Rock & Roll isn't dead yet but they're trying to kill us!!

[Skotosynthesis]

Have you looked into an artist's workspace? Where I'm from there are a couple of places that let bands come in and rehearse there. They are in industrial areas of town where people won't care about noise in the middle of the night. The one my band worked out of for a while had both a membership and a pay-as-you go option. They weren't necessarily cheap -it was like deluxe cable package money - but spread out among band members it was workable.

Yes I have and I appreciate the thought, but tbh that's an absolute last resort.
Because 1) I need a place to store everything under lock & key, no room in our condo for 3 amps and I really don't want to have to pay rent on a storage unit AND a practice space! Let alone the trouble of loading up and unloading every time just to go jam... and 2) they're expensive AF. The places I've talked to around here treat it almost like studio time, pay by the hour and rush because the next group has an appointment. We like to casually jam, brainstorm, take breaks, hang out. Hell, that's how we write music!

 

[Wildeman]

Nowadays you just need a place to keep your laptop and headphones

 

[Skotosynthesis]

Yes, this! It's still kind of 1987 for me. Except, with a job.

 

[WellBurnTheSky]

Thanks for all the input! And yeah, the church thing is an interesting idea but I'd rather not have to deal with them in this area unless it's a special circumstance- Alabama here, and I'm afraid that means the majority of local churches are psycho-evangelical and political, almost cultish. Hope that doesn't sound judgmental, it just is what it is. They still very much believe down here that rock & roll is the Devil's music!!

If for some reason I were to rehearse in a church, I'd make a point of only playing Black Sabbath, Ghost, Venom and Slayer songs. Could be fun (albeit for a short time).

 

[Redguitar]

If you build t it, they will play!😄

 

[ricksdisconnected]

If for some reason I were to rehearse in a church, I'd make a point of only playing Black Sabbath, Ghost, Venom and Slayer songs. Could be fun (albeit for a short time).

why?

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

@Skotosynthesis
That truly sucks, I have always had band practice at my house, never did the storage lot rehearsal’s, but if they are no more, then you do have to adapt and overcome as was said above me..
Happy hunting so to speak
In the early 90’s when we actually rehearsed in my garage, once a week, I had gone to all of my neighbors an let them know our intentions . It worked out ok, but we also installed insulation in my garage.
It was 2-1/2 “ thick rigid insulation glued to 1/2” plywood that was extra material left over from a project we had done.
Enough rambling on my part ..

Mitch

why?

just for the sake of doing it.. when we were building a giant church in the early 90’s. I brought a half stack in one of the big rooms and lit it up, lol I did the same thing at the prison we were building in Delano..

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

@ricksdisconnected
I was staying on the job in those days with a 26’ motor home and I always brought a guitar an amp, Delano was over 200 miles away, and the church was just over 100 miles one way, so it was the only way to stretch my earnings.

Cheers

 

[ricksdisconnected]

just for the sake of doing it.. when we were building a giant church in the early 90’s. I brought a half stack in one of the big rooms and lit it up, lol I did the same thing at the prison we were building in Delano..

does not answer my question.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

does not answer my question.

Well my friend, you will have to address well burn the sky again

 

[StrummerJoe]

rock is on life support because of the practitioners.

Everybody plays a role in it. The important thing to remember is...




If people won't support it, rehearsal space is a moot point.

 

[Jimi-C]

Glad I live in the country with no one around me to complain about loud music but the deer , wild turkeys and cows LOL

 

[WellBurnTheSky]

why?

Because these guys tend to lack any sense of humor (though in fairness, those that do usually are great human beings).

 

[playloud]

And here I was expecting a thread about Patti Smith....

 

[bigheadstocklover]

I posted an ad in craigslist a bunch of years ago when I needed a room to rent, I got a hundred responses! I listed my requirements, $250 a month, no pets, no smoking, the area I wanted to be in, and people were begging me to pick them to live with! You can post a similar ad and have the lot to choose from!

Depending on where you live, a bunch of years ago the scene was a lot different than now. I'm talking about roommates, not a band rehearsal space. In many areas it would now be $1,000 a month, and you'd be the one begging lol. I drove cross country with the family this year and AirBnB rentals were double the cost they were when we did it last year. It's rough out there. Maybe band rental spaces are different, but any kind of house rental is insane right now.

 

[Sokool]

So sorry for your loss!
We had a rural area nearby and found a couple of barns to rehearse in over the years.
It worked out great!

 

[MickeyS]

I lived in Arizona in the late 80's. There was a warehouse in Phoenix that was specifically for bands. Individual rooms, sound proofing on walls, each room locked and secure, 24 hr access. It was really nice. Guys would walk the halls checking out each others bands. It was a great vibe. I'm doubtful anything like that exists any more, but it was tits.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

I lived in Arizona in the late 80's. There was a warehouse in Phoenix that was specifically for bands. Individual rooms, sound proofing on walls, each room locked and secure, 24 hr access. It was really nice. Guys would walk the halls checking out each others bands. It was a great vibe. I'm doubtful anything like that exists any more, but it was tits.

we have those here as well. expensive as shit too though.

 

[Denis St Guinefort]

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.

And it's been the case for quite a while. I, too, am a baby boomer. I remember well the similar answers in the late 90s (in Toronto) enquiring about practice spaces.

We had to find another way, though it might not work for you. Our problem mainly involved the drums. The solution: an electric powered one (they have a volume control, lol). Next, smaller amps such as practice amps. If you are used to massive volume, it shouldn't make a difference after playing for decades. It won't sound as good as you like, but the practices will still go on. Last but not least, if you show up today at a venue with your full stacks, they might not let you even set up. And good luck finding good paying gigs. I've seen quite a few street festivals. Even there, you don't see stacks.

There is still a club/pub scene. The guys who play these have been at it for a long time and have day jobs. It's a blues/rock type (and country if in some areas). The music dates to the 60s, 70s, 80s hits. The band I have seen use in great majority tube amps around 20 some watts or more (certainly not 100W) made by Fender such as the Hot Rod Deluxe at 40W, the Deluxe Reverb at 22W, and a few Mesas around the same wattage. Traynors of similar power do the trick and are easily available second hand.

 

[Jimi-C]

And here I was expecting a thread about Patti Smith....

Interesting ...... " rock and roll ....." you bet cha !