Same vibe, new Pier Plaza location for South Bay Jam
by Garrick Rawlings
If it hasn’t already, host Barclay Roach’s South Bay Jam (SBJ) is becoming a live music institution on Thursday nights from 9:30 p.m at Patrick Molloy’s, on Pier Plaza, in Hermosa Beach. The SBJ originated in 2016 at the now closed Standing Room bar on Hermosa Avenue, where it had a successful four, and a half year run before COVID forced the closure of that venue. Building on their success at the Standing Room, the rebooted and relocated SBJ’s popularity continues to grow at Patrick Molloy’s, with a healthy mix of local musicians, regulars and curious Pier Plaza explorers.
Hermosa Beach native Barclay Roach is the founder, host, and sound engineer. And also a guitarist, and singer.
“I was hosting an open mic at The Slip Bar on International Boardwalk, in King Harbor, when Jason Baran (of Baran’s 2239) asked if I would be interested in hosting an open mic at the Standing Room, which Baran was managing at the time. I was more interested in a jam night because there weren’t any around, except in Hollywood. We started out slow and built it up for over a year. Then, on my first birthday jam I invited everyone and had 40 musicians on stage. After that it really picked up steam until the second COVID shutdown, which was curtains for Standing Room, unfortunately.”
“My good friend Michele Gutierrez was managing Patrick Molloy’s at the time and invited us to bring the jam over there. They have been very, very welcoming to us, since April of 2021. This place is twice as big as the Standing Room and we fill it up. We have a house band that shifts, sometimes five, six or seven pieces (two guitars, two keyboards). And often have singer/songwriter Tatiana Erse here as house singer. The normal house band is my brother Jake Roach on bass (with Sammy Burke filling in); Bill Higgins on guitar/vocals; Phillip Clark on vocals/keyboards/sax; Russ Gilbert on keyboards; and Rich Kaylor on drums/vocals. The format is singer-driven, and song-driven. We make a set list with corresponding musician lineups, and go three hours straight, no breaks.”
“For the first two hours we let the list dictate what we do (typically two songs each lineup). I like to scatter the set lists with ‘songy-songs’ (singer driven, more like the records) and ‘jammy-jams’ (extend some tunes, and instrumental solos). I want it to be a free-form thing, so the last hour is ‘Hey, what do you want to play? – which is the true ‘jam’ part of the SBJ.”
Kevin Smith, Molloy’s manager welcomes the Thursday jams.
“It’s become a good night for us. Thursdays are usually a hit or miss night for bars. Music and the hospitality business go hand in hand and it’s an investment to let nights of music like this one develop. We’ve had door guys and servers get up and sing or play their guitar. We have whole established bands get up and do their two songs, as well as multiple musicians, and singers switching in and out. You’ll never know what you get from week to week. If you want to learn about who the bands are in the South Bay you can stop by, and ask the people here and they’ll tell you about 15 bands who get up there on our stage, as well as performing their own gigs all around the area. We also have acoustic live music outside on Wednesdays, and there is no corkage fee, weekend entertainment varies.”
To sign up to perform at the SBJ, go to SouthBayJam.com or send a message to Barclay Roach via social media. ER
