Venue Information

The 40 Watt Club is a music venue in Athens, Georgia. Along with CBGB's, the Whisky a Go Go, and selected others, it was instrumental in launching American punk rock and "New Wave music.

The 40 Watt Club had its origins as Curtis Crowe's College Avenue loft back in 1978. Bill Tabor and Curtis joked that it was a 40 Watt Club due to the single 40 Watt bulb which hung from the ceiling. Curtis first party in his space featured his band Strictly American a group of friends from Marietta, Georgia which included members of the future Guadalcanal Diary. Curtis and Bill would hang out in his loft upstairs and listen to Michael Lachowski and Randy Bewley practice the same riff over and over again in the space directly below. Curtis eventually knocked on their practice space and asked if they could use a drummer and Pylon was born. During Pylon's subsequent tours of the Northeast, Curtis theorized that opening a real club on a shoestring was possible. Crowe and his pa ...