Blind Rage will throw live and in-store events throughout the month, sending off the shop in true DIY, indie and punk fashion. This includes a stacked show Saturday, March 21 — with many familiar faces from previous bills — followed by a quiet denouement on its final day. The lineup will be announced soon.
In 2020, Gwen’s record label, also Blind Rage Records, outgrew her basement. There were too many vinyl, cassettes and mail order supplies to continue justifying running the indie label out of her house. That summer, Gwen opened the first Blind Rage location at 734 Watervliet Ave. in Belmont.
She referred to the first location as “basically a closet,” a 12-by-12 room that had just as many shelves as its current location in the Oregon District. By fire code, not to mention tight COVID-19 restrictions, only three people were allowed to browse at a time. Months later, Blind Rage knocked out a wall and doubled the size of the room, merely biding time until Archie’s Shoe Repair space at 740 Watervliet Ave. was available. When it was, Blind Rage relocated a few doors down.
Hosting live shows was never the goal; it was born out of necessity. At the time, there were minimal choices for all-ages shows, with many venues restricting access to those 18 or 21 and older. Blind Rage offered a safe and sober, all-ages space.
Dayton band Oh Condor released its “Emergency Psychic” album at the first Blind Rage show in 2021. There wasn’t a dedicated stage, so counters and shelves were shoved out of the way to make room. It snowballed after that.
Blind Rage frequently hosted hardcore, punk, metal, alternative and indie touring bands, including: Body Farm, Toxic Reasons, Zero Boys, Crosses, Death Club, Escuela Grind, Richard Lloyd and Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys in the Campfire. Bands that typically played much larger rooms in other cities made exceptions to play Blind Rage because of what it represented.
But more than that, the store-venue also provided opportunities for up-and-coming local bands, including Bomb Bunny, sheller and Good Soup.
“Since announcing that we were closing, I’ve just had countless messages from people telling me ‘my first show was at Blind Rage,’” Gwen said. “And the amount of people in Dayton bands now, younger kids that played their first show ever in Blind Rage… I didn’t mean to make something that was maybe as relevant as it is, and I have a hard time accepting that it is.”
Several of those kids ended up working at the shop. Gwen says they showed up and never went away. So she just started paying them.
Last June, Blind Rage closed the Belmont location — but not without a final goodbye bash — and opened the new store at 508 E. 5th St. in the Oregon District in July. The window cling in Belmont read “Dayton’s Third Best Record Store.” The new window cling added an exclamation mark to Blind Rage, with the subtext, “Buy Sell Trade Mosh.”
It was a new chapter that earmarked hosting shows, and refocused on vinyl.
Blind Rage Records is known as one of the premier spots in Dayton for curated punk, hip-hop, jazz and indie records.
“It was the only place you could really go and find a bunch of old, obscure emo and hardcore,” said Jack Radachi, manager of Omega Music. Radachi also spins vinyl under the name J[REDACTED], and has DJed at Blind Rage. “It’s just all so local and cool, and it’s a great archive.”
Flipping through the stacks at Blind Rage could make you feel like a musical luddite. You might not recognize — or even be able to pronounce — some of the band names. And perhaps that’s just this writer’s issue, but the point is that Gwen is an encyclopedia of music who aids customers in their discovery. So when you do find Pavement’s mainstream breakout or that glossed-over Liz Phair record, there is no judgement that you didn’t go for “Homicidal Ecstasy” by Sanguisugabogg.
She knows some music isn’t for you. Blind Rage is — and will forever be — a safe space to be who you are.
When Gwen was 14, she asked Dayton punk rocker GeeGee Bradley how to book shows. He gave her a rough guide, and she started calling bands from their contact information on the backs of CDs. She also credits promoter Ken Gross and Trader Vic for paving the path.
Credit: Jake Schneider
Credit: Jake Schneider
After Blind Rage started hosting shows, many bands on those bills started hosting their own shows with the same DIY spirit.
Though the shop did occasionally host at the Oregon District location — a reappearance of Richard Lloyd being one of them — that unifying cultural aspect of what was cultivated in Belmont was missed. Still, its essence remains elsewhere.
“There’s more places for all-ages shows in Dayton now than I think there’s ever been,” Gwen said. “When I was moving and having the last show, that was bittersweet. But other people picked up the slack and saw that this is just a thing you can do.”
Yellow Cab Tavern, Hidden Gem Music Club and Cosmo Joe’s Atomic Lounge are just some local venues who now host all-ages shows. This doesn’t include house shows and pop-ups at unconventional locales.
“The store always made me feel like I was a kid again,” said Nick Kizirnis, who opened for a number of touring bands at Blind Rage. Kizirnis has been playing music in Dayton since the early 1980s. “It felt like a community center, a place you could hang out and you were welcome and it was OK to be there.”
The music was blaring. Gwen was making a mixtape for a friend. The liner notes were typewritten. She was passing something on.
“I’m glad it ended over here,” she said. “It was honestly great to be in this spot, and have a nice view. I was just so welcomed by the district and Downtown Dayton. We could have struggled along for a long time, but it’s just time to do something different.”
Gwen hopes that some other kid can pick up the torch and have a shop like hers, so she can go there.
“Thank you to everyone that shopped here, worked here, lived and loved here,” her social media post concluded. “It was always for and about you.”
Brandon Berry covers the music and arts scene in Dayton and Southwest Ohio. Reach him at branberry100@gmail.com.
MORE DETAILS
Blind Rage Records is still taking trades for the next month but will cease buying stock at this time. Gift cards and reward points are valid until March 22.
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