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Triple Rock Social Club announces plans to close on Nov. 22

Graffiti on bricks in the Triple Rock Social Club bar, 2015. (Lettawren/CC BY 2.0)
Graffiti on bricks in the Triple Rock Social Club bar, 2015. (Lettawren/CC BY 2.0)

by Jay Gabler

October 16, 2017

The Triple Rock Social Club has announced plans to close on Nov. 22, after 15 years in operation in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. A post on Facebook thanks "all the customers, bands, and artists who have been a part of this place over the years."

Tributes are already coming in from artists like the 4onthefloor, who commented on the Facebook post, "We got our teeth at that wonderful club, we made lifelong friends of staff and patrons. Much love to everybody in the T Rock fam & frequenters."

The Triple Rock has been known for shows of all genres, but particularly spotlighting music on the louder end — from metal to hip-hop to dance nights. The club gets name-dropped in Doomtree's "Bangarang" and Motion City Soundtrack's "Better Open the Door," and it's the star of a NoFX song. In "Optimist," P.O.S mentions the former two-for-one dance night Triple Double Tuesdays.

The Triple Rock became a particularly important venue for the local metal community after St. Paul's Station 4 closed in 2013. The club is owned by Erik Funk, of the Dillinger Four, and his wife Gretchen Funk. According to the Star Tribune:

Reached for a comment, Erik Funk did not want to go into detail about the decision but said it was a hard one to make because "there are people besides us [affected] by it." He did offer this: "It's super sad, but it's not going down in flames. It's ending on our own terms."

Craig Finn's band Lifter Puller played the Triple Rock's opening night as a music venue in 2002, and Finn is scheduled to play the venue with his new band the Uptown Controllers this coming Friday night. Despite the Facebook post, the club currently has shows scheduled through Dec. 28.

We'll continue to update this story as details emerge.

https://www.facebook.com/TripleRockSocialClub/posts/1893939907290384

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