Armonk Mom Rocks MTK Tavern in Kisco
Katonah’s Jeff Rosen’s grandfather was in the restaurant business but his parents told him “don’t go there!” He didn’t listen. After twenty years in corporate America, Jeff was getting itchy and he opened up MTK Tavern in Mt. Kisco – a gastro-pub that featured local bands on stage. “Technically it was a restaurant but I felt like it was really about the music so … you know. I wasn’t really dissing my folks,” Jeff explained.
MTK Tavern developed a core following of local music lovers with their schedule of top Westchester County rock, blues and cover bands – like Chappaqua based Tramps Like Us. But it was neither fish nor fowl, as the saying goes. All that changed when Jeff met Pam Condron – the rockin’ mom from Armonk.
The rockin’ mom from Armonk
“She would come in here and start rearranging the stage. ‘The drums should be over here. The lighting could be better.’ When she started hooking us up with these really great emerging artists – singer/songwriters, folk, rock and alt-rock bands from the Brooklyn and Astoria music scene, I made her a partner.”
Together they have re-invented MTK as a “must book” stop on the tours of indie-bands recently signed to music labels – a little less restaurant and a lot more music. “We used to be a gastro-pub that had a band in the back,” Jeff told us, “Now, we’re a music club that serves food.”
Friday Night Indies – no headbangers allowed!
The first thing Pam did was bring in a sound engineer from Jazz at Lincoln Center to give MTK a state of the art sound. And she got her wish on the lighting, too. But the biggest changes at MTK Tavern happen on Friday night when Pam books nationally touring bands featuring original music. “I’ve never actually “worked” in the music business but I live it. I’m very “connected” and I’m all about the bands,” Pam assured us.
“The kind of bands we want are already playing at places like Baby’s All Right or Rough Trade in Brooklyn. We stay away from head-banger bands. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But, we’re looking for groups that are one-hit away from being household names.”
A Brooklyn Vibe – countrywide
“When we talk about a Brooklyn vibe, we don’t mean the bands are from Brooklyn. We just mean their record companies are booking them into these Brooklyn clubs. We’ve had bands from Texas, Georgia, New Mexico and California. If you look at the tour list on these bands’ websites, you’ll see Chicago, New York, Boston, DC and Mt. Kisco. It’s kind of cool that a 125 person capacity club in the suburbs can attract this level of talent.”
But Pam looks beyond the city club scene for talent. The six-day South By Southwest Festival in Austin is another seed ground for MTK talent as is The Rock Boat, a five day rock festival on a cruise ship that sails from Miami to Cozumel, where next wave talent plays on the same bill as big names like Gavin DeGraw and Michael Franti. “We really hit pay dirt on The Rock Boat,” Pam said, “we’ve already booked five bands from their lineup. That put us on the map.”
They even get Bonnaroo alums, American Idols and Chart Toppers
A few recent booking coups included the Albany band Wild Adriatic who played Bonnaroo and Sam Woolf, a top five finalist from season 13 of American Idol. Lee Brice, who has charted at No. 1 four times on the Billboard Hot Country charts played a private party at MTK this summer.
Some of the Friday night bands MTK has booked include Atlanta’s Radio Birds, Virginia’s Melodime, and The Southern Belles, LA’s Pete RG, Next to the Tracks from New Mexico and some local bands just signed to studio contracts Monogold and Karma Darwin. Give them a click to hear them on YouTube.
The Rest of the Week
MTK Tavern still does cover and tribute bands on Saturday nights but they’re looking to cast a wide net there too. “We won’t book the same band more than two or three times a year,” said Jeff Rosen, “because Pam doesn’t do ‘repetition’.” Tuesday night is Open Stage Night, when audience members are welcome to sit in with MTK’s House Band after their first set. Wednesday is Acoustic Night and one week a month they do an Acoustic Showcase where they schedule as many as five or six bands. Starting in November, Thursday night will be Genre Night when MTK will branch out into Blues, Jazz, Country and Classic Album nights.
What about the food?
“We’re not doing braised short ribs anymore but we’re proud of our wings, burgers, salads and tacos. And we just started doing indie-pizzas, made from scratch that look like a hit,” said Jeff. (We won’t tell his mom.) They also offer a full bar serving their special “rocktails” and ten craft beers. MTK shows start at 8:30 on weeknights and 9:30 on weekends. You can come early to grab an upfront seat and watch “the games” on TV. Or you can dine elsewhere (the new Little Drunken Chef tapas restaurant is right next door) and go for the music, a few drinks – and a little supplemental pub food as needed. And maybe someday when you see a band on the Grammys you can say, “I saw that band in a little club in Mt. Kisco before anybody knew who they were.” Rock on.
Armonk Mom Rocks MTK Tavern in Kisco: (MTK Tavern, 30 E. Main St., Mt. Kisco, 914.218.3334; www.mtktavern.com)
Sign up for the What To Do: Weekend email newsletter … carefully curated for townies, culture-vultures, foodies & locavore.