Nate Sorenson shows off his basement venue, Nate’s Dungeon. Behind him, a collection of gig posters. In his left hand, the skull of Avril Lavigne (unconfirmed).

If you’ve been there, you know. The cut-and-paste Xerox posters. The spray painted sign at “the gate.” The police tape on the stairway. The skulls. The festive light show. The random band stickers. The busted ceiling tiles. The smell of beer, sweat, and basement. It’s the dungeon.

    It’s hard to believe Nate’s Dungeon is 10 years old, and even harder to believe it’s still going. I recently sat down with dungeon master Nate Sorenson to talk about the upcoming Decade of Dungeon show, and reflect on the life and times of Eau Claire’s infamous home of punk and metal.

The Dungeon started for the same reason it continues today. “There wasn’t anything like this going on around here,” Nate says. Though it wasn’t exactly planned out, either. Hardcore outfit Strychnine had a Minneapolis show fall through, and a bunch of teenage friends pulled together a few other bands and threw a show in Nate’s mom’s Eastside Hill basement.

“It just kept going from there,” Nate said, and with impromptu events and lost flyers it’s hard to say exactly how many times it has kept going, but Nate roughly guessed about 100 shows. They typically draw about 30 or 40 people, but have had a handful of shows with well over 70 in attendance.

“The pinnacle was about 2004-05,” he said. “We were having about two shows a month, and getting big turnouts; that’s when Silvering was getting big; Stones Throw was having all ages stuff; and there were other houses getting active.”

Nate is obviously the face of the outfit, but he’s had tons of help – from his mom, for putting up with it – and the guys in Amniotics and Dios Mio for booking, to name a few. “I germinated this little seed at the beginning, but they’ve helped it grow to the point where Eau Claire is a diamond in the rough.”

    Anyone who knows Nate knows it’s not about making money. “You don’t need to pay – scraping $5 together is tough for some kids – but any money is helpful or buying some merch because we’ve got to support the groups.” It’s likewise not about the pride of getting a big name to play. It’s about filling a void, providing an avenue for punk/metal, and throwing a sweet party.

“My thing has always been all ages. I believe in basement shows and all-ages venues. I’ve been going to them since I was 14,” he said.

Nate has pushed punk and metal from the beginning, “because that’s what I’m all about,” but he’s increasingly thinking about branching out. There will still be punk and metal, without a doubt, but by adding a different genre to the mix it may renew interest from a subset of people that don’t travel in those musical circles.

In the 10 years the Dungeon has run, loads of other basement venues have come and gone: Temple of Doom, Mike’s Trench, Jungle Bungalow, Midwaste Motel, The Outhouse, In Sight, Crack Cell, Hotel Hell, and Ted’s Throne, just off the top of his head. They typically wane due to police issues (which Nate has had luck with) and hosts moving away after school, while “others just get plain sick of it.”

Dealing with booking, promotion, and cleanup, not to mention neighbor conflicts, police, or kids that break/steal stuff doesn’t fly with most, but Nate seems to put up with it. “There’s little things that bother me and pester me. It’s hard. And after all that work sometimes a show will bomb and no one shows up.”

He has admittedly gotten burned out in recent years, but there’s no reason to think it’ll stop anytime soon.

“Part of me would prefer to not do it at all anymore, and another part wants to ramp it up again. But the real reason I keep doing it is I want this to keep going in Eau Claire, and it’s about longevity at this point. I’m gonna keep going as long as I possibly can.”

    Decade of Dungeon with The Amniotics + Dios Mio + Arms Aloft + several TBA • Sept. 4 • 1515 Altoona Ave. • 6ish • $5 • all ages