Rocktown’s Drew Loy looks to defy the stereotypes of local bar security
At about 2:30 in the morning last Friday, an unlikely figure toted a ratty old broom and dustpan through the V.I.P. lounge of the Rocktown Bar and Grill.
With his hulking 6-foot-2, 240-pound-frame, Loy appears a bit out of place with the cleaning materials, but it’s just another “perk” to being the head of security at Harrisonburg’s hottest spot on Thursday nights.
“It’s peaceful now at least,” JMU senior Drew Loy says after releasing a long sigh. “Cleanup takes awhile, but it feels like nothing compared to dealing with the people.”
The people, JMU students, age 21 or older, have left what many still refer to as “Highlawn,” in a cesspool of Bud Light and cigarette butts. The swamp stretches from the outside patio through the dining room and into the concert room.
It’s not the most relaxing way to wind down after a six-plus-hour shift, but the bearded Berryville, Va. native looks considerably less mired by the chaos than he did a little over an hour ago at closing time.
“He was just so stressed at the end of the night, he just looked like he wanted to die,” said Dylan Kendall, a classmate and fellow bouncer. “You know that face he makes when his beard just takes over his mouth and you can’t see it anymore.”
Kendall characterized Loy’s expression as “agony” when the two were guiding masses of intoxicated patrons out of the club.
“I was stressed out too,” Kendall said. “But you looked over at Drew and you could feel all better again. You know it’s much worse for him.”
Loy escaped the night with no major drama, but a week earlier his crew drew the ire of guests after a melee broke out, outside of the club.
In fact, so irritated were some patrons that they submitted a dart in the April 14 issue of The Breeze, accusing bouncers of “[throwing] out patrons, [following] them into the parking lot and try to pick fights.” The dart didn’t specifically refer to Rocktown, but some students implied that it did refer to the previous Thursday night’s activity they heard about.
“And I mean the thing is the people – whoever put the dart in The Breeze – didn’t see that from both sides of the story,” Loy said. “They didn’t see what happened in here.”
Between working three to five nights a week, Drew Loy has carried the load of a full-time student working toward a degree in kinesiology, which he will graduate with in December. On top of school and a job, he also trains as a mixed martial arts fighter.
Although he isn’t the Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz of Ultimate Fighting, Drew says his training in submission wrestling gives him an edge.
“It definitely kind of does help,” Loy said. “I don’t like to use it as an intimidation thing, but…there’s been situations where having that training has helped me to pacify a few situations.”
Loy, a 23-year-old, began working as a bouncer in the fall of 2006 at The Pub, a top nightlife competitor to Rocktown Bar and Grill.
He was hired by then general manager Chuck Troutman, who six months ago moved across Neff Avenue to join Rocktown. When Troutman made the move, he wanted to bring familiar faces with him.
So when former head bouncer Jason “Fu” Phillips stepped down to focus on finishing school at JMU, the decision on who would succeed him was a no-brainer for Troutman.
But it’s the decisions that Loy has to make on a nightly basis that aren’t quite as easy.
8 p.m. – Drew arrives at work and the bouncers begin taking their places. While some watch the exits and entrances, others roam the floor picking up trash and grabbing empty beer pitchers.
10:30 p.m. – The patio and dining room are filling up as quickly as the line outside, which stretches to the end of the cornered strip mall. The dance floor in the concert room is already a dense cluster of sweat-ridden bodies.
Drew is constantly moving between the hallway that connects the dining room and the front lobby. With the fire marshal perusing the premise for more than an hour, Drew has to make sure that all of the fire exits stay clear. He’s especially worried about one hallway that tends to get backed up between the dining room and the lobby.
Friends and acquaintances of Drew’s attempt to start conversation with him; he nods and smiles, but stays focused on crowd control. A level-headed demeanor is one thing owner Ike Coe looks for in his bouncers, more so than size.
“I’ve [reprimanded] bouncers before, and it was just that tone of voice,” Coe said. “I think you set a tone, you set a situation with your tone of voice.”
11:30 p.m. – While Drew is inside, bouncers struggle to fend off all the guests trying to bribe them for easier entry in front of the line. Although no bouncers are seen accepting the 10’s and 20’s offered, preferential treatment is shown to certain friends.
Bouncer Eric Spence, a 2006 Bridgewater graduate, is outside for much of the night struggling to get non-JMU students to go away – Thursday is exclusively for the college crowd. Although Spence tries explaining this, the locals try sneaking in.
Spence and fellow bouncer and Bridgewater graduate Deon Mays express concern that one of the outsiders trying to get in is a guy who was thrown out for hitting a female the previous week.
12:28 a.m. – Drew and Mays are staking out the dance floor, suspicious that the same group of locals that Mays had turned down earlier have snuck in. The group is hanging around at a table outside the dance floor, but the two bouncers make no move because they don’t see the guy suspected of hitting a young woman.
12:40 a.m. – Stragglers are still wandering in, and one apparent local who got turned down earlier in the night comes back in different clothes and gets in.
12:47 a.m. – Mays grabs a customer and escorts him out for unruly behavior. The two engage in an argument.
“Dude, do I look like I’m f---in drunk?” the patron asks. Drew allows Mays to handle the situation alone.
Mays reasons with the guest who eventually apologizes.
“OK man, be safe,” Mays says.
The drunken guest, who evidently has forgotten that he apologized, fires back.
“OK, cool. I’ll go drive home and sue this f---in establishment.”
As the crowd thins, Drew moves to the front door to help move people out of the club. A former Rocktown Bouncer, who had showed up as a guest, apparently has decided he needs to help out by cursing at customers that have already been asked to leave. The bouncers are either oblivious to him or have decided to ignore him.
1:21 a.m. – One girl sloppily embraces Drew while she waits for her cab to arrive. Another guy waiting for his ride tries to make small talk as Drew tries to prevent anyone from re-entering.
1:35 a.m. – Drew’s exasperated. There are still more than 100 people inside. He rolls his eyes as a patron knocks over a table’s worth of beer cans onto the lobby floor.
Inside, a bouncer has just helped a girl up for the second time after she slipped on the beer and mud-slopped floor, sending her Bud Light spilling down her face and shirt.
1:54 a.m. – The last guests move out and Drew heads upstairs. Physically and mentally spent, he breathes easy. Another Thursday night/Friday morning at Rocktown has ended.
