Until recently, Denyss McKnight was the long-time production manager at the Rickshaw Theatre, but he’s moved over to the Red Room and is preparing to relaunch the bar as one of Vancouver’s premier live-music venues.

In recent years, McKnight told the Straight, the space has come to be viewed as a “DJ nightclub dance spot”. He plans to change this by re-establishing the Room as a thriving hub for live acts of all genres. McKnight has already booked shows for the spring and is planning a couple of new weekly nights.

“We’re still catering to the 300 to 500 [capacity] shows,” he said. “The room is topnotch quality. Every time I step in there, they’ve been putting more money into their sound and lights.”

In the past, he noted, the Red Room hosted “everything from Adele to the Dillinger Escape Plan. I think all it takes is just another little nudge to get it back to that kind of glory.”