Quadratic Sound working with city to fix zoning issues that led to events shutdown

Don’t count Quadratic Sound out of the Victoria live-music scene just yet—the multi-purpose music venue is currently working with the city to see if it can fix some bylaw issues that led the venue to cancel all upcoming events earlier this week.

“I'm so happy that [the city] reached out to us,” Quadratic Sound COO Emily Mahbob, told Capital Daily. “They wanted to set up a meeting, and they're still looking into it for us.”

Last week, Quadratic Sound—which offers a space above the Bottle Depot for musicians to practise, record, and, up until recently, host events—was visited by bylaw officers and the fire dept., who informed CEO Noel Anstey that the venue wasn’t zoned for events. The team announced Tue. that it would no longer be able to be a hub for live performances, scrapping all scheduled shows and refunding tickets.

On Tue., Coun. Matt Dell told Capital Daily he was in touch with city staff to see if steps could be taken to protect the nightlife venue—one of few left in Victoria’s shrinking nightlife scene. Since then, according to Mahbobi, the city’s arts and culture department has been working with the venue, bylaw officials and the fire department to find a solution.

Mahbobi told Capital Daily the arts and culture staff have said they will review the fire department's report on the space and have reached out to bylaw. She says current zoning for the space seems to allow for clubs to operate, and the issue might actually come down to building permits. If the team can secure the right permit and have the fire department conduct an occupancy assessment, Quadratic Sound could return to event operations, she said.

Despite the recent chain of events, Mahbobi said there’s no bad blood between the Quadratic Sound team and bylaw.

“To some degree, I am grateful that we have bylaw, and we have people coming in, checking for safety and things like that,” she said.

She stressed that, while it’s unclear what’s in store for the event side of the business, Quadratic Sound remains open for musicians, DJs, and producers to use as a recording studio and rehearsal space.

But the events were a special feature of the space—commenters on the Quadratic Sound’s social media page called the venue a “non-judgemental” place to hear new and experimental music from local artists.

Mahbobi said its appeal d as an event venue was tied to its commitment to creating a safe space for queer and marginalized people to connect with the community.

It was founded by Anstey in 2016—initially as a way for his band to secure a space for rehearsing—and eventually became a four-person venture when Mahbobi, and their friends Lee Gauthier and Shane Battley bought into it. Mahbobi describes Quadratic Sound as BIPOC-owned and very queer-friendly.

Victoria has seen a shift in the music and nightlife scene since the COVID-19 pandemic began—multiple small concert venues have closed over the past few years, with Hermann’s Upstairs and the Victoria Event Centre shutting down just this year.

Other venues have changed their branding—Paparazzi Nightclub, once the premiere gay bar in the city, has received backlash for seemingly abandoning its status as a primarily queer venue to cater to a new patronage. During the pandemic, several dance clubs shut down or became event-only spaces, leaving Paparazzi as one of few locations with a nightly club atmosphere. This led young people to flock to the club, whether or not they identify as 2SLGBTQ+. While Paparazzi says queer customers will always be welcome, as the patronage has shifted, queer attendees contend harassment and discrimination have become more commonplace at the club.

Underground event spaces, such as Quadratic Sound and the Victoria Event Centre, made harm reduction and a queer-friendly atmosphere a central theme, filling that void in the city’s nightlife.

“I had a lot of people from various queer communities coming up to me and expressing that this is one of the few venues in town where they truly actually feel accepted and safe,” said Mahbobi. “That was really moving to me, and it really upsets me that we're one of the few places that they can feel comfortable and suddenly it's like, off the grid.”

Paparazzi recently announced it would lease the neighbouring space that once housed the Victoria Event Centre to accommodate its growing crowds.

Mahbobi said she’s proud that Quadratic Sound was able to create a low-cost option for people looking to host events, and that the money raised from ticket sales was split equally between Quadratic Sound and the musicians who put on the event. The venue hosted 300+ events, with 10K attendees, generating $71K paid directly to artists, according to venue staff. Since the venue doesn’t sell alcohol, all money made was strictly through support for local music.

“It was all, like, pure music revenue, which is so cool—I never thought I would feel so good doing payroll,” said Mahbobi. “[It’s money] we made doing the music work, work with a capital W you know?”

“I'm really hopeful that the city will be able to support us in such a way where we'll be able to figure out what's going on and to eventually be able to do our work again.”