, The Fest, yet it seems like Fest is the only thing DIY touring bands come down to Florida for anyway. Most teens “wouldn't even be able to get into the venues” even if they were permitted to Fest, Welch added, and that’s the real danger in losing a DIY venue like Transitions.
“Ultimately, DIY is a reflection of the larger society, and a lot has changed in the last 20 years,” Welch said. Anyone running a music venue, of any kind, should be concerned he added, citing the roles venues like Gilman (San Francisco), The Smell (Los Angeles), and the Wilson Center (Washington D.C.) had on their scenes.
“DIY venues are the minor leagues,” he said. “They are where kids try out new ideas, new sounds, work through the horrible influences to get to something special.” He knows there are people carrying forward and he hopes they can — the idea of a DIY community still makes sense.
McTague agrees and says it seems short sighted to pin the life of death of the music scene on a building, adding he’d love to see the community rally around their ideals and build another all ages venue ten times better better than it was already was.
“I want to see that leader take the reigns on that. Underoath and coffee companies like our friends at Commune + Co. are great examples. It was always like if we didn’t have a place to play, we got up, poor the boots on and made it work. We made our own way.”
