Billings – The new Billings business is preparing to take part in the downtown nightlife scene, but in a non-traditional way.
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New, plain social club brings healing and hip hop to downtown Billings
A calm social club, Good Wolf is ready to open the doors and welcomes safe spaces for those who want to have a good time without alcohol, healing, connection and community. At the heart of this new venture for co-owners Chase Pereau and Carson Rose is a powerful mission to redefine the way people gather and support each other without the need for material.
“We really wanted it to be a place where we could dance like a nightclub. Was it like my vision behind it? You can have fun with calming rave reviews, calming up a fulfilling nightlife and challenging the social norms around that nightlife and recovery,” Perot said.
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Located underground in the Hart Alvin Building at 209 N. 29th St., Good Wolf operates as a daily community hangout, offering family classes, support meetings, doula services, yoga and even a family-friendly photography studio where you can’t buy professional portraits.
“I realized the need for family-friendly meetings and already had only a stigma of shame and guilt,” Rose said. “Build that village and everyone talks about it, especially in parent-child relationships, if you need a village, but if you don’t have it, then you don’t give it space to do it, how do you create it?”
As the sun sets on Friday and Saturday, the space transforms into a vibrant, alcohol-free nightclub. They also hope to open the doors for various events with large dance floor spaces and stages. The calm drink bar is operated all day long and serves non-alcoholic mocktails, soda and coffee.
“There’s a lot of different fun things to do to see what fits and what doesn’t,” Perot said. “A place to nurture connection, creativity and community.”
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The good-named wolf comes from a Native American proverb about the internal battle between a good wolf and an evil wolf.
“It’s like all the spirits we’re trying to do here. It’s about feeding good inside,” Perot said. “Because there are choices you can make every day, right? Between the good and the bad.”
That philosophy resonates deeply with the couples who each have traveled their personal journey of drinking. Perot began his recovery in 2018, organising activities for peer support and others in recovery. He first created the idea of a calm club after enjoying the fact that he still could enjoy social activities related to alcohol.
“You are shaped by your experience,” Perot said. “In a way, you create what you need most.”
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A certified peer support, lactation, and perinatal mental health, and formerly a recovery Doula for a behavioral healthcare support specialist, Rose was inspired by her own experience with postpartum depression and her lack of family-friendly recovery resources.
“Before I was calm, I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and it was very scary what led to it,” Rose said. “Even after I was released from the hospital, I still had no resources left, so it’s really important to me to create a space where people come in and don’t feel so lonely and not get caught up in that cycle of shame and guilt.”
The social club has already started one of its services in the hip-hop class of longtime Montana Dance Cruiser Wrecking Clowns on Monday and Friday nights.
For founders Jeff Raquel Taupag and Precious Anderson, a good wolf isn’t just a club, it’s a second chance. After losing their own dance studio during the pandemic, the duo are finally setting their roots again.
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“I wasn’t going to start another studio because I’ve bounced all over Montana and taught them in all these different studios. Sometimes God would say, ‘Hey, I got something for you. Do you want to take it?” ”
The couple taught hip-hop to all ages on bills for over 15 years, took young people from across the country to dance competitions, and even auditions for the final season of MTV’s America’s best dance crew have put Montana on a national map of hip-hop.
“It wasn’t about winning. It’s about going there, giving these kids an experience and letting them know, ‘Hey, there’s a big world out there.’ And if you work hard, you can go to these places and become a real competitor,” Lakel-Taufagu said. “I want to remind them that they have a heartbeat and you have a rhythm to you. Our job is to help bring it out. And you are to find your identity.”
Despite the victory, their story began with a broken heart. In high school, Raquel Taupag’s best friend went missing due to an alcohol-related tragedy near the Yellowstone River.
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“I made a promise to God. If you help me find my best friend, I’ll do something for you, and Garrett always loved dancing,” said Raekel Taupag. “I’m going to do something with it, and that’s what we did. He’s still missing today. It’s been 16 years.”
Wrecking Clowns have since been run by a clear set of rules. No gangs, violence, drugs, alcohol.
“It’s because we’re all just responsible and we didn’t want to see that together other friends had to go down like that or feel what someone else had to feel when I lost a friend,” Lakel-Taufagu said.
It is a mission perfectly matched with a good wolf, and the opportunity from Rose is what it takes to revive it. This time, the work will feature the nonprofit Dance to Live Foundation, which will allow all children to access dance courses regardless of their background or income.
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“I came from a background where my parents were alcohol and drug abusers. I was going through the foster care system so I can see that I went in and saw it from other people and wanted to help them because I was there. “I want to work with good wolves. We can do a lot of things.”
“It’s just Ying and Yang. It was perfect. We’re coming together and we’re here now,” added Rachel Tauphag.
Dancing can be a positive way of healing, but for a good wolf it’s about connecting with others. The recovery journey is not the same, but this group hopes that no one needs to go through that.
“I’ve never heard anything like cooking here, so it’s going to be pretty cool,” Lakel-Taufagu said. “Our mission is to help our community and to help the youth here.”
The club is waiting for final permission and hopes to open fully in the near future, but has begun holding events that include plans for the International Montana Branch of Postnatal Support. The Wrecking Clown will accept new members of all ages and meet Mondays and Fridays from 5pm to 7pm
For all involved, it has become a calling to feed a good wolf for themselves and for the community.
“We chose to feed that good wolf,” Rose said. “We want everyone to make that choice, but we understand that sometimes bad wolves are fed and that they want a safe place for people to come when it happens to get out of that funk.”
