Skotosynthesis
Well-Known Member
Boomer thread incoming, brace yourselves...
Until about 10 years ago, my band rented a storage unit for practice- 24/7 gate access, no noise ordinances, you could show up at 2 in the morning and wail on a Marshall stack cranked to 10 and it was gravy. It was like a home away from home, sometimes we'd spend all day out there. We even had cots and couches and a minifridge, brought girls over, slept there when we had a few too many, the whole 9 yards. Not to mention the lot was like a party scene, we certainly weren't the only band there. There would be full-on shows there some nights, management would clear it and a group would play and a local vendor would serve food & drinks out in the lot. They would often charge a small cover and give it to the property manager, gratuity for allowing it. Beyond all this, there was a real communal vibe. People would wander around when they finished their practice session and go listen to the other groups jam, end up hanging out and getting to know each other. It was like a local musician's exchange. Many long-term friendships and working professional relationships came out of this scene, not to mention gear being bought & sold & traded. Furthermore, there were several storage space properties around town like this! Got a band? Just pick the one closest to you!
All this is gone. We left that lot when the band broke up, and I moved my equipment into the drummer's parents' basement since he and I continued working together. Through the years since then, we've been through a few singers & bass players & other guitarists in small projects, but now we want to full-on get the band back together. In order to do this, we obviously need a place again to rehearse at full-volume with plenty of space and on a flexible time schedule, because everybody works and can't necessarily be there those few times a week when dude's parents are gone. My first instinct was to give that old storage company a call and re-establish our old arrangement- not only have they been bought out, the new company has a strict "storage only" policy. So I googled local storage spaces, went down the call list... not a single one in or outside of the city can accommodate us. In fact, most of them are downright rude. One guy straight up hung up on me, one lady gasped like she was clutching her pearls and said "absolutely not!!" One guy snickered and said "we don't want that kind of element sleazing around here."
So there you have it, the state of things. How will we ever bring back rock & roll if we can't even find a place to play it? Sucks, man.
Until about 10 years ago, my band rented a storage unit for practice- 24/7 gate access, no noise ordinances, you could show up at 2 in the morning and wail on a Marshall stack cranked to 10 and it was gravy. It was like a home away from home, sometimes we'd spend all day out there. We even had cots and couches and a minifridge, brought girls over, slept there when we had a few too many, the whole 9 yards. Not to mention the lot was like a party scene, we certainly weren't the only band there. There would be full-on shows there some nights, management would clear it and a group would play and a local vendor would serve food & drinks out in the lot. They would often charge a small cover and give it to the property manager, gratuity for allowing it. Beyond all this, there was a real communal vibe. People would wander around when they finished their practice session and go listen to the other groups jam, end up hanging out and getting to know each other. It was like a local musician's exchange. Many long-term friendships and working professional relationships came out of this scene, not to mention gear being bought & sold & traded. Furthermore, there were several storage space properties around town like this! Got a band? Just pick the one closest to you!
All this is gone. We left that lot when the band broke up, and I moved my equipment into the drummer's parents' basement since he and I continued working together. Through the years since then, we've been through a few singers & bass players & other guitarists in small projects, but now we want to full-on get the band back together. In order to do this, we obviously need a place again to rehearse at full-volume with plenty of space and on a flexible time schedule, because everybody works and can't necessarily be there those few times a week when dude's parents are gone. My first instinct was to give that old storage company a call and re-establish our old arrangement- not only have they been bought out, the new company has a strict "storage only" policy. So I googled local storage spaces, went down the call list... not a single one in or outside of the city can accommodate us. In fact, most of them are downright rude. One guy straight up hung up on me, one lady gasped like she was clutching her pearls and said "absolutely not!!" One guy snickered and said "we don't want that kind of element sleazing around here."
So there you have it, the state of things. How will we ever bring back rock & roll if we can't even find a place to play it? Sucks, man.
