At EPIC Event Center, there's 82 signed guitars on the wall, concert memorabilia on loan and loads of backstage perks
ASHWAUBENON - The lobby of EPIC Event Center might be the closest Warrant and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band ever come to one another.
Look up high and you’ll spot a hot pink electric guitar autographed by the hair metal band that gave MTV the “Cherry Pie” video next to an acoustic guitar signed by the band with the “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” album in the Library of Congress.
They’re two of 82 guitars hanging on the walls of the entry to the concert venue, every one of them signed. It’s an impressive collage representing the touring acts who have graced the EPIC stage since it opened in April 2021.
Owner Mark Skogen promised an addition to the Green Bay-area entertainment scene that would bring in artists not just from rock but all genres of music. One look at a display of guitars that would have the Hard Rock Café licking its chops and there’s no doubt he meant what he said.
Melissa Etheridge, Ace Frehley, Neal McCoy, 311, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Cheap Trick, Jimmie Allen, Stone Temple Pilots, Stryper, Marshall Tucker Band, Saving Abel, Ice Cube, Bad Flowers, Daughtry, GWAR, Vanilla Ice ...
The plan all along was for the EPIC to creatively commemorate the talent it has hosted with an eye-catching display of memorabilia as patrons come through the doors. What’s more synonymous with music than guitars?
“We realize Ice Cube probably never picked up a guitar in his entire life, but it was still necessary to put him in there,” said Ryan Vander Sanden, EPIC’s general manager. “I think every single act, or at least somebody on the bill of every single show we’ve had, has been willing to sign a guitar.”
They’re free to do as little or as much with a Sharpie as they wish. Some keep it simple with just the signatures, but others have doodled theirs into works of art worthy of an album cover.
Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley sketched his signature “Space Ace” planets and stars. Heavy metal band W.A.S.P. made it look like red blood was dripping down its white guitar. GWAR drew its name in big, bold letters, along with other art.
The extra artistic effort never goes unnoticed, but Vander Sanden said they’re just thrilled that acts are willing to put marker to guitar, period.
“It’s tricky now. A lot of bands these days won’t sign a guitar,” he said. “They traditionally don’t, because it goes to the internet, eBay and things like that.”
Swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen is known not to sign guitars, so getting him on board — and on the wall — meant bringing his tour manager out to the EPIC lobby, showing him the guitar wall and assuring him that’s the only place the guitar will ever be. Rick Springfield limits his signed guitars to charity or fundraisers, but he agreed to be part of the display.
“It’s a matter of just making them comfortable once they see this great wall and everybody who has signed it,” Vander Sanden said. “This is where it’s going to go. It’s more venue decor than it is personal collectible. We’ve had really, really good luck with everyone being willing to do so.”
Nobody has said no yet, but Jamey Johnson is the one who got away. The country singer-songwriter often leaves soon after his sets, so they simply missed him, Vander Sanden said. Randy Houser, who shared the bill with him for their joint Country Cadillac Tour last March, represents the show on the wall.
Comedians, magicians and some specialty shows aren’t included, and performers who are already returnees to EPIC only sign once. (Real estate is at a premium.) Sometimes bands donate one of their own guitars, but the majority are purchased locally at Heid Music in Green Bay or the Guitar Center in Grand Chute.
Vander Sanden is well known at the Guitar Center, where he sometimes buys 10 or more at a whack.
“Hey, there he is! How many today?” they often ask when he walks in. They know better than to ask if he’s interested in purchasing the extended coverage plan. Sometimes they tip him off with scratch-and-dent sales since a ding on the back of a guitar won’t matter.
EPIC does its best to match the guitar to the type each act typically plays — Les Paul, Fender Stratocaster, acoustic — but the increasingly bigger challenge is finding guitars that are different from the ones already on the wall. It takes some studying to spot them, but there are a couple of duplicates.
The only real rhyme or reason to whose guitar gets hung where is to makes sure the acoustic models are balanced out among the electric ones and that brightly colored ones are evenly distributed.
Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it’s the luck of the draw as to which stars are on either side of you. Some acts who have played the venue more than once have searched for their guitar and joked about getting better placement or offered to donate a nicer guitar to get a row upgrade.
The job of hanging them falls to EPIC maintenance manager Tim Ervin, who usually waits until there are a few ready to go before he gets up on the scissor lift. When he does, it’s a favorite spectator event for the staff, who often chime in with a “just a little to the left” or “over to the right.”
Ervin is also the guy in charge of dusting them.
Marketing director Marla Maney sometimes posts video of new guitars going up on EPIC’s social media. There’s always a few patrons who comment how between the rush of getting into a sold-out show and going through security, they somehow missed the wall entirely.
That wasn’t the case when the building recently hosted the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Green Bay’s Wine, Cheese & Whimsy fundraiser. The display stopped 450 people in suits and gowns in their tracks, many of whom had never been to the venue before, Maney said.
By Vander Sanden’s best guess, there’s enough open wall space in the lobby to accommodate guitars for the next 18 months of shows.
“And then we’re going to have to get creative," he said.
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Corey Taylor, Jesse James Dupree stage clothes on loan for exhibit
The guitar wall isn’t the only Hard Rock touch at EPIC. Inside the sprawling club with room for 2,100 concertgoers, unused space under the steps leading up to the mezzanine has been enclosed in glass and turned into a mini exhibit.
It started with a display of Jesse James Dupree memorabilia. Skogen, who is president and CEO of Festival Foods, has known Dupree for years, both through concerts Festival helped bring to Green Bay Distillery before EPIC opened and from signings of Dupree’s American Outlaw whiskey at Festival.
The club asked him if would send some of his stage clothes for an exhibit in advance of his EPIC concert last November. He gave them a pair of pants full of patches, a jean jacket, boots, a hat and, for the ultimate accessory, one of his stage chainsaws. EPIC added a bottle of his bourbon, pieces of the bar stools he carves up during shows and some hamster bedding strewn on the floor for sawdust.
Dupree was so thrilled by it he posted photos on social media. It sparked the idea of an informal “Friends of EPIC” rotating exhibit showcasing some of the venue’s longstanding relationships with artists. The items are on loan and returned when a new exhibit goes up.
The current display features Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, who shipped a package with some of his stage clothes and, to everyone’s delight, his latest mask.
“We were so blown away that he sent a mask. That piece could be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Vander Sanden said.
The mannequin outfitted as Taylor makes for an ominous exhibit, one that Vander Sanden said “still scares the (expletive) out of us sometimes when we forget it’s in there.”
Maney’s post of the installation generated big buzz from fans, some saying they planned to travel to EPIC just to see it.
“I don’t think we’ve had a non-concert announcement post that’s been as big as this,” Maney said. “This display is just crazy. We have joked, ‘OK, how do we top Corey Taylor?’”
Taylor will get to see it in person when he plays EPIC on May 7 for one of just four recently announced solo shows with the Cherry Bombs. The next exhibit has already been secured but Vander Sanden and Maney aren’t dropping any hints.
Backstage perks for bands: wet bars, basketball court and laundry
It’s but another personal touch meant to make EPIC Event Center stand out not just for patrons but for touring acts living out of suitcases and hotel rooms and playing a different venue every night.
The creature comforts backstage are many. What was originally designated as a storage area was turned into a workout area and lounge with sectionals, a pool table, exercise equipment and other amenities for bands.
One entire wall is painted in a mural of towering guitars and the EPIC logo by local artist Beau Thomas as a backdrop for artist meet and greets. Two of the guitars are signed — one by Shinedown guitarist Zach Myers who is friends with Skogen, and another by DJ Ashba, formerly of Sixx:A.M. and Guns N' Roses, who played the first solo show of his career in the building in 2021.
An indoor basketball court just down the hall is also available to acts. Vanilla Ice played 3-on-3 with his crew. Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton, who performed with his band The Boxmasters in 2021, did some shooting around, and members of Chevelle showed off trick shots. Some female artists have done yoga in there.
“It has just become one of those over-the-top-type things where they come in here and they’re like, ‘What the hell is this?’” Vander Sanden said. “It’s been pretty cool.”
Three backstage dressing rooms of varying size are outfitted like hotel rooms, each with a full bathroom and shower, an 80-inch TV that includes a live feed so headliners can watch the opening act onstage, a wet bar, refrigerator and ample room and couches for kicking back.
The amenities tend to make quite an impression on bands used to often cramped backstage quarters.
“Our favorite words are, ‘Man, I wish we could do a residency here.’ They say that all the time. Thirty or forty times we’ve heard that, but that’s what we work for. That was the idea,” Vander Sanden said. “Mark let us all do what we did and gave us the opportunity to not cut any corners. We’re very lucky in that regard and it shows, because bands notice it.”
The perk of choice might be a backstage bank of large front-loading washers and dryers. It’s a convenient chance to tackle laundry that piles up out on the road, and artists take full advantage.
“We’ve had bands use this for literally 20 straight hours,” Vander Sanden said. “They come in and they’re like, 'Ah, I’m going first!' That thing is just rolling until they leave.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: At EPIC Event Center, 82 autographed guitars on the wall and counting
