Clicks has been a part of Tyler for years as a local bar with a pool hall and venue for live music. The concentration on live music aspect of the bar has definitely been gradually increasing over the years taking Clicks from an average musky dive bar where the local pool leagues meet to the only place to play a concert in Tyler that isn’t inside a church. Clicks Live has a 30 square foot stage with enough audio equipment to accommodate the volume of nationally recognized bands such as Drowning Pool, and House of Pain as well as local bands.
Clicks Live has become a collective of Tyler’s variety of colorful social groups, since Tyler has such a limited selection of stages to offer bands you end up with the young and the old, or the Nu Metal crowd mingling with dub step fans, all drinking under the same roof. There’s a solidarity that comes with a place you can watch your friends perform and where you can dance to your favorite music.
Clicks Live has the same dark and bustling atmosphere you would expect from a night club, in fact you could consider it a club partially considering that when bands aren’t preforming there’s always a dance floor and bar music to get people moving. But when you don’t feel like moving it on the dance floor Clicks Live has a long bar in which to sit and enjoy a drink with plenty of room for the number of people that show up to Clicks on average.
Clicks Live, as it’s name suggests, began as a pool hall and bar primarily which is still around today and playing a part in keeping the customers at Clicks Live happily entertained with the classic seizure sport no bar is complete without.
Of course a major limitation to Clicks Live is the inherent fact that it is a business first and foremost and while it is known for the music preformed on its stage you can be sure the musical styles will be majorly reflective of what is popular in East Texas and what is appealing to the management, while not every single band is cringe inducing nu-metal and the like, most of the band that preform their definitely are not anything to write the label about.
However, in an appeal to good taste Clicks Live does occasionally venture into the shallow end of alternative styles, booking talented local artists who are hungry for the opportunity to play some surf rock or maybe a little synth rock for an audience that may be smaller in number than most but has also been waiting a long while to see bands like Knifight without having to drive hours to a major city to reach the venue. But “How does Clicks Live provide an adequate location for professional musicians?” you might ask.
Clicks Live is more than prepared for the requirements needed to house serious music, they have a professional sound booth consisting of a 40 Channel Soundcraft Mixing Console, a 32 Band Dual Equalizer, DBX Drive Rack, a Presonus 8 Channel Compressor / Gate, and a Reverb Unit with Tap Delay.
When it comes to giving the music rumbling depth Clicks Live is ready with four TurboSound TXD218 Dual 18″ Enclosures powered by two Yamaha PS7000 Amplifiers poised to handle the Dubbest of Step and the Hippest of Hop while the high end will be covered with four TurboSound TXD252 Dual 15″ Enclosures amplified by four QSC 2500’s to bring an all around excellent concert experience.
Clicks Live uses four monitors to ensure the musicians can preform to their best capability. The stage at Clicks measures 30 ft. wide by 30 ft. long and 3 ft. high with 16 ft. between the stage and ceiling and an 8’x8′ 18″ high drum riser a band playing at Clicks can be sure of all of the booking info before hand and not have to worry about any incompatibility between their performance and the venue.
Clicks Live also has a fantastic patio area with a fire pit and plenty of seating, although you will mostly find people on their feet huddled into smoking circles and waiting for the next band to start rather than lounging in the lawn furniture. Clicks Live has even brought entertainment in the form of the musical arcade game Rockband to the party and for a few quarters two people can have their own jam session on top of the already raging noise of the bar and over the music already being played in a confusing and redundant form of virtual karaoke that honestly would probably be better off if it was a classic arcade game like street fighter or something.
Clicks is not only a hot spot for the many music scenes of East Texas but also for the pool and poker scenes, as free Texas Hold Em’ games are hosted on mondays and wednesdays with games starting at 8pm and 10pm, while the APA pool leagues meet Sunday afternoon for 8 ball, Monday evening for 9 ball, and Tuesday evening for 8 ball games. Even though Clicks may not always have the cream of crop when it comes to bands, actually it may be pretty rare for a decent international band to play the venue but it’s still definitely worth keeping your eye on their lineup.
If you are lucky one of your favorite bands just might stumble upon this little bar show, perhaps you enjoy the heavily metal styles of The Sword but would never expect them to really play a show in Tyler, well think again chump because The Sword is playing their legendary black metal at Clicks Live on June 13, a night that will most surely be a storm of metal the likes of which Tyler has never seen. Clicks Live has become a mildly eclectic bar and will hopefully continue this trend with an open mind and good sense of music and style.