As a result, we caught up with co-owners Paul Tinney and Matt Thrasher to talk about their love for music, the way they hope to expand their musical slate as the new location grows and how they wish that one day their facility can play host to a concert from Maryland favorites Clutch.

Why did you guys decide to expand? What led to all this, and how did you get here?

Tinney: How much time do you have [laughs]? The short answer is there wasn’t any single one event that happened. We’ve been in business now for seven years at our current location [on North East Street in Frederick]. We’ve always had more demand than what we had the ability to either produce or entertain at our taproom. So, we’ve been shopping around for the right location and the right format and the right equipment to do an expansion. The whole process took two years. So, we finally just decided to pull the trigger with the idea that we wanted to have a larger place to serve as a bigger venue for events and music and get into distribution and have our products reach a broader customer base.

You guys have focused so much on music with the names of your beers and hosting live music — how did that come to be?

Tinney: I always give Matt credit for going along with this because I sort of started with this idea that it would be a mashup with my guitar building that I do on the side, which is all hand-crafted stuff, to craft beer. The similarities and artist work that goes into them go together, and it’s all for the enjoyment of people who make music or good beer. That worked into a mashup of music and beer, so we adapt some kind of lyric, artist or music tie to all of our beers.

With this new space, is there an incentive to have more live music? Do you have a plan for that?

Thrasher: That’s been the goal. We set aside an area for private events that allows us to do bigger music acts. Right now, we’re really in a tight space and we were contained in our taproom when it came to where we’d put our entertainment. It’s pretty much restricted — how many people we can get in there. So this is going to allow us to showcase more regional acts and not just a guy sitting up there with an acoustic guitar. That’s the plan.

So you’ll be able to have more electric bands and full bands?

Thrasher: Yep, that’s the goal. We’ll be able to have a portable stage we can take in and out. We’ll do noise abatement sooner than later. We know we have an issue right now with the concrete doors and metal roof, but we are getting things figured out, and that’s definitely on top of the list.

Tinney: We have some fine-tuning to do with the acoustic experience because it’s a little overpowering right now. But we’ll get that fixed.

Do you have a timeline of when you hope to get that ready to go?

Thrasher: Last weekend, we had bands Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s just a matter of their volume level right now. But it’s all in the works. We just need to do our research and make sure we do it right. As for a timeline, all I can say is it’s on top of the list.

Are either of you guys in bands?

Thrasher: No, I’m tone deaf.

Tinney: I abandoned it. No one wants to see me perform. That’ll drive people to other breweries [laughs]. Back to the music, we know that having music will be part of the experience of being there, and that’s a big plus for people who want to come out and be entertained and enjoy the brewery. But we have the option, top, to do ticketed events and bring in people who are not just there for background music but are there to perform for an audience who may want to see them. We want to explore that, too, but it’ll be down the road. There’s no place in Frederick that has this Ram’s Head feel. We still have some work to fine-tune the venue, but we want to look at that as well.

What’s the capacity for the space?

Thrasher: The entire space is roughly 350 capacity.

Frederick has needed a bigger music space like this. Not a small size, but not a big size. Was that something in mind when you thought to create this?

Thrasher: It wasn’t the sole goal. We have to turn down probably 80% of the private event requests we get because in those cases, we have to shut down the entire brewery to accommodate them. So we knew we wanted that to capitalize on the demand for events. On top of that, we were restricted to having to put the music acts in the taproom, which limits what we can offer. We knew we needed a bigger space, a bigger footprint, not just for production side, to keep up with demand for beer, but also the experience. We’re trying to raise the bar for ourselves and create an experience that you don’t normally get at a brewery.

Speaking of that, a lot of the other breweries host some form of music. Are there any places that you think are doing a good job so far?

Thrasher: I think Olde Mother is doing really great. They put a stage in there, and they have that back area that can hold a good bit of people. They have their pocket they like to showcase. They’re really paying attention to bringing in good music and good acts.

It’s interesting you say that because it seems like the best places to see music in Frederick at this point is almost all breweries. And a lot of breweries have found success in that. Is that something that drew you toward doing this? It sounds like you had the music tie-in from the beginning, though, right?

Tinney: Yeah, that’s what we’ve been shooting for. It’s one of those things where you have to do first things first, so we’ll hopefully get there over the course of the next six to eight months.

Thrasher: Everybody can relate to music. So even with us doing the beer names, it can be a song from the 1920s or a song from today, and everyone can kind of relate to that. It’s a fun thing.

Is there any type of music you would not welcome in?

Thrasher: Well, we definitely have to finish that noise abatement [laughs]. I think all of us have different tastes in music, so no. We welcome everything. We’ve had a little bit of everything in here so far. We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into one genre, whatever that might be. We have different tastes, and we know the public does, too, and that’s what we want to cater to.

Tinney: We’ve already done a reggae festival. We had a Caribbean night. We’ve done bluegrass events. We had jazz. We do an Americana thing. We had The Dead stuff. Head-banging kind of stuff. School of Rock kind of things. We’ve done some Latin dancing. We think there’s an audience for pretty much every genre here in Frederick.

One thing I know that’s been a topic among those who play in town is the ability to get paid, because sometimes, they’re asked to make little to nothing to play. Is this something you set aside a budget for? Especially when you talk about bringing in regional acts, that can be a heavy investment. Is that something you’re concerned about, or do you have that built in?

Thrasher: We’ll try it. A regional act that would be a bigger type of investment would be a ticketed show. As long as that door covers the band, we’re happy. We’re here to have that experience and have a fun time, but ultimately, we’re here to sell beer — not to be a venue and make money off the door. That said, we’ll give them a try, and if they don’t cover the door, that’s something we’re going to have to look at. We’re really looking for local acts and regional acts that draw a crowd and get people to want to be there.

Tinney: On the spectrum of what the experience is, we’re leading with beer and a taproom feel with music, but that doesn’t mean we can’t progress to a music space that includes beer, food and an artist of higher caliber. We just need to see how that progression goes.

For any artists reading this, do you have a booker or a contact they can get ahold of if they have a band and they want to play at Rockwell?

Thrasher: We used to do it all ourselves, but we’ve got a new marketing and events director, Laura, who’s been working with a booking agent she’s worked with before. You can also go through us, info@rockwellbrewery.com.

You guys had an open mic for a while, didn’t you?

Thrasher: Yeah, that was really kind of hit or miss. You get some strange acts that can be polarizing. Our whole idea with entertainment is to get people in here to drink beers while they enjoy the entertainment. I can’t say they were highly consumable crowds [laughs]. I mean, we tried, because we liked watching it and doing it, but it just kind of ran its course. We might bring it back, but it needs a good lead — someone who knows how to draw from good entertainers who want to perform.

Yeah, open mics can be really tough, too, because people can be really finicky about it. It can be chaos, or it can be a lot of fun.

Thrasher: Right. And that changed from week to week [laughs].

If you had an unlimited budget and three slots to fill, what would be the one dream concert you’d like to put together for Rockwell?

Thrasher: I’m going to speak for our brewer, Scott, and that would definitely be Clutch.

You could probably do it. They’re local.

Thrasher: They actually come in. John Paul, or JP, comes in quite a bit.

Yeah, so if you’re reading, Clutch, reach out to Rockwell!

Tinney: Yeah, we’d love to have that happen. It’d be quite an event. We’d have to open up all the parking lots and shut most of Monocacy Boulevard down, probably.

Is there a band, dead or alive, you’d want?

Tinney: We do, but I hesitate to say it because then we’re laying out an expectation there, and I don’t know if we can afford it yet [laughs]. We’re fond of the 19th Street Band. They’re from here in town, they draw a good crowd, and they’re a pretty good band. I like them a lot. After that, we’ll keep it under our hat so everyone is surprised.

Thrasher: Dead or alive, I mean, you could do so much. Johnny Cash, Sex Pistols, Bob Marley. I’d buy a ticket for all of that, obviously.

Matt had mentioned earlier you had music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in there. Are there designated days you want to have music? Maybe get it up to four or five nights a week?

Thrasher: It just depends on the demand and who shows up. Right now, we’re focusing on Saturdays. The Friday, Saturday, Sunday was because of our grand opening. I’d love to do it every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Would you hope someday to go even beyond the space you just opened? Would you ever want to have a standalone music venue?

Tinney: Your timing couldn’t be worse. We’re still choking on this opening, so we gotta catch up with ourselves [laughs].

Thrasher: It takes community support. We’ve been fortunate to have great response and great community support since the day we opened. Now, with the jump to this new location, it’s been nothing but a positive response. It’s just, “Keep coming out and keep supporting us,” because without that, we’re going to fall by the wayside — all of us. It really takes a community to lift us up.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and space.

Colin McGuire has been in and out of bands for more than 20 years and also helps produce concerts in and around Frederick. His work has appeared in Alternative Press magazine, PopMatters and 72 Hours, among other outlets. He is convinced that the difference between being in a band and being in a romantic relationship is less than minimal. Contact him at mcguire.colin@gmail.com.