How Phoenix’s Rebel Lounge Took a Beloved, ‘Dingy’ Rock Club & Gave It New Life
Categoria: Musica
Since purchasing the iconic 300-capacity venue formerly known as The Mason Jar, Steven Chilton and Chucky Duffy have created an Arizona must-play.
Por Billboard | 29/05/2026
During The Rebel Lounge’s opening week in 2015, co-owners Steven Chilton and Chucky Duffy received an unexpected glimpse into the Phoenix venue’s storied past. The catalyst: A call to 9-1-1 after a young woman took ill during a show. Once disaster was averted — emergency responders determined the woman was simply dehydrated — Chilton recalls overhearing a crew of firefighters who were lingering outside the 300-capacity venue. “There’s this 50-year-old firefighter and he’s like, ‘you guys aren’t going to believe it, but I saw Guns N’ Roses here,’” he tells Billboard . The rest of the crew then began telling their own stories about their experiences at The Mason Jar, the iconic venue that previously inhabited The Rebel Lounge space from 1979 to 2005. The Mason Jar (also named just The Jar for a short time) was a quintessential 1980s rock club that served as every local band’s first venue. “It was your dingy black box,” says Chilton, “gross bathrooms, everything painted black.” And it wasn’t just local acts who played there. The list of artists who played The Mason Jar is a who’s-who of late 20th and early 21st century rock royalty: Metallica, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Black Flag, Fishbone, Social Distortion, Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy and The Black Keys all performed at the small club, while Linkin Park — whose lead singer, Chester Bennington, was originally from Phoenix — played their first ticketed show there, Chilton says. Over its 26-year run, The Mason Jar changed hands multiple times, but its most recognizable owner was Franco Gagliano . “I can date what era someone was going to the Mason Jar by what price they remember the Kamikaze [drink] specials as,” Chilton says. “[Gagliano] used to get on the mic between bands and promote whatever Kamikaze special it is. Oh, the 25 cent Kamikaze? You were going there way early. Oh, the $2 Kamikaze? That was when you were going there.” The Rebel Lounge mural Quinsey Sablan/Courtesy The Rebel Lounge A big proponent of metal and punk music, Gagliano brought a lot of big names through Phoenix, which was smaller during The Mason Jar’s run but is now the fifth-largest metro market in the U.S. Local bands throughout Arizona played at the venue, and it also drew from nearby Southern California’s punk and rock scene. “He was the kind of old school shady promoter that bands either loved or hated,” Chilton says. “If you bring him up to bands, there’s bands that go, ‘Oh my god. I love Franco! He always took care of us.’ And then there’s bands that go, ‘Oh my god. I hated Franco! He always ripped us off.’ And there is no in-between.” The Mason Jar officially closed its doors in 2005. Over the next decade, the space held several different gay clubs before it went back on the market in 2015. Chilton and Duffy had been in search of a small club years earlier, and when Duffy saw the news that The Mason Jar was on sale, he called Chilton. “Chucky called me and was like, ‘I think we can