LAST NIGHT AT LOUNGE AX is a documentary film currently in production chronicling the final three nights at the legendary Chicago Music venue Lounge Ax in Chicago before its closure in Jan. 2000. Director Brian DeRan, longtime independent music manager (Animal Collective, Battles, Gang Gang Dance) and founder of Living Mountain Productions, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to finish the film.
Filmed by DeRan during Lounge Ax’s closing week, the documentary features unforgettable performances from
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
King Kong
Shellac
Traitors
Milly’s Orchid Show
The Dishes
Jim O’Rourke
Eleventh Dream Day
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
Dianogah
The Coctails
Bride of No No
The film offers a rare, inside look at an underground institution that embodied the spirit of independent music. Through candid interviews with co-owners Julia Adams and Susan Miller Tweedy, staff, regulars, and the artists themselves, the film reveals the challenges venues like Lounge Ax faced: skyrocketing rents, gentrification, noise complaints, and city politics. Last Night at Lounge Ax transports audiences back to a pre-digital era, when discovering music meant grabbing the alt-weekly, taping flyers to telephone poles, and lining up at the box office.
Now in post-production, DeRan is raising funds to complete editing and music licensing for release in 2026. The crowdfunding campaign is live, inviting fans, musicians, and supporters of independent culture to help bring this story to the screen, and includes rewards designed by artist and musician Archer Prewitt (The Coctails, Sea and Cake).
“Lounge Ax was a cultural anchor, one of those rare places where the music came first,” says DeRan. “This film is about preserving that spirit and telling the story of a community that left a mark far bigger than the size of the room.”
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