The End of Which House: Denton Crew Behind the Venue on What's Next After Hosting Final Show

Denton has succumbed to yet another venue loss.

The beloved house venue Which House hosted its last show on June 20, ending years of late-night noise and DIY shows that made Denton feel like a real music town again.

Last operated by Riley Jones, Quentin Buchalter, Gabriel Thompkins, Mason Keating and Nathan Williams, the venue became one of the few places in the city where the lights stayed on past last call and the bands outnumbered the excuses.

“We wanted to try to bring that sort of inclusive place back,” Buchalter says. “A place for bands to play that couldn’t work with Andy’s or Gloves.”

The house is now shutting down as a venue, as the crew has decided not to renew the lease. Instead, they want to venture out and explore their own interests.

“For us, we’re kind of getting more serious about our lives,” Jones said. “And while this is awesome, it’s a burden you kind of have to sacrifice for. You’ve got to take off work, stay up till 2 a.m., [and] make sure nobody underage is sneaking drinks. It’s not easy.”

To their knowledge, the house had hosted shows on and off for about 10 years, serving as more of a frat party spot. The current crew moved in three years ago and officially started calling it Which House two years back, turning it into a dedicated venue.

“It was around Halloween,” Thompkins says. “So I said Witch House. Then someone asked, witch or which. We thought it was cheeky and ran with it.”

The house is on Oak Street, close to the University of North Texas. There is no indication outside of what beholds inside, which is a fraternity-style house interior, with the main performing space at the front.

“We wanted to do every genre,” Buchalter says. “We’re not just like a hardcore house.”

You could not enter through the front if you wanted to. Instead, there is a mattress bolted against the door. A makeshift stage in a corner was mostly for drummers, with the other band members just opting to stand in front of the elevated platform. Speakers on either side of the stage and wires on the floor marked the unofficial boundary between the audience and the bands.

A projection is cast at the band performing with whatever idea the band communicates with the crew, and it is available on YouTube. To the opening into what would be the living room lie light strips that change to match the mood of the projections. Lastly, off to the side sits a table where the crew takes turns sitting and ensuring everything sounds right on the soundboard.

What separated Which House from the average dented garage-with-a-mic was its attention to safety, inclusivity and structure.

Denton Live, a Denton-focused music blog, had previously hosted shows at Which House with the most notable three-day showcase, “HOUSE BY HOUSEFEST.”
The house was never meant to be profitable, although there was an encouraged entry donation amount.

“It’s pretty clear the donations are for the touring bands or the acts,” Buchalter says. “It’s always encouraged, never required.”

Some nights were beautiful. Some were weird. Most were both. One time, a guitarist sent the neck of his instrument straight through a window mid-set.

“He gave us some money and apologized,” Jones says. “And there was a guy shirtless in the front yard holding two beers who just looked at us and went, ‘Yo, somebody broke the window!’ We laughed so hard.”

Despite operating under their landlord’s nose, the group managed to keep the shows discreet enough to avoid trouble. They never advertised addresses publicly and instead would message people the address when requested on Instagram.

Buchalter said they only told the landlord their bands practiced there and that the house had a projector used for “film stuff.” None of it was a lie—but none of it told the full story either.

The landlord had even seen the bed tied against the front door, the makeshift stage in the living room and the custom-made sound system, yet never directly addressed it.

Even when the landlord’s granddaughter accidentally showed up to a show, no serious fallout followed. The crew assumed the landlords suspected something, but their silence worked both ways. As long as the operation stayed quiet within the city, no one asked questions.

“The landlord said, ‘I don’t care if y’all have parties, just don’t charge for them,’” Jones says. “He even joked like, ‘Invite me to the next one.’”

Aside from the current crew, Buchalter’s partner, Jay Coe, who is the editor of Denton Live, is an “honorary” member because she promotes the shows. Former roommate Eric Fulbright is also an honorary member because he creates the art for the shows and helps out during them.

The final night was packed on June 20 with seven bands on the bill: Dream Fever, Chiconmal, Darling Farm, Turpentine, King Turtle, Jud Frisby and Eggplant To-Go.

It was the kind of night where Which House always felt most alive — loud, weird and a little unhinged in the best way. Bodies crammed into the living room, guitars howled through a rigged-together PA and the porch swelled with cigarettes, beer and conversations between sets.

A proper sendoff for a house built on chaos and community.

At last, when Thompkins, Williams and Buchalter stepped up to perform with the rest of their members in Dream Fever, Thompkins said, “This is the final set of Which House.”

People danced, shoved and moshed their hearts out until the crew behind Which House took the stage for one final song, playing with everything they had as memories of the house’s best nights echoed through the room.

It was a beautiful sight and at the end, Thompkins waved off to the crowd and thanked them for supporting Which House.

Now, the only “official” house venue left in Denton is the Asylum. This is the second time this year Denton has lost a music space, with Andy’s Bar having closed earlier in February.

The lease at Which House is technically up July 1, but as of now, no new tenants have officially claimed it. A few people have shown interest, though timing, price and lack of roommates have made it tricky.

The crew suspects the house might sit vacant for a while, or, if the right people move in, the shows could quietly return under a new name.

Whether anyone else steps up will come down to more than just a PA and a living room.

“If you do anything other than community and the music—like if you try to do it for personal gain—it’s not gonna work out,” Thompkins says.