What Happened to Headhunters After Bar Rescue? (Austin, TX)

Headhunters had operated in Austin's Red River entertainment district since 2003 as a no-rules, tiki-themed live-music venue under owner Steve Ricci when it appeared on the February 17, 2013 episode "Rock N Roaches" (Bar Rescue S3E2). Per Wikipedia's episode summary, Jon Taffer's team dealt with a roach infestation and a stubborn owner who refused to pay his employees properly; rather than sending Nicole Taffer in alone for recon as the show usually did, the experts accompanied her after reviewing customer complaints and a disturbing concert that had taken place at the venue, and the resulting conflict between Taffer and Ricci made the episode one of the more talked-about installments of the season. Wikipedia's summary also notes this was one of the few rescues in which the owner did not thank Taffer for his help by the episode's end.

After a secretive 36-hour renovation, the bar reemerged with a steampunk theme under the name Metal & Lace, though staff and regulars, per the Austin Chronicle, continued to simply call it Headhunters. The venue kept hosting shows, including annual South by Southwest programming on its interior and patio stages, for roughly another year before it closed. The Austin Chronicle reported on May 1, 2014 that the club's front door was locked during normal business hours, with staff and owner Steve Ricci found removing production gear from the patio stage; Ricci declined to explain the closure for what he called "legal reasons," while acknowledging to the paper that the club was now closed.

The Chronicle's report tied the closure to a lease dispute that, per neighborhood sources cited in the same article, had been brewing since February of that year after the 720 Red River property changed hands, though Ricci himself would not confirm the cause on the record. Ricci told the paper he was weighing nine possible sites for a future venue, but no source was found confirming that a successor business opened under his ownership.