A new punk venue called Poison Pit is set to open its doors in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood on October 30 and 31, taking over the building at 608 E. 13th Ave. that most recently housed Your Mom's House before the city seized it over unpaid taxes. Co-owners Jacob Williams and Andy George are betting that the space, which has cycled through several identities over the years including Snake Pit and Malfunction Junction, can become a dependable home for local and touring punk acts again.
A Troubled Address Gets a New Chapter
The City of Denver seized Your Mom's House at the address on December 17, 2025, according to a notice posted on the venue's door and reported by Westword. The outlet reported that the venue owed the city $29,820.57, including $28,479.25 in unpaid sales taxes and $1,341.32 in occupational privilege tax, with the unpaid sales taxes dating back as early as December 2023. At least nine former employees had also filed wage claims with the Department of Labor since January 2025, Westword reported.
Your Mom's House opened in 2017 under co-owners James Bedwell and Joseph Hite, along with two other shadow owners, per the same outlet's reporting. In its early years, the venue was known for jam-band and EDM shows, live-art community events and a light-up dance floor. Bedwell later filed a lawsuit against Jillian Johnson alleging fraud, breach of contract, civil theft, unjust enrichment and defamation; that suit was still pending when Westword's report was published.
New Owners, New Name, Old Floorboards
Williams, a fifth-generation Denverite who grew up in the city's punk scene, is opening Poison Pit alongside George, according to the Denver Gazette. The venue's name is a nod to the toxic Gilman, Colorado mining operation that the Environmental Protection Agency declared closed in the 1980s; Williams reportedly owns a piece of pyrite from the Gilman mine. Murals will be painted inside the space over the next several weeks as part of the broader renovation effort.
Poison Pit has also invested in a fire detection system, a walk-in cooler and overall safety upgrades for the building, the Denver Gazette reported, and the team ordered a new subwoofer after the existing one arced and caught fire. Shows will be capped at 300 people to comply with fire code. The venue plans to host multiple predominantly punk shows per week and will serve as an independently operated mid-sized room for both local and touring acts, with food from the pizzeria next door, Tua Mama's Pizzeria.
Filling a Gap Between Seventh Circle and the Gothic
Williams said he hopes Poison Pit can continue the Snake Pit legacy and that the venue can bridge the gap between Seventh Circle and the Gothic, according to the Denver Gazette's reporting. That positioning matters in a city where national promoters such as AEG and Live Nation have steadily expanded their footprint; Live Nation acquired the Marquis and Summit Music Hall in 2018. Stricter permitting laws and rising rents have squeezed Denver's independent music scene in recent years, according to Rocky Mountain PBS.
Denver's DIY scene has nonetheless shown signs of resilience. Seventh Circle Music Collective, a volunteer-led, all-ages and sober venue that took over the former Blast-O-Mat space in 2012, reported that average attendance had jumped 30 percent year over year following the pandemic, per Rocky Mountain PBS. The outlet also noted that surviving spaces like Seventh Circle, Glob and DIY house shows have been picking back up as newer venues open.
Other independent rooms illustrate the range of models operating around the city. D3 Arts has run as a nonprofit since 2020 focused on community health and cultural identity, while Creepatorium opened in late 2023 to host concerts, drag shows and horror-themed events for alternative and queer communities, according to Westword's roundup of local DIY venues. The D.M.V., which opened in 2025 for experimental music and pays $4,000 a month in rent, is another independent room in the city.
Against that backdrop, a Great American Beer Festival listing dates a Poison Pit Grand Opening event featuring Ska Brewing and Ratio Beerworks to October 8, 2026, while the Denver Gazette says the venue's first shows are set for October 30 and 31. Whether Poison Pit can avoid the financial troubles that sank its predecessor remains to be seen, but for now the renovation work, the safety upgrades and the booking plans point toward an attempt to give Capitol Hill's punk scene a steadier home.
