The lights at The Rockwell are, quite literally, going dim.
Since opening in 2013, the Fells Point rock club has been known for its immersive bitmap projector screens with colorfully collaged images swapped out weekly by longtime creative partner Scott Chmielewski—an Emmy-nominated designer who works in Hollywood production for touring shows and television.
“We can’t even get the light bulbs to replace them,” says the bar’s co-owner Bryan Burkert, also behind record shop The Sound Garden around the corner. “The technology just starts to wear out. And it’s not like we could just replace this piece or replace that piece. Everything is built together and works in conjunction.”
Left without the proper tech to maintain the screens—which have been central to the spirit of the spot—Burkert recently announced that The Rockwell will host its final rager this Saturday, June 6.
“This place still kicks ass,” says Burkert looking around the bar, reflecting on 13 years of DJ dance parties, karaoke nights, live drumming sets, photo booth sessions, and last-call pop-punk singalongs. “It feels good in here, you know? That’s what it was always about for us.”
When the club first opened, it was called Vale Tudo, Portuguese for “anything goes,” which was fitting because Burkert designed the screens with the trippy music video for Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” in mind. But, “it didn’t really work explaining the name,” he says. So he rebranded to The Rockwell in 2014, inspired by a street sign he saw while on a trip to Los Angeles.
Musician Jeff Hearn—who could frequently be found behind the DJ booth, but also played live drums along with his tracks—was a part of the journey since the bar’s first weekend in business. He realized that the spot had an alt-rock audience (All Time Low drummer Jack Barakat was once a partner) in the early days, when a random Mighty Mighty Bosstones song made the room erupt.
Hearn drummed and DJed nearly every Friday and Saturday for years, creating a custom setup that Burkert compares to greats like Travis Barker and DJ AM.
“That didn’t really happen anywhere else,” Hearn says. “It just became interesting.”
Though Burkert will lock up the South Broadway bar for the last time this weekend (he doesn’t own the property, so he’s unsure what will move in next), he’s not leaving the neighborhood. In fact, he and Chmielewski just introduced a brand new nightclub called Wonderland two blocks away, in the Aliceanna Street building that housed his previous concepts Fletcher’s, The Get Down, and Sir Duke.
The downstairs lounge is open Thursday through Sunday, with live music—harkening back to the Fletcher’s days—set to kick off upstairs in the coming months.
The aesthetic is cinematic and dramatic, described as John Wick-meets-film noir, with lighting designed like a movie set—all Chmielewski’s vision. The glass floor has broken mirror underneath so that light hits the ceiling and bounces. The second floor will lean into an Andy Warhol Factory vibe, with bright colors and high ceilings to complement the various DJs and live performers that take the stage. (Burkert has already lined up a partnership with Darin Atwater of Soulful Symphony for a monthly night featuring Peabody Conservatory students.)
“Scott is art and visual and I’m music,” says Burkert. “So we built a really immersive space where people can sink into a different sound and different music—a different vibe.”
Although he has a new club to focus on, he’s got a soft spot for The Rockwell, so this weekend will undoubtedly stir up a lot of emotions. “I’ve never kept anything this long,” he says of the bar’s run. “This one hurts, more than closing any of the others.”
At 59, he admits that slowing down is inevitable. But, in the short term, he’s looking forward to giving The Rockwell the sendoff it deserves—complete with a packed dance floor, people standing on speakers with their drinks raised high, and one last pop-punk set that will leave the crowd with raspy voices in the morning.
“We want to go out like this mattered, you know?” he says of the final days. “This was something that happened and it’s never gonna happen again. There will never be another place like this.”