- This article is about the early 1980s Austin, Texas punk venue Club Foot, which should not be confused with the San Francisco punk venue of the same name and time period.
Club Foot was a large live-music venue in Austin, Texas in the early 1980s. Located downtown at the corner of 4th and Brazos Streets, it had a reputation as a punk rock venue for its support of local and touring punk bands, but it also booked a wide variety of other types of music. Among those playing there during the approximately three years it was open were U2, Willie Nelson, R.E.M., James Brown, B. B. King, Carl Perkins, King Sunny Ade, Stevie Ray Vaughan, X (U.S. band), Burning Spear, Stray Cats, Dr. John, Big Boys, John Lee Hooker, Leon Russell, Ian Hunter, Joe Cocker, Iggy Pop, John Hiatt, Stanley Turrentine, Albert King, Blasters, NRBQ, Richard Hell, Mitch Ryder, John Cale, Delbert McClinton, The Go-Go's, The Romantics, Joe Ely, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sir Douglas Quintet, Sam and Dave, John Kay and Steppenwolf, Billy Idol, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Junior Walker, Charlie Musselwhite, UK Subs, Anti-Nowhere League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Big Youth, Rare Earth, the Ventures, The Lift, The Standing Waves, Gun Club, Roky Erickson, Pete Shelley, The Nighthawks, Grace Jones, David Johansen, The Neville Brothers, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Sparks, Maria Muldaur, The Fleshtones, Rank and File, Edgar Winter, Flipper (band), Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Huey Lewis and the News, Savoy Brown, Bow Wow Wow, Plimsouls, Garland Jeffreys, Mighty Diamonds, T-Bone Burnett, and Wendy O. Williams. Club Foot published a calendar called “Footprints” that included detailed descriptions of upcoming concerts under the slogan “all the news that’s foot to print.” In 1983, Club Foot was the site of the first Austin Chronicle Readers Poll Music Awards, an annual show that has become the kickoff event for the South by Southwest Music Conference (SXSW) each year. Club Foot was located in a two story warehouse that was partially underground, one block from 4th and Congress Avenue, behind the old Greyhound Bus Station. Today, the Frost Bank building exists on the site of both buildings.
References
- The Art of Rock by Paul Grushkin (Abbeville Press 1987) ISBN 0-89659-584-6
- Dissonant Identities: The Rock’n’Roll Scene in Austin, Texas by Barry Shank (Wesleyan University Press 1994) ISBN 0-8195-6276-9
