The Rickshaw is more than just a tour stop — ‘it’s one of those legendary rooms that makes artists feel whole’
Rebecca Bollwitt
Writer
The Rickshaw Theatre marks its 15-year anniversary this summer, celebrating its ongoing history of hosting local and touring acts such as Mudhoney and the Dead Kennedys, D.O.A., Bif Naked, Art Bergmann and Peach Pit. It’s become a favourite venue for both performers and concert-goers on the West Coast, and at the heart of its success is a sense of community on stage, in the audience and behind the scenes.
Rickshaw owner Mo Tarmohamed, a music fan and self-professed introvert, literally woke up one day in 2011 and sought to change his life and career. Next thing he knew, he had 13 years under his belt as the operator of the beloved music venue.
“It doesn’t seem real, actually,” he said as the venue geared up for four nights of anniversary shows in June. “They always say something to the effect of, ‘You must be having fun if time just flies by like that!’ ”
Built in 1971, what is now the Rickshaw was originally Shaw Theatre — part of the Shaw Brothers’ worldwide movie empire. Sir Run Run Shaw and Tan Sri Runme Shaw ran the most significant film production company in the history of Hong Kong cinema. and the theatre was the epicentre of their North American business operations and distribution. It was an impressive film hub until interest in the Kung-Fu movie genre waned, and from the mid-1980s until the turn of the century, the building at 254 E. Hastings St. sat vacant.
The Rickshaw Theatre, as it is known today, opened its doors in 2009 after local entrepreneur David Duprey re-purposed it as a live venue. Tarmohamed took over in 2011 and has been running operations ever since.
“It’s a time of reflection, having this milestone, and just thinking back of what it was like when I started and where we’re at right now. I think we’ve come leaps and bounds, which I hope we have anyway,” he said.
Prior to running the venue, Tarmohamed — who has a background in accounting and finance — was a CFO for various companies. One morning, he just couldn’t do that anymore.
“I needed to do something that was closer to who I thought I was,” Tarmohamed said.
Owning a venue wasn’t a top priority for him but he asked himself some questions: “What do I like? What do I enjoy? What will make me get out of bed and not groan and sort of go, ‘I don’t want to do the drudgery of this all?’ ”
He made a list of things he could do and music was on it
“I used to go to live shows at the Town Pump, Richard’s on Richards and the Commodore. I’ve seen a ton of great live shows. Then one thing led to another and I spoke to the person that owned the Rickshaw at that time (Dave Duprey), and just tried to gain some insight.”
A month or two after that conversation, Tarmohamed received a text message one night asking if he was interested in buying the Rickshaw from Duprey. A few weeks later, it happened.
“It just snowballed. From the time I decided I didn’t want to do what I was currently doing, to the time I ended up at the Rickshaw was seven to eight months… It was a very quick turnaround. So I’ve come in with a different attitude than maybe someone corporate going into buying a venue and running a business. You have to make the business successful in order to regenerate, it but it’s kind of more pure.”
Tarmohamed says he definitely wasn’t setting out with money-making as his top priority, but of course that’s a goal for any business.
However, what he and his team have managed to create is something really magical, which you’ll hear if you ask any patron, music fan, or artist who’s graced the stage. Plus their Facebook and Google reviews are top-notch. The Rickshaw is a live music venue dedicated to live music, even when a common (and more lucrative) route for some venues is to host DJ or club nights on the weekends later in the night.
“I think the main thing we’ve learned is, it sounds very cliché but, it’s understanding who the people are that are coming to see shows,” Tarmohamed said. “We’ve always made a kind of homey feel at the Rickshaw.”
He says that while you may need to mind your Ps and Qs at “more high-falutin’ places” in town, Rickshaw staff try to let people be as much their authentic self as possible — within reason, of course. He’s learned that their welcoming atmosphere generates an affinity towards the venue.
“Always put yourself in the patron’s shoes and make sure that you never forget that. That’s kind of the overarching philosophy that we have here. Treat people with respect.”
A major bump in the road over the last 15 years for the venue (and the rest of the world) was when the pandemic hit. In the first month of shutdowns, March 2020, the team thought they’d be back up and running in a few weeks, but soon realized they’d be in for the long haul. As many venues were shuttering and even boarding their doors, some for good, the Rickshaw decided that the show had to go on.
“Louise [Wersching, marketing manager] and Rob [Barrington, technical director] made the effort to come into the office at least three times a week and carry on working, and just keep that connection between us and the venue,” Tarmohamed said. “I think that really helped. It helped create a presence here. We were vigilant and tried to create a normal business environment during a very abnormal time.”
Then the Rickshaw did what many folks did, it went digital, and it became one of the busiest venues doing live streams during that time.
“We just decided that since we were here, we had the space and it’s one of the few things that was allowed… a lot of bands sought us out. We were learning on the fly how to do those live shows. They were not necessarily true live shows, some were pre-recorded then streamed online, so that really helped.”
Tarmohamed says that it was appreciated from both the bands’ perspective and also the people who were watching it on their screens.
“It felt like we were still connected to them and I think it helped develop an affinity, so when we finally did come back, it didn’t feel like that two years was a void. It was like we were still somehow connected with each other. I think it really helped, we had an amazing response from people who watched the live streams.”’
Tim Steinruck of hard rock titans The Mighty One says the Rickshaw appreciates the tenacity.
“Myself and The Mighty One are incredibly grateful for Mo and everyone at the Rickshaw for their support of local music. From a live show with Mexico‘s El Tri in 2017, to a virtual pandemic livestream with a mariachi band in 2021, the Rickshaw has proven over and over that they define the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll fiesta,” Steinruck said.
Another pandemic pivot for the venue was expanding its merchandise line. It offered Rickshaw-branded mugs, bandanas and masks, as well as its regular shirts.
“Everybody was just really supportive. We almost had to be here three days a week because of people driving through the alley to pick up their merch items,” Tarmohamed said.
The theatre was also able to access funding through Creative BC, Factor and the province, which helped the team weather the storm. While they still lost money during the pandemic, they came through relatively unscathed.
In the fall of 2021, the Rickshaw returned to in-person shows, with restrictions such as all-seated shows, safe distancing and half-capacity, and in early 2022 it was able to welcome more fans and get back to full capacity shows.
Tarmohamed says audiences realized the hole that was left when they weren’t able to attend live shows, and he also witnessed artists have emotional outpourings on stage, crying happy tears when everyone was able to come back together.
“It honestly never occurred to me, and I have been doing this for a number of years, just how important it was — not just for the audience — but for the performers as well to be on the stage and experience the intrinsic sense of performing,” he said. “I’m not a performer; I’m a self-professed introvert, so I don’t necessarily know what that’s like. But for people who are performers and have that sense of wanting to showcase their art, it brought out another element that I hadn’t seen before.”
For Tarmohamed, this continued to cement the importance of the Rickshaw’s place in the community.
“When I was two or three years into my 13 years here, I wasn’t really sure if I had made the right decision. I wasn’t sure if the Rickshaw was having any sort of impact. You know, when you start a business, it usually takes a few years before it becomes profitable. But you stick with it.”
It was a local-music-legend-turned-friend that helped him realize the impact he had as a steward of this building and program: Bif Naked.
“I had these conversations with Bif and she highlighted how important the Rickshaw was to the music community,” Tarmohamed recalled. “I guess I had blinkers on, I didn’t realize that. She said the Rickshaw is important not only for performers, but also patrons, and she put it in a perspective that I hadn’t really paid attention to. It changed my mind, 180 degrees. It made me even more intent on trying to make this a success. I credit Bif a lot in sort of helping me actualize what the potential of the place is.”
That turning point comes full circle in September, as the high priestess of Canadian rock roars back with a vengeance with the release of her first album in 15 years and a performance at the Rickshaw on Thursday, Sept. 19, with special guests Fake Shark. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets went on sale June 28: https://bit.ly/3VWBt1U
Having a venue managed by a music lover and live show enthusiast has kept the quality of programming and production at the Rickshaw at a high level. You can also tell that the team members simply love what they do — and that passion shines through.
“When I first took over, I had a bucket list of bands that I wanted to play here and it was kind of naive of me because I didn’t have any experience in live music or even in the music industry at all,” said Tarmohamed. “I didn’t come from that world, so for me it was kind of pie-in-the-sky aspirational goals.”
To his surprise, Tarmohamed has been able to check off a lot of artists he had written down on that list who ended up playing the theatre, such as Gary Numan and Bob Mould, which took some persistence.
“Shows that have particularly resonated for me personally are just some of the acts that I grew up listening to, like Buzzcocks for example when they played here just before the lead singer (Pete Shelley) unfortunately passed away. It transported me back to my teenage years when I was actually listening to them. I brought my album for them to sign and they got a kick out of the owner of the venue being a fan and it just kind of blew me away.”
Another career highlight is curating a show with Bif Naked in 2015, which led to their lasting friendship. He had randomly sent her a direct message on Twitter to thank her for sharing the Rickshaw’s news and show listings so frequently, unsolicited.
“I wanted to thank her and then just cheekily said, ‘Oh you should do a show here,’ not thinking anything of it or assuming I would get a reply. Then six months later we had a show here.”
The Rickshaw doesn’t book all of their own shows, they also rent the room to other promoters. For example, it made a big splash when Swedish rockers The Hives played the 600-person venue in November of 2023. That was an “underplay” by Live Nation, as they say in the business, where they purposely booked small venues for that North American tour — a move which almost guarantees a sell-out.
“Promoters know whatever show they give us will always have great production value. They know that it’s not a risk putting a show on here. We’re trusted by the Live Nations, the Timbers, the MRGs of the world.”
There are a lot of challenges and moving parts when it comes to running a venue. There are endless behind-the-scenes bits that are less glamorous but equally, if not more-so, important to the success of the operation.
“I’m very lucky to surround myself not only with very competent and capable people but also people who care,” said Tarmohamed. “There’s lots of equipment and lots of points of failure, and when things go wrong you have to fix it on the fly. I have a great crew with me and Rob has an ability to troubleshoot unlike anyone I’ve ever seen before.”
Tarmohamed and his team balance the demands of commerce with the soulful connection to the community, ensuring that every note resonates with purpose and every chord strikes a balance between profit and people.
For Shon Wong, a performer known as Son of James, the venue is an extension of family.
“In 1997 I had my high school graduation party at the Rickshaw. That club is sewn into the fabric of my being.”
Tarmohamed notes the hometown feel comes from the Rickshaw being an independent venue.
“ It’s not owned by a great big well-heeled corporation, so we can’t invest a ton of money like some of the other venues have, and get the latest and the best. So we have, incrementally over the years, improved the infrastructure of the venue, with the sound system and the lighting, and just the general layout of the place.”
Each time some improvements are made, Tarmohamed finds that people notice, and they’re always on the lookout for what’s new the next time they come through as well.
“We’re one of those stepping stones in the whole live music ecology,” he said. “Bands that start off playing in pubs and small venues then they hopefully reach a certain level and then get to us and then the Commodore, and then hopefully bigger things for them. We like to see ourselves in that sort of ladder of bands that hopefully blow up. Not many do, but if we’ve played any small part, it’s great.”
Bif Naked is one of those shooting stars.
“The Rickshaw is a place that’s special for everyone — from Sepultura to local kids like me who grew up in the scene,” Naked said. “It’s one of those legendary rooms that makes artists feel whole, and feel like their life and work mean something. It’s more than just a tour stop — it’s a place that feels like a hometown show for everybody.”
Asked about the future of the Rickshaw, and whether he has another 13 to 15 years in him, Tarmohamed says with a laugh that it’s probably up to his wife.
“I’ll carry on as long as I can. I have another seven years on my lease, but you never know what happens in this neighbourhood because there’s this push for up-zoning… so all the tenants along East Hastings or pretty much anywhere in Vancouver, their tenancy is always tenuous. You just don’t know what’s going to happen to the building if you don’t own it — and we don’t own the building. As long as this place is still a music venue, I’ll hang on.”
Many in the music industry hope he will.
“Stepping into the Rickshaw Theatre is like entering a time capsule of Vancouver’s vibrant music history, from rock to indie and everything in between,” says producer Adam H. ” I love that it has stayed an iconic venue in Vancouver throughout the years.”
Bif Naked plays with special guests Fake Shark at the Rickshaw on Sept.19. Tickets and more event listings are available online at rickshawtheatre.com
Rebecca Bollwitt
Writer
Rebecca Bollwitt has been writing about events and travel in B.C. since 2004 on the multi-award-winning blog Miss604.com. With 25 years of digital publishing experience, she has co-authored and technically edited five books on the subject, and founded her own agency which assists clients across North America with their social media strategies and website development. Community is at the heart of her mission, and Rebecca partners with and sponsors campaigns for more than 20 charities each year. She also serves as a board executive for two local non-profit organizations.
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