The five members of Midlake are revered recording artists, MOJO award-winners for best live act and, now, bar owners.
Less than a month from now --- sometime in early October -- the Midlake boys will open up shop on the third floor of the building that currently houses Andy's Bar in Denton. The bar will be called Paschall Bar, an homage to B.F. Paschall, who was, according to Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido, the original builder and owner of the building in 1877 and one of Denton's founding fathers.
"In all the research I've done, I've found that [Paschall] was kind of a Denton badass," says Pulido, who is has an obvious fascination with Denton's past. "We thought it would be cool to pay homage to that history."
According to Pulido, in 1890, a fire destroyed every building but Paschall's on the east side of the square because he put salt in and around the walls.
In more recent history, Andy's Bar owner Andy Bostick kept the place open as a private club called The Ernest Room. When Midlake learned that the place was available a few months ago, they jumped at the chance to open a bar.
Pulido says the bar will not have a precise theme. He describes the band's vision for the place as a mid-century English pub with a lot of their own influence.
"We've been fortunate to have seen a lot of bars around the world," says Pulido.
The drink menu, meanwhile, will consist of high-quality liquors and classic cocktails, which are hard to come by in Denton.
"We don't want the well drinks to come out of plastic bottles," jokes Pulido.
As of now, the band members are working on the bar day and night, preparing for an early October opening. Pulido still doesn't know exactly when that will be, though, and he isn't sure how it will turn out in the end. But he says he is confident that it will appeal to people in his demographic, which is, presumably, bearded thirty-something music fanatics.
Says Pulido: "It's still a work in progress."
