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Sam Parrish and Vir Batra, both wearing “The Wizard of Oz” costumes, ran through the streets near Syracuse University on Halloween. After performing at The Harrington, the two SU juniors had to rush to set up for their own house show’s grand opening. In their two-story apartment, the rest of their six housemates were already dressed in similar costumes that matched the night’s Oz theme.

As the guests trickled in to Oz’s first show, Parrish handed out glow sticks on their way down to the basement illuminated with green and purple light bulbs.

“The staircase in the attic is completely professionally graffitied with Oz lettering, Oz characters, it’s really well done,” said Parrish, who co-founded the venue. “We were immediately like ‘that’s the name of our house,’ before we were thinking about the intricacies of how to run a venue. We were just like, the name of our house is ‘Oz.’”

Parrish and other co-founder Batra, both Bandier students, started their music venue at the beginning of the fall semester. What began as a hope to feature live bands has turned into a location for rising DJs to perform, as well as for music industry students to develop their entrepreneurship, Batra said.

Parrish and Batra play together in their band Studio 89, along with also playing in their own bands separately. Oz was inspired by other local house show venues like Babylon, The Harrington and Redgate for their venue, Parish said.

“I wanted to replicate (Babylon’s) experience for everyone who walks into our basement, but I also wanted to replicate the DJs having their own space to focus on creating that sort of environment,” Batra said.

Last year, they finally got to attend the house shows they had heard so much about when they first got to SU, but were closed due to the pandemic. Instantly, Batra and his freshman year roommates knew that they wanted to live in a house together the following year and start a venue.

“I’ve been definitely wanting to run a venue since I heard that it was possible to run a venue out of your house,” Batra said.

Batra’s freshman year roommate, Thomas Lane, found the house and deemed that the basement was the perfect venue for what they wanted to create. Batra agreed.

Parrish prides Oz on being filled with considerate detail as small as bubble wrapping the exposed pipes with bubble wrap to protect partygoers. During cold weather, they made sure to advertise their coat check service so that people would wear a jacket to their events.

While providing a consistent experience, Batra said that he and Parrish have enjoyed adding elements of surprise for their guests as well, like mirrors to take photos in, countless disco balls hanging from the ceiling and a miniature television set behind the DJ’s cage.

Sam Parrish and Vir Batra performing in 89 Frogs, a collaborative band between Studio 89 and Froggies, at the Redgate’s show on April 8. The pair have been able to utilize their experience in live performance to enhance the artist hospitality within Oz.

Along the stairs leading up to Oz’s attic exists intricate graffiti art that Parrish and Batra found when they purchased the house. With “The Wizard of Oz” being an explicit decorative choice inside of the green house, the space’s name was never a doubt in their minds. Cassandra Roshu | Asst. Photo Editor

Parrish said they started Oz with the help of two current SU seniors, Lizzy Taszarek and Ray Leavenworth Bakali, both of whom are also Bandier students. Taszarek and Leavenworth Bakali used their capstone project to create Sidekick Venue Services, a group designed to assist music venues like Oz.

“We were like, ‘oh this is perfect. We want to throw our first event. You guys are a venue service. It’s perfect,’” Parrish said. “The four of us basically spearheaded all of the events first semester.”

After having provided their services for a different campus venue, Parrish and Batra — who became close friends with Leavenworth Bakali through the Bandier program — reached out to Sidekick in order to have their help with launching the Oz. In order to get ready for their Halloween show, Sidekick assisted Oz in cleaning their basement, as well as constructing the space into a clean and enjoyable atmosphere for the artists, hosts and attendees alike.

Aside from helping set up before the events and cleaning up after, Sidekick offered their services during the house shows by providing water stations, pizza, bathroom inventory and coat racks, Taszarek said. With the help of Sidekick’s services, the Oz venue was able to achieve more profit through concession sales and, in turn, pay their DJs, which was both business’ first priority, Leavenworth Bakali said.

“Not only did it form a community of people that all wanted to spend together, but it also created a community of me, Ray, Vir and Sam,” Taszarek said.

Batra said his and Parrish’s different skill sets and perspectives come together to create a perfect balance. Batra works as the “engineer in the studio,” bringing his passions to enhance the musical dynamic as well as managing the intricacies surrounding electricity and technology, Parrish said.

Meanwhile, Parrish envisions a professional future in event management in the live space.

“It’s kind of funny that we’re taking our house and applying real world circumstances to it. This is what we want to do,” Parrish said. “I think it’s a perfect intersection of work and play.”

While Batra loves walking through the crowds the whole time, Parrish loves working at the door and greeting guests as they arrive. Anybody who works at Oz feels like they are working with instead of for them, Leavenworth Bakali said. Through their affordable entry fee and organized energy, the pair are bringing back the energy to house shows that Taszarek says existed during their freshman year.

“It’s artists first. Even in this small university space of the music industry, (Parrish and Batra) operating on wonderful morals,” Taszarek said. “We’re proud to work with them because they’re great friends but also as workers we align very well because of that.”

After working with Sidekick, Oz also partnered with two other Bandier capstone projects in bringing their visions to life.

During their second show, they collaborated with a capstone called “Diaspora” in order to create a West Indies and Caribbean themed night. On April 15, they did a third partnership with capstone Stupid Early, which focuses on playlist curation. The event was a launch party for them where they showcased local artists like Picture Us Tiny, Sammy Curcuru, Padma and Eric Eric, Batra said.

While the Bandier juniors originally intended for their venue to showcase live music, Batra and Parrish have enjoyed the DJed house beats. To the duo, it’s a separation from the music they play in their bands.

“It’s a great place for all of these side projects, these hustlers, these students who have great ambitions related to music to practice here and execute their projects here,” Parrish said. “At the end of the day, everybody is having fun but we’re also learning so much from this experience.”

Published on April 19, 2023 at 12:10 am