Ten years ago, when Jason Wallace opened his Strange Brew Pub live music room in Norwich, he had zero idea that, ultimately, some of his most popular events would be the Wednesday Themed Trivia Nights (with kids welcome) or the Sunday Karaoke Party. In fact, he quite possibly would have smiled politely and said, “Ah, no, we don’t do that here.”

Then he’d have turned up the house PA system so you could better hear whatever band was playing onstage.

Well, times change and, as a shrewd businessman and fervent supporter of the arts — his leadership as live music director of the Rose Arts Festival has helped the event become a much-desired booking for musicians across New England and beyond — Wallace has fluidly adapted.

To be sure, live music is certainly still the focus at Strange Brew. The weekend bands are of consistently high quality and represent a variety of genres from metal and rock to reggae and jam bands, punk and Americana. Headlining touring acts occasionally stop by, and Tuesday always features acoustic music.

Too, the club is well known for its Album Tribute Nights, which started seven years ago and boast a core group of Wallace and his musical pals performing note-by-note recitations of a huge and impressively varied number of recordings.

With the goal of doing one album tribute each month, the loose amalgam of players has now pulled off over 70 albums.

“One a month is not easy,” Wallace says, admitting that, with age and time constraints, his own participation can be more arduous for some albums than others. He ruefully acknowledges signing on for a Green Day project recently because the band’s pop-punk isn’t particularly complex.

“I forgot how relentlessly fast it is,” Wallace says. “But it’s also a good way to stay connected to the idea that there’s a lot of good music out there beyond what someone’s personal tastes might be.”

“Jason is a friend and gifted fellow musician,” says Marty Moroney, bassist for Mystic Dead, an act that has played Strange Brew many times. “From open mic sessions to 10-piece bands, Strange Brew is and always has been about music and family. That’s not something we see so much anymore. Strange Brew is a place that has national acts – and has helped people blossom into national acts. The art, culture and even the wide selection at the bar is a breath of fresh air in the gentrified New London County bar/club scene.”

Broadening the horizon

In that spirit, Wallace has paid a great deal of attention to sea-changes in popular music over the last decade, and he also emerged from the COVID shutdown aware of a vastly different collective mindset and pop culture landscape.

“It’s interesting now what type of event we book to attract an audience,” Wallace says, “and at a certain point, I realized I was going to have to change some of the styles we’d been emphasizing.” He laughs. “I can’t say I ever expected I’d book a Taylor Swift Trivia Night” — which he recently did. “But it was fun and people enjoyed themselves. Our ultimate goal is to bring people together over entertainment.”

Practical experience

Wallace is a gifted and versatile drummer and sound engineer who, before opening Strange Brew, spent 15 years doggedly pursuing rock stardom playing in an original band. As with many who share a similar goal, the brutal realities of the music industry — in which luck and timing play far bigger roles than talent or perseverance — determined his band didn’t “make it.” But Wallace figured that, by opening his own club, he could continue in some capacity to pursue original music as well as support other original artists.

“My universe was always going to and will always include music,” Wallace says. “The original goal was to feature live, original bands in several genres, and that would be our identity — but we’d survive with the foresight to know you have to evolve. We had to make a ton of sacrifices and take it on the chin for a while as we figured it out.”

What’s in a name

Wallace decided to call the club Strange Brew after randomly hearing the Cream song of that title while driving around one day. It made sense on several levels, the foremost being that he’d wanted to use a lyric or musical motif to symbolize the club and its vibe.

“When ‘Strange Brew’ came on that day, it was instant. ‘Yep, that’s it, 100 percent,’” Wallace says. “It’s a great song and familiar to certain fans, but it’s not too obvious either. Plus, the phrase is perfect for our drink menu. And we have a poster on the wall of the club for the (1983) Rick Moranis film (also called ‘Strange Brew’). I love that some of our customers know Cream and some don’t, and others will walk up and look at the movie poster and say, ‘I love that movie’ and others have no idea. We want a variety of people who are curious about all sorts of things. And we try to reflect that.”

In a four-week span from mid-December into January, Strange Brew hosted a death metal band, hip hop artists, the Taylor Swift trivia night and a musical tribute to Carol King’s “Tapestry” album. And what excites Wallace about that is that he’s starting to see audience overlap for the incredibly diverse events.

Establishing trust

“We’ve got a growing number of people who reliably come to the club because they trust us,” Wallace says. “They’re starting to say, ‘Let’s give it a shot because it’s Strange Brew and we’re going to have a good time.’”

Truth told, Wallace is learning to appreciate the wider array of styles himself — and it certainly comes in handy when booking Rose Arts, where the idea is to entertain a huge demographic.

“It’s challenging but fun,” Wallace says. “Rose Arts has a built-in platform as a popular local event with a history. There are tons of cover bands who understandably want to play Rose Arts. And we enjoy having them — but a lot of times these artists have played 30 or 40 times in the area over the past year. If you can get a name act that plays original music, that can be a huge draw — if you can afford them — and provides maybe new fans who stay to see the cover bands.”

Wallace relies on his own expertise and instinct, too. A few years back, he had the opportunity to bring the New Orleans band Dumpstafunk — extremely popular throughout the south and on the festival circuit — but Wallace had to weigh the band’s lack of name recognition in New England.

“Some people might say, ‘Never heard of them,’” Wallace says. “Well, there are a lot of great bands I’VE never heard of. So I’ve learned to pay attention to two things: What would I want to see as a big music fan, and what would work for the festival and its followers? It’s a community event and it’s important and I want to feel good about my choices.”

Wallace decided to book Dumpstafunk — and the band was extremely well received.

“I think, ultimately, that I want the same level of integrity for Rose Arts as we have at Strange Brew,” Wallace says. “When someone comes into our club, they can trust us to produce at a certain level of quality — whether it’s a Rolling Stones tribute band or blues or Marvel Cinematic Universe trivia. Whatever it might be, when you’re here, you’re going to have fun.”

If you go

What: Strange Brew Pub

Where: 86 Water St., Norwich

For more information: (860) 885-1975, strangebrewct.com