A look at Square Wave Wednesdays and Spokane’s synth music boomlet | Music News | Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

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Square Wave has become a hub for the electronic scene.

On a typical Wednesday night, Ian Thurston twists knobs and punches buttons on a big mixing board at the casino where he runs sound for onstage talent. But tonight at Pacific Pizza in Browne’s Addition, it’s the live sound engineer’s turn to step into the spotlight.

Once Thurston plugs his laptop into the pizzeria’s soundboard, he becomes DJ Ion — a party-enhancer who unleashes his original techno tracks into a crowd that he further hypes up by pumping an index finger high above his head, even weaving into the audience to groove for a few bars.

The 20 or so people packed onto the bar’s micro dance floor return Thurston’s enthusiasm by bopping and jumping to his beats like they’re at a warehouse rave.

This is no typical Wednesday, after all. It’s Square Wave Wednesday, a monthly synthesizer open mic night that Pacific Pizza (formerly Pacific Avenue Pizza, though it’s still called Pac Ave or just Pac by many patrons) has been hosting every third Wednesday of the month for the past six months.

The synth players and electronic music lovers who hang out on Square Wave Wednesdays are cultivating a consistently well attended creative hub. It’s become a plug-and-playground for noise nerds.

If the Tide Pod challenge is proof that peer pressure can be harmful, then Square Wave is proof that peer pressure can be helpful. After all, the whole thing began as a long-distance dare.

Scrolling his socials last fall, Pac General Manager Nat Mooter learned that his Midwest buddies in a band named E.T. were starting a synth open mic at Seward Cafe in Minneapolis. When Mooter remarked, “That’s the coolest f—ing idea I ever heard!,” the band dared Mooter to start one himself in Spokane. They even offered him advice like “use two tables” to make transitions quicker.

Katie Smith, a “cooker and booker” at Pacific Pizza, says the bar rolled out Square Wave in November 2024 in part because staff wanted to add more programming to bring out the less socially inclined during the cold months.

“It’s wintertime. People wanna experiment. Synthesizer people tend to be shut-ins, so this is good to bring them out,” Smith says.

One of those “synthesizer people” is Joaquín Kinyon, a familiar fixture of Square Wave. His interest in analog drum machines was sparked a few years ago and soon grew into a passion for synths like the Behringer TD-3 and other gear that allows him to “make full music without a band.” Kinyon views Square Wave’s open mic as an opportunity to “just come out and practice, basically.”

Each installment of Square Wave sees around six to 10 artists perform 10-15 minute sets, punctuated by small set-change breaks. Unlike some open mics, so far participants honor the time limit and don’t overplay their welcome.

Square Wave sign-ups start at 7 pm, when Mooter plops a spiral notebook on one of the two tall tables positioned in the stage area. Musicians jot down their names and total number of line inputs they’ll need.

At 8 pm, Mooter opens the event by performing a couple acid-house style songs from his electro solo project called Iron Chain, often accompanied by glitch-art visuals fed into the stage’s TV monitor that adds to the gathering’s AV club vibe. For the next two hours, he’ll wrangle musicians, adjust sound levels, record audio of folks’ sets, and even shoot livestream video for the @squarewavewednesdays Instagram account — a fairly recent addition.

While the open mic format provides a predictable structure for socializing and sharing, the night’s music and music-making machines are delightfully unpredictable.

One moment producer Darby Meegan (DJ Spicy Ketchup) is peppering the pub with dialogue samples slowed way down for humorous effect, and the next Taylor Roff is lowering everyone’s blood pressure with futuristic, crystalline tones that pour from his gear.

Short sets make it easy for listeners to stay curious and open to diverse sounds. Not into whatever eerie drone noise is happening onstage? Wait six minutes and soon enough you might hear sound engineer and Bandit Train band member Chris Malsam go full Mozart mode as he tickles multiple levels of ivories, using three keyboards to cover a tune from a 1988 video game titled Xexyz.

Square Wave regular Drew Mitchell mainly composes songs on his laptop and then for live performance uses gear like the Maschine Mikro MK2 controller, a drum machine with four rows of square buttons – the squares referenced in “Square Wave Wednesday” – that light up according to timing and function. Unlike most Square Wavers — who don’t often use vocals — Mitchell sings over his own gauzy, beep-bloop tracks in a mellow, laid-back style.

Another vocalist is Greg Bem, who performs as Talus Field with a setup that includes a CHOMPI chromatic sampler, created by Spokane’s own CHOMPI Club. CHOMPI founders Chelsea and Tobias Hendrickson’s former synth meetup club, called Techno Logic, inspired Mooter to dive deeper into the world of synthesizers years ago.

Bem — a poet and librarian — creates “ambient and noise soundscapes” and “auditory collages featuring field recordings,” to which the writer adds his own vocals that range from narrative spoken word to screams. Bem’s not the only one to get wild at Square Wave. Many performers play with harsh noise like static, screeches and squeals, so bring ear plugs!

One might assume a room full of gearheads and pro musicians might radiate gatekeeper energy or ooze intimidation. But Square Wave celebrates fresh blood.

Katie Smith says Square Wave was meant for “a variety of skill bases,” from total beginners to people who’ve “been doing this for years but are kind of hiding in their houses.”

When Joa Robak brought her modular synthesizer machine — with its tangle of colorful cables — to Pac Ave’s table, it wasn’t just her first time performing at Square Wave, but her first time ever performing live.

“I’ve just been playing it in my bedroom,” Robak says of the digital/analog hybrid synthesizer that she admits is “on the niche end.”

Not only did the crowd get loud for Robak, but her parents were also there cheering her on. It’s not uncommon for even seasoned synthers like Kinyon and Malsam to have family members drop in and catch their Square Wave sets, snapping photos and effusing encouragement.

Stephen Hoang – who grew up playing in bands in Manchester, England and has been releasing music on Soundcloud for 14 years as Binary Solo – says “the hardest thing about Square Wave was playing by myself.” What pushed Hoang to just go for it — even though he felt “terrified” and “naked on stage” — was peer pressure, in the form of a line on a Square Wave flyer that read “You only live once.”

Nerves and all, Hoang turned the bar into an indoor block party with his high-energy set that, once finished, caused audience members to complain that “he should have played longer!”

Square Wave may be the current clubhouse for Spokane synth enthusiasts, but there’s more electronic music activity stirring beyond Pac’s walls. This month a handful of Square Wave regulars staged a “Square Wave takeover” as openers for Alabama electro-pop artist Klypi’s show at The Chameleon.

For a few months this winter, Pacific Pizza wasn’t the only synth open mic in town. Neato Burrito briefly hosted a monthly synth night called Pink Noise organized by Baby Bar bartender Banks Lannigan and Neato Burrito “door guy” Oliver Bento. When Neato owner Patty Tully heard that Pacific Pizza was running similar programming, she phoned Mooter to check in. The two coordinated schedules so their respective open mics wouldn’t compete or conflict with each other. And while Pink Noise went quiet in February with no plans to restart, it’s that sense of cooperation that’s helping Spokane nurture a synth scene.

“That’s how building community works, especially in Spokane,” Mooter says. “We’re not trying to be the best or the first, we just wanna get people involved.”

Square Wave Wednesday • Wed, May 21 at 8 pm (Third Wednesday of Every Month) • Sign-ups at 7 pm • Free • 21+ •
Pacific Pizza • 2001 W. Pacific Ave. •
instagram.com/pacific_pizza_spokane

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