By David Goerg

REXBURG—A popular local music venue is reopening in a new location.

The Basement will be hosting weekly shows, beginning on Saturday, September 18^th, at 56 Professional Plaza.

The Basement closed the doors on its last location on July 14, 2021, due to the unexpected passing of the previous owner, Steve Jensen.

“We were just kind of left with nothing,” says Riley Bode, the new owner of The Basement, when asked about the closure. “We didn’t have any equipment. We didn’t have a space. We didn’t have any money left over from things that The Basement had done before.”

The abrupt closure prompted a swift response from the local music community.

The day after the closure, a local band, Indigo Waves, headed a GoFundMe effort on behalf of The Basement. Save Rexburg Music has accumulated $6,049 to date.

“We were definitely at a loss. And then when Indigo waves started the GoFundMe, I didn’t think anyone was going to donate,” says Bode. “But then they did.”

Over 140 donors contributed various amounts ranging from $5 to $2,000.

Because Bode had been managing The Basement at the time of Jensen’s passing, she says the task of ownership fell to her as a matter of course and expediency. Her first step was finding a new building to house the unique activities of The Basement.

“Finding a place was just starting to get really frustrating, because we just didn’t know everything and rent is so expensive right now,” said Bode.

She was eventually led to the new location at 56 Professional Plaza through the help of strangers who messaged her and helped set up meetings with real estate agents.

The new location is located in the basement of The Dental Health Center. It can safely house 49 people—the same occupancy rate as the previous location.  

“This is kind of perfect, it’s the old escape room,” Bode says. “There was fake blood all over the walls—like horror movie themed. It had been on the market for, like, over a year . . . We had to envision it without everything that was in it, and that’s when everyone said that they would help.”

Volunteers have cleaned, constructed a new stage for the venue, and added new paintings to the walls.

Bode has also been able to procure new sound equipment, which will enable music concert performances and open-mic nights throughout the upcoming semester and into the future.

The Basement will hold open-mic nights every alternate Thursday. On the off weeks they plan to hold art shows, comedy nights, or karaoke.

Music concert events kick off at the new location on September 18^th,  with a concert featuring Indigo Waves, Poor Sports and Laughing Matter. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.

“The funds from the GoFundMe helped with everything,” Bode concluded. “I can never thank people enough for that, because we would not have been able to do this without them.”