It offers a chic 2,200-square-foot cocktail lounge in the front serving 10 specialty cocktails and a varied selection of beer and wine. There is a curated selection of art on the walls and a spartan-yet-stylish design.
"It's definitely different," says local EDM promoter Thomas Turner, who co-owns the club along with local developer Chuckie Duff and cocktail curator Damon Scott of Rattle and Rum.
Downtown Phoenix is no stranger to EDM-oriented nightclubs. Bar Smith and Monarch Theatre have been around for years. Track Club, which is located at Central Avenue and Roosevelt Street, is a bit more high-styled and is geared to urbanites, club kids, and hardcore ragers alike.
A crow’s nest-style booth towers over the room and will host local DJs spinning everything from downtempo house and bass music to hip-hop and funk every night.
Meanwhile, the 800-person capacity dance club in the back will host EDM artists every weekend. It features a mezzanine level, multiple bars, VIP seating, and four enormous LED screens surrounding an elevated DJ booth.
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Track Club has everything going for it beyond its various amenities. It’s housed in a historic building (formerly DeSoto Central Market) located in the heart of downtown and within shouting distance of Roosevelt Row and a light rail station.
Turner is also dialed into the EDM scene through his promotions company, Relentless Beats. For Duff, Track Club is something of a new experience. He’s helped launch several bars in central and downtown Phoenix in recent years (including Gracie’s Tax Bar, Cobra Arcade Bar, and The Rebel Lounge), but a straight-up nightclub was unexplored territory for him.
“I was interested in doing a nightclub, but it certainly isn't anything I’d had experience in,” Duff says. “I've been involved with some great bars in the Valley … but none of those are nightclubs in the traditional sense. So there was a lot to learn, but I think we found partners who did know what they were doing to help create things properly and have it sound good and look good.”
For Turner, Track Club was the chance to have his own spot after years of promoting events at other people’s venues around the Valley.
“I never really had a place that I could be completely proud of that had all the modern amenities for [EDM fans],” Turner says. “Now I do, and it’s pretty fantastic.”
Turner says Track Club was designed solely with EDM in mind.
“It's built with the sort of things that make an EDM show what it is: LED, cryo, and a really big light show,” he says. “It's also got ice-cold air conditioning, it's got plenty of room to dance, plenty of places to sit and hang out. Two rooms of music, great sound, the biggest light show around. And we're bringing in no shortage of artists to perform at the club.”
And Track Club’s schedule bears that last part out. So far, DJs and producers like Morgan Page, Valentino Khan, Kaskade, Nervo, and Malaa have been booked for gigs in October and November.
When EDM fans arrive at Track Club for shows, they’ll use a separate entrance off of Central Avenue that will lead them up to the mezzanine level or onto the downstairs dance floor. (The main entrance will be located farther up the street off of Track Club’s patio.)
“It’s a way of simplifying things,” Turner says.
If you're into getting the VIP treatment, the mezzanine level and balcony have posh seating and bottle service. The dance floor on the first level will be for general admission. Both levels feature separate bars so you can get your drink on.
Track Club was influenced by famed local EDM hotspot Club Freedom, which operated in the late ‘90s and early 2000s in Tempe. Turner was a regular and first got involved with the EDM scene there.
“Club Freedom was the first place that I went to on a regular basis when I first came to Phoenix,” Turner says. “It’s absolutely been an influence on Track Club. Our layout reminds
Another influence is EDM and music culture. Track Club’s drink menus resemble record sleeves for LPs and 45s. They were the brainchild of Zach O’Haire, one of the club’s partners, and created by his wife, Nicki.
“Everything in a concept like this is an opportunity to be creative and provide something different, and I think the record sleeve menus fall into that category,” Duff says. “It's a lot of fun.”
The specialty cocktails, which were created by Scott, take a few cues from EDM, too. There “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff” (which is inspired by the deadmau5 hit), “Desert Woman” (a nod to a Zhu track), and one titled “Show Me
And since EDM culture adores all things glowing, the colorful art piece near the main entrance should interest Track Club patrons. Created by Duff and his fiancee Briana Peralta, it consists of dozens of strings stretching between a series of pegs embedded into the wall that’s lit by UV light.
“Those pegs used to hold up chalkboards at DeSoto Central Market. And when we were rehabbing the space we took them all down and there was this grid of 'em on the wall,” Duff says. “So I had this idea to use it as a template for a piece of art. Neither of us
Duff says the piece will remain up for six months or so before a local artist will be given a chance to create something new using the pegs. It’s not the only art at Track Club. A variety of paintings and other pieces curated by Palabra's Jorge Ignacio Torres and Duff are situated in both the cocktail lounge and dance venue.
“[Jorge] is always bringing interesting artists through his gallery that are usually in line with the things that I like,” Duff says. “So some of the pieces at the club are ones I've picked up over the last few years and also pieces that Jorge helps me
Duff and Turner are both eager to have the general public check out Track Club starting on Friday and partake in its amenities and activities.
“It will be really gratifying and humbling to have people see what we've been working on,” Duff says. “Any time I'm involved with something that's my idea or someone else's idea, I hope that if I'm excited about it and I build something and create something that I enjoy that other people will, too.”
In the meantime, here's a look at Track Club's scheduled so far:
First Friday Public Preview Party
With Gerry Gonza, Medicine Mike, Avitas, Elwer, Mustache Sweat, and Late Nite Lovin'
Friday, October 4,
Admission is free
What So Not
Saturday, October 5, 9 p.m.
General admission is $25, mezzanine access is $50
Morgan Page
Saturday, October 12,
General admission is $20, mezzanine access is $45
Lil Jon
Saturday, October 19,
General admission is $30, mezzanine access is $70
Valentino Khan
Friday, October 25,
General admission is $20, mezzanine access is $50
Nervo
Saturday, October 26, 9 p.m.
General admission is $25, mezzanine access is $55
Kaskade
Saturday, November 9, 9 p.m.
General admission is $75, mezzanine access is $105
Malaa
Sunday, November 10, 9 p.m.
General admission is $30, mezzanine access is $55
MK and Dom Dolla
Saturday, November 16, 9 p.m.
General admission is $20, mezzanine access is $50
Track Club.
915 North Central Avenue
Hours: 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Tuesdays-Sundays
