Il Motore: keep the Motore running

What made you guys decide to open up Il Motore?
It was something we’d been thinking about for a while because shows are so up and down, but if you own the bar and can get some of the alcohol sales, it’s kind of a cushion sometimes. But it’s something we really wanted. You’re always working in someone else’s space, but we thought it would be nice to have our own space where we’re calling the shots.

I guess you have your own style of doing events so you want to have creative control over the space.
Yeah, I mean we’ve been doing this for 9 years this March, so it just seemed like the logical next step. We’ve done pretty much everything else in terms of show promotion, so it’ll be nice to take it to another level. And it’s a partnership between us and the people who run Sala Rossa and obviously they have a lot of experience, they run a really good venue. We work with them a lot so it seemed like a good match-up.

How big’s Il Motore?
I think, legally, it’s about 250 capacity.

What kind of stuff are you trying to focus on?
I guess it’s similar to Sala, but it’s its own thing. It’s an extension of what Blue Skies is. And we’re not just going to book our own bands. It’s going to be open for anyone to book. We want to have a nice room that people will want to go to and feel comfortable going there and have a good time. It sucks being at a show in a space where the crowd isn’t into it and they’d rather be in a different space, but they’re there because they like the band.

Il Motore
179, Jean Talon West
ilmotore.ca