The Shout! House is playing a new tune these days. The popular piano bar and nightspot, situated on the upper level of the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale, recently completed at $50,000 renovation that not only jazzed up the look of the place but also allowed it to beef up its live music offerings.
While The Shout! House has featured live music in the form of rollicking dueling pianos shows — involving a pair of pianists performing high-energy revues of rock, pop, Top 40 songs four nights a week from Wednesday to Saturday — its recently began hosting local musicians of the country, blues, and classic rock variety on weekends.
And thanks to the joint’s renovation, said artists now have more room to perform on The Shout! House’s stage.
According to general manager Jess Harkins, ramps and walls were added on either side of the 200-square-foot stage to easily move and conceal the bar’s two baby grand pianos to be moved and stowed away on nights when live music gigs or the weekly karaoke session on Tuesdays. Curtains were also installed and will be lowered during performances, which adds an extra bit of style and class to the spot.
“The stage is still where it’s always been, only its been upgraded,” she says. “We brought the walls in to also make it a feel a little more intimate.”
Plus, Harkins adds, the walls also help amp things up at the 500-person-capacity spot by focusing the sound more towards the crowd
These aren’t the only changes that were made at The Shout! House recently, as a VIP area with booth seating was added and a few more musician-themed cocktails were added to its revamped food and drink menu, which already features alcoholic concoctions named after Rick James, Liberace Lemonade, and George Thorogood.
“It’s still the same Shout! House, we’ve only made it better,” Harkins says.
Right now, The Shout! House has only hosted performances on Sunday nights, but Harkins says that shows will eventually take place on other evenings as well. So far, local musicians like esteemed blues rock axeman Carvin Jones, Valley country queens Laura Walsh and Shari Rowe, and hard rocker (and KSLX personality) Pete Cummings have gigged at the spot.
Harkins says the plans are also afoot to have local hip-hop artist Bag of Tricks Cat perform at The Shout! House later this year and adds that they’re willing to feature any sort of music.
"We're pretty much open to anything across the board,” Harkins says.