How a much-needed all-ages music venue landed in a northeast Minneapolis skate shop

When he opened his northeast Minneapolis skate shop in 2022, Corey Bracken already had a lot going on for one storefront, what with a coffee shop and café also housed inside along with his own line of skateboards.

“There literally wasn’t room for live music,” the Pilllar Forum proprietor said, pointing to the slenderness of his original space.

So what happened?

“Bands sort of just started showing up,” Bracken recalled with a shrug that would be recognized by any parent of pushy teenagers.

A series of ragtag performances on the floor by the front corner window of the coffee space gave way to Bracken taking over a neighboring storefront last year and converting it into a full-fledged performance space.

Now, live music is typically performed three or four nights a week at Pilllar Forum, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary as a full-time venue with its Rage & Reset festival Friday through Sunday.

Many of the acts on the Rage & Reset lineup are just kids. So, too, will be much of the audience.

Not only is Bracken’s skate/coffee/sandwich shop bringing live music to a rich few blocks of Central Avenue that also include the Heights Theater, Fair State Brewing Cooperative, Momo Sushi and a wide ethnic range of great restaurants. It’s also helping fill the gaping hole for all-ages live music options throughout the Twin Cities.

After the recent closings of the Garage in Burnsville and the Treasury in St. Paul, Bracken and his small, tight-knit team at Pilllar Forum believe it has become their calling to offer live music to underage fans. Every show there is all-ages.

“Things are pretty tough for kids in America right now,” said Bracken, who has a teenage son. “They need somewhere to go and be around other kids more, and somewhere to be creative, but there’s less and less infrastructure for them now.”

A group of about 50 teenagers and early 20-somethings were hanging at the 150-capacity venue on a snowy Friday night last month for the Radio K-backed indie-rock bands Waterline and Sunsets Over Flowers. They lived up to the adopted meaning behind the three L’s in the Pilllar name: “live, laugh, love.” (The third L was originally just used for URL and Google purposes for Bracken’s skateboard line.)

Fans mingled at tables and around the counter on the coffee/skate shop side of the venue between sets; only a few were able to take advantage of the venue’s new liquor license.

On the darker, sparser, graffiti-art-adorned music side of the business, they cheered and applauded louder than a typical crowd twice their size at a 21-plus show. They even sang and danced along loudly when Sunsets Over Flowers encored with a so-called “classic rock song,” the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry.”

After working the soundboard and just about everything else related to the music that night, Pilllar Forum production manager/barista/Swiss-army-knife Juno Parsons proudly noted that young fans are starting to show up even for bands that are very new or largely unknown.

“By nature, a room this size can and has to be a venue that takes chances,” said Parsons, who also promoted DIY shows in Detroit before moving to Minneapolis two years ago.

“I sincerely believe this is one of the best music scenes in the country in terms of local talent. But there has to be more rooms like this where younger, newer bands can play.”

Parsons picked out some of his favorites from the past year for the lineup for this weekend’s Rage & Reset fest, which is split into different music variations each day.

Punk and metallic bands will perform Friday, including Valeska Suratt, Baumgardner and Mommy Log Balls. The Saturday lineup is more the arty indie-rock variety acts such as Early Eyes, Anita Velveeta, Bugsy and Dad Bod. And Sunday features singer/songwriters the Penny Peaches, Emma Jeanne, Finick and more.

One of the venue’s regular performers — and one of the Twin Cities scene’s most buzzing teen acts — Finick said “it’s been a great experience every time” she’s played there.

“The staff and community at Pilllar are incredibly supportive and respectful of their performers,” said Finick (aka Josie Hasnik, 18).

Being respectful is something Parsons emphasized. They followed up their boss’ comments about kids needing somewhere to go by singling out certain groups of kids.

“Politically speaking, there are so many reasons for LGBTQ youths to feel marginalized right now,” Parsons said. “We want this to be a space where they feel safe and welcome.”

Rage & Reset heads up a bustling month at Pilllar Forum that also includes a fundraiser for a northeast Minneapolis skate park on March 21, an underplay double-header with Gully Boys and Skating Polly on March 24, a songwriter-ly night with Ava Levy, Ahem, LaSalle and Jack on March 27 and more. Shows typically end by about 10 p.m.

After admitting his hesitancy over hosting live music, Bracken now says he’s thrilled to see that side of his already multifaceted business taking off. For one, it’s just good for business.

“It keeps us open later, and it feeds into everything else we do,” he said.

A 45-year-old native of Cannon Falls, Minn., — he used to deliver pizza to Pachyderm Studios while in high school (alas, not when Nirvana was there) — Bracken played in bands in his youth while also getting serious about skateboarding. He fruitfully launched his environmentally friendly, tree-planting skateboard line during the COVID-19 pandemic, when outdoor sports activities like his flourished.

A year into adding onto his already multifaceted venture, Bracken is glad he made room for live music alongside everything else at his business.

“You could draw a Venn diagram for all the ways the different sides of the business overlap: the skateboards, the coffee, the café, the art we sell and now the music,” he said.

“Really, though, it’s just all about building community.”

With: Early Eyes, Anita Velveeta, Valeska Suratt, Emma Jeanne, Finick, Dad Bod, lots more.

When: 4:30 p.m. Fri., 2:30 p.m. Sat., noon Sun.

Where: Pilllar Forum, 2300 Central Av. NE., Mpls.

Tickets: $15-$25/day, $50/three-day, pilllar.com.