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Thank you Matt and Contessa!... Church by day, rock venue by night Contessa Abono Published 09/29/2007 - 1:50 p.m. PDT Tucked away from the rest of the town, on top of a slightly slanted hill, is the Antioch Family Church, which on the weekends transforms into The Naz, a venue for teens and young adults to catch up-and-coming Bay Area bands. The Concord-based band The Federalist and local bands Bunson and Breaking Custom performed there Sept. 14. The church is affiliated with Brentwood's The Kazem, a church venue that has expanded into a production company, music store, art gallery, recording studio, film production and events facility. Each church helps the other by posting and promoting its upcoming events on social networking sites such as MySpace.com. "We are friends with the Kazem in Brentwood," said Matt Rush, a volunteer and member of the Antioch Family Church congregation. "Because some of their pews were getting trashed from shows, they cut back to only about one a month and do more acoustic style shows." There is a $5 charge to get in, but The Naz is not in it for profit. "All the money is pretty much given back to the bands. We don't really want to make money, we just want to have somewhere for people to go and be safe while having fun," said Natalie Freitas, a volunteer. "We are here to help promote local music. We are all volunteers who just want there to be a place for kids to go," said Nathan Furtado, a member of the Antioch Family Church congregation. All the volunteers are excited to be a part of something positive for kids. They feel they are giving people more than just a place to hang out; they're helping local musicians gain confidence by playing live shows. "We are an outreach for tons of bands in the area," said Furtado. "There is no place to play that is all-ages, so we give full latitude to anyone who wants to play here." Russell Hall of Antioch, who attended last Friday's show, said they are tapping into a great scene as far as local Indie rock acts are concerned: "If they had more people here it would be cool. They had good bands here tonight and I had fun." Antioch Family Church is located at 330 Worrell Road in Antioch. Find out more at www.myspace.com/thenazvenue or www.afcnaz.org. For more information on The Kazem, go to www.myspace.com/thekazempresents.

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