Musicians and Union owner Eric Gunn share stories of the historic space
The 90-year history of The Union Bar & Grill isn’t made by the multiple renovations, sound equipment and expenses that burnt down in Sunday’s fire. It’s always been the people, the musicians and the memories that formed the character of The Union.
“I’ve gone there after weddings and I’ve gone there for a wedding,” said Scott Hedrick, guitarist of the metal band Skeletonwitch. “I’ve gone there after funerals to hang out and reminisce. As cheesy as it sounds, for a lot of people, it’s been like a backdrop of your classic coming of age movie… but with a better soundtrack.”
The Union has been the center of the Athens uptown music scene since the early 1960s after the previous owners decided to transform the apartment places upstairs into a live music venue, Gunn said. Until then, there was no place for uptown live music.
“It’s hosted countless, extremely famous musicians when they weren’t very famous,” Gunn said. “Everybody from The Black Keys to The White Stripes to St. Vincent on their very first tour to Jesus Lizard.”
Local bands have also made their claim to fame there from punk and metal bands such as Skeletonwitch and hip-hop acts such as DysFunktional Family. It also became the home of electronic dance music in Athens after hosting Dave Rave and Brandon “DJ B-Funk” Thompson.
“It’s the first place I ever played music in front of people and every band I’ve been in has played there,” said Brian Koscho, marketing director of Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville. “That alone, that whole part of my life is directly related to that stage, those people and that building. Further than that, it’s where I met my wife.”
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The building has been in place since prohibition and seen a lot of changes. But Gunn said the renovations taking place in 2008 to remove the grill downstairs and the other minor modifications throughout the years have little to do with what The Union is truly about.
“At the end of the day, as much history that is in that building, it’s still a building,” Hedrick said. “It’s the people that frequent that place and the spirit and the drive and the talent of the people that hang out there that really make it what it is.”
Skeletonwitch’s first regular venue performance took place on The Union stage, but Hedrick fell in love with The Union long before his first show.
Hedrick used to drive to Athens on various weekends to see his older brother and attend shows at The Union. He saw High on Fire, a band from San Francisco he looked up to as a teenager. He met the guitarist that night, and years later he had the opportunity to tour alongside the band he once idolized.
Before Hedrick played with Skeletonwitch at The Union in 2004, he worked there. As the band grew, The Union always served as a place to return to people who felt like family.
“For me, it was probably the first time in my life I left like I was at home and amongst my own people. It became the most important building in the world to me." — Eric Gunn, owner of The Union
“I went into The Union for the first time at 20 years old,” Gunn said. “For me, it was probably the first time in my life I left like I was at home and amongst my own people. It became the most important building in the world to me.”
A variety of people might come together and shoot pool downstairs, and they would be having fun, but also know all about each other and each other’s families, Gunn said. The place is unique, but has a place for anyone.
“I don’t think there is another place quite like it,” Hedrick said. “I’ve seen everything from people having a full on cake fight inside The Union and the bartenders dancing on the bars acting wild, but I’ve also seen people thrown out of the bar for using homophobic language or aggressively pursuing someone.”
It’s not just the locals who are mourning the loss of The Union. Musicians from all over who have played at the bar are finding out about the fire and sharing their stories and pictures, Koscho said.
“I always knew how important The Union was to me and I knew how important it was to a lot of people, but I don’t think I fully realized how large that family was (until now),” Gunn said.
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