Hott Rods revs up the action on Temple dance night

Temple party-goers dance the night away at Hott Rods on Alcoa Highway. matt ward/special to knoxville.com

'Temple' at Hott Rods

Getitng down at Hott Rods' 'Temple' dance ...

I passed the big building where this publication is created, and it hit me. Fiber One bars need a warning label. Sometimes you find yourself fortunately alone when moments like this strike. The warning should be: "Please use caution when consuming this product prior to social situations"

I turned my navigator on and locked it on Hott Rods, a little known bar just south of the city. I was directed to the venue due to its promoter's efforts when I found information on their "Temple" dance party Facebook event page. I had contacted event promoter DJ Darkness.

I passed my destination and turned around in the parking lot of Alcoa Highway Wine & Liquor and found my way to the venue parking lot. The street sign for the strip mall the bar was in lit my car up like I had the dome light on. I could hear a pulsing thump of electronic music coming from within Hott Rods.

I arrived just after 11 p.m. with hopes the party would be started. I had made the mistake previously of arriving at such parties around 9 p.m. only to learn Knoxville's party scene doesn't like to leave the house until nearly midnight. In fact, there is something about dancing where people in this area don't feel it is appropriate until the clock strikes midnight for some reason.

As I walked in the door the first notes of "Black Number 1" by Type O Negative were streaming out of the speakers. I found it a bit funny because the night is billed as a dance party, but the Facebook invite imagery leaned more to the "goth-industrial" music genre. I have little modern experience with this type of music, but when I did go through this phase in my early 20s, Type O was one of the bands I enjoyed.

I proceeded to the bar, which was to the left. I chose a budget brew and headed over to the DJ to introduce myself. Brad Waller, aka DJ Darkness, was quick to extend his hand and told me he would chat with me a bit more when he got off his turntable shift. I showed myself around the bar, which led me outside to the large backyard-style smoking area. In the very back of the yard was a wooden stage decorated with Christmas lights complete with a small sign that said "Sugar Hill Dock" pointing to the right of the stage. The rest of the folks smoking walked back inside and I was left by myself in the dark near the stage. A gentle fog blurred vision from a distance and the grass was damp as it is in January in Knoxville. I was waiting for a voice to whisper from the woods in front of me "Help me ... help me ..." All I heard was a blast of Fiber One side effects that thankfully escaped into the open night air.

Back inside DJ Darkness was sitting at a table near the bar and another DJ was spinning the tunes. I talked to him about how his party got started, and he told me about its roots running back a few years and quite a few different bars. Often bar ownership would change or the entertainment format would realign, forcing Temple to relocate. It's current home at Hott Rods was now in its second month of residency. I also spoke to Jay Harris, a sturdy bald fellow with tattoos on both arms including one I couldn't help but notice of the Iron Giant, one of my favorite modern kiddie cartoon movies. Jay told me how Temple had begun in his backyard as a social gathering of friends when he returned from serving overseas. Eventually the party became too much and they had to start doing them in bars to accommodate the amount of folks who were showing up.

The time came to get some pictures and the dance floor began to swirl with dancers dressed in dark garb and others illuminated by the movie projecting over them as they danced on a platform on the far ramp to the stage. At one point, the movie that was playing, whatever it was, seemed to be syncing with the music in some "Dark Side of the Moon"/"Wizard of Oz" sort of way. I snapped a few pictures from a distance as I have to do due to my only lens on my camera being a mid-range lens. I tried to capture video but it was too dark so I started talking to a few folks on the dance floor and rallied them to get everyone on the well-lit stage to capture the moment the way I thought it would best represent the evening. They were friendly and quickly obliged, hopping up on the stage and helping others join them.

I ran into a girl who frequents our comedy shows and she said, "What are YOU doing here?" obviously feeling I was out of my element; however, I did not feel that way at all. I saw people from different backgrounds and the music seemed to move beyond just the dark and industrial into more popular past dance hits. I said my goodbyes and headed toward the door and all thanked me as I headed out.

For a little-known spot, I think Hott Rods during its Saturday night "Temple" is the place to be for the "spooky" and not-so-spooky kids. Just watch out for the voices coming from the woods ...

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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