The Team
Unlike other venues - all events at Bottlerocket are booked, produced, and promoted by a small in-house team and a select group of local promoters, not by mega-corporations or whoever pays us the venue rental fee for the night.
This ensures Quality & Consistency for everything we do, and a better Artist First environment. Meet the team who does it, and contact us!
Chris Copen - Owner
Chris handles most Comedy programming at Bottlerocket - and a lot of other boring stuff that you hopefully won't notice or think about. He opened this bar when he was 23 - now he's 27 and still trying.
Chris was named a Pittsburgh 30 under 30 in 2023 and is still being annoying about it.
Email for:
Media Inquiries, Complaints, anything not listed below.
DO NOT EMAIL CHRIS RE:BOOKING. FOR REAL. SERIOUSLY. OTHER CONTACTS BELOW HANDLE THAT!
Brandon Russi - Operations Manager
Brandon is the general problem solver of Bottlerocket. He's in charge of our bar team & works with our vendors and partners to ensure smooth operations every day!
Brandon started at Bottlerocket as our President of Hot Dog Operations and has since graduated to being in charge of Hot Dogs AND Drinks! Promotion!
Email for:
Beer and Liquor Sales, Bar Inquiries, Staffing
Brandon Lehman - Rental Manager
Brandon is our rental coordinator, and is excited to work with you on planning a Bottlerocket party of your very own! From weddings, to corporate gathering's, to sponsored activations he's done it all - and is ready to help you do it too!
Brandon also runs Little Giant, a music rehearsal space behind Bottlerocket. When he's not doing that you can catch in the renowned band Yacht Rocket, covering the smoothest hits of the 70's at venues across Pittsburgh.
Email for:
Private Event Rentals (no public facing rentals are offered)
Mariah is our Programming Coordinator - they're happy to assist with any ticketing changes/questions you may have before you attend a show at Bottlerocket! Mariah also assists with our Comedy Programming, and our UCBurgh program!
Mariah just moved to Pittsburgh to join our team, so please be nice to her!
Email for:
Box Office Assistance, UCBurgh Questions, Comedy Booking
Mariah Bookout - Programming
Brett Shumaker - Programming
Brett is our Music Programming Lead, focusing on bringing the best bands in the city & country to Bottlerocket and putting on the best shows in town.
Before Bottlerocket Brett was one of the most prolific DIY promoters in the country (Don't Let The Scene Go Down on Me, which he still runs!) and helped run Pittsburgh's iconic DIY venue the Mr. Roboto Project
Email for:
Live Music Booking, Co-Productions
Grace Myers - Programming
Grace is our Late Night Programming Coordinator, helping bring our big themed dance parties and special events to life - as well as DJing many of them herself!
Grace runs the hilarious 90's country meme account Dwight Jokeam, over 70k followers strong!
Email for:
DJ Booking