New Idaho Falls venue aims to give young music lovers a place to safely party and create
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East Idaho music lovers now have a new venue to dance, see musical performances and create their own music.
Servant’s Heart opened recently at 1501 Northgate Mile in Idaho Falls. The venue includes a dance floor, a stage and a recording studio. Servant’s Heart is an alcohol-free venue, giving young people a safe place to congregate and have fun.
“Basically, we’re a place where musicians can do music,” Servant’s Heart co-owner David Moran told EastIdahoNews.com. “We have events during the week that are music-central, and then we have our studio. We have musicians in there every day. And then we also teach music through our music lessons and mentorship programs.”
The venue also hosts weekly dance nights for high school-aged kids on Thursday nights, 18-and-over on Friday nights, as well as Artist Showcases spotlighting local talent. Servant’s Heart can also be booked for private events.
Moran said he and co-owner James Manzanares started Servant’s Heart to provide a resource to local kids who want to make their own music.
“There just wasn’t a lot of avenues for young people to experience what music is about and visit a studio and learn how to do those things,” Moran said. “So we started making music a while ago in a small studio in a basement where we worked with people by word of mouth. Then we started our entertainment company where we were setting up events, mainly for nonprofits and weddings and things like that. Then we decided to expand that vision and have our own music-centered events.”
Part of the goal Moran and Manzanares have for Servant’s Heart is to provide a safe environment free of alcohol and drugs for young people who may not want to hang out in a bar. This desire is rooted at least partially in Moran and Manzanares’ Christian beliefs.
“We’re not here to make people think the way that we do or make music the way that we do,” said Moran. “People will have different opinions, different belief systems and everything. Mainly, we’re stretching our love muscles and saying, ‘Hey, I want people to have a safe place, no matter if it’s Christian-based or not.’ I want people to have a safe place.”
In addition, Moran and Manzanares want to use Servant’s Heart to provide an avenue for young musicians, songwriters, DJs and producers a chance to learn and practice their crafts.
“We pretty much have covered all streams of music at this point,” Moran said. “We have a country artist coming in soon. We’ve had local rap artists come in, so we’ve pumped out all types of music already, and it’s coming from these young people who are just passionate about music.”
The club hosts regular Artist Spotlights, which give local talent a chance to play in front of a live audience. They also teach classes in playing instruments, writing songs and producing so that kids with a passion for music can learn the tools they need to create and record their own sounds.
All this is done to give local kids a resource Moran and Manzanares didn’t have available to them growing up.
“We want to be the people we didn’t have growing up,” said Moran. “I remember being 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 22, and nobody helping us. Me and James started working together when I was about 16, and we’ve been building up our skill sets, building up what we know all by ourselves. Nobody gave us chances. We had to go find places to perform. Really, we were on our own. We had nobody to look up to, nobody to guide us along.
“We get to see 15-year-old kids, 16-year-old kids, all the way up to 25, being able to come in and chase their dreams now,” he added. “And we get to be those people that say, ‘Hey, we’ll give you this chance.’”
The club at Servant’s Heart has been in a state of COVID-19-related closure for the past two months or so. It was going to hold a grand reopening this week, but it has been postponed due to tightening health restrictions. See the club’s Facebook page for more details.
To book the club for a private event or to schedule time in the recording studio, visit the Servant’s Heart website.
