Amping up downtown Mountain View’s night life, Red Rock Coffee recently launched a new music scene for early career musicians to perform their sets in front of a live audience.

The venue, named 2nd Story for its location above the coffee bar, has hosted a number of Saturday evening jam sessions already, from bluesy rock to hip-hop and spoken word, with post-Broadway and punk folk on tap for next week.

“We call it ‘The Great Experiment,’” said event organizer Henri Boulanger, 29, who is also a musician and a barista at the downstairs coffee shop.

The experiment was in full swing Saturday, Jan. 20, as performers tried out different musical genres to an appreciative crowd that enjoyed the spontaneity of the sets.

“It’s a jam style,” said Jackson Matayas, 23, front man for the band Ripley. Accompanied by three guitarists and a drummer, Matayas melded a funk vibe with hip-hop, picking up verses from his cell phone, while also calling out solos for his bandmates to improvise alongside him.

The experimental nature of 2nd Story, along with its supportive audience, is what makes the scene so appealing to performers, especially for those wanting to sample new artistic styles.

The headline act, Jamie Trust, 34, said he was best known for spoken word but was trying out something different for the evening. “I’ve always wanted to be a singer,” Trust said, explaining that he was strongly influenced by his mother, who was a backup singer for touring bands.

Trust’s musical journey was not always easy though. He said he encountered a lot of racism and homophobia as a Black gay man growing up in Hunters Point in San Francisco. “I was bullied a lot as a kid, but music was a kind of validation, something that I could do, prove that I was something,” he said.

The supportive environment of 2nd Story also made it an ideal venue to debut his act. “It’s such a welcoming and joyous space,” Trust said.

Nurturing new talent is a big part of the reason for establishing 2nd Story, according to Matayas, who has helped with the set-up of the event. “It’s giving young artists, people who haven't necessarily performed their own shows or anything like that, giving them the tools and help they need to put on their first show,” he said.

The idea for 2nd Story emerged from another well-established performance scene at Red Rock – it’s Monday open mic nights. The community event has become so popular that the organizers implemented a lottery system, picking names out of a jar to give everyone an equal chance to perform. They also halved the acts from 10 to five minutes, Boulanger said.

Open mic nights serve as a kind of vetting process for 2nd Story too, with many of the performers getting their start there. The space also functions as a collaborative meet up for musicians, who often work on pieces together.

“Open mic is very much like a community and everyone knows everyone,” said Gal Klein, 18, a musician who started attending open mic about a year ago and recently performed at 2nd Story.

Many of the volunteers who help set up for 2nd Story also are regulars of open mic. The community support has been instrumental to getting the event off the ground, as there is no dedicated budget to 2nd Story, Boulanger said.

For now, the musicians are not paid for their performances, although a $10 donation that goes directly to them is encouraged at the door but not required. The cafe portion of Red Rock also is closed during the performances, with light concessions offered instead.

However, the pared-down atmosphere has not detracted from the community’s enthusiasm for the live-music scene. From a darkened corner of the room, a group of Sunnyvale teenagers sat around a table and cheered on the performers. Their excitement spilled over to a grey-haired couple from Berkeley, who were there to support a friend, and two tech professionals, who happened to walk by Red Rock's open door the previous week and came back again to check out the scene.

“We’re regulars,” said Matilda Whelan, one of the teens. “Sometimes we even get people to dance. It’s such a positive community space,” she added.

A schedule of 2nd Story performances is available on the Red Rock website. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and acts typically start at 7 p.m., with the next performance scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27.