Co-operative rehearsal/recording space. Good idea?

[jimcroisdale]

Hi all,

Just ruminating over a little idea and wondered what you thought.

I'm in an originals band, and when we've got a bass player sorted, we'll be looking to rehearse AT LEAST once a week. This costs £23 for 3 hours at our local rehearsal studio, and the equipment is not that great.

So is there a better way to spend the £23?

In the early nineties my metal band had a rehearsal room, fully secure, with our nice gear, and we paid £20 A WEEK for it! I had my studio in there after the band split and it was a very rosy situation until the company went bust and I had to move.

So I'm wondering if getting a permanent room/unit might be a good idea. I thought one way to do it would be to get a few bands to all chip in and use the facility. I could have my recording gear set up permanently, and we could go from there.

£23 x 5 bands is £115 a week. Surely that would get us a nice spot in the UK?

Mmmmm.

Jim

[chrisso]

It's potentially a great idea.
One or two drawbacks spring to mind however.
What if each band wants to rehearse at similar times? Like two bands want the Thursday night slot and cite impending gigs as an urgent excuse.
Another problem is maintenance.
Can you trust another band not to trash the gear, even if it's just a vocal PA?
And will they leave the place littered with Big Mac wrappers and cigarette butts on the floor?
These are the usual problems with ownership sharing.

[Jules]

In Sweden back in the 80's I did some pre production (band called 220volts) they shared an underground rehearsal place. it was a big space, spread out in a big circle (each band sharing 1/3rd of the space) were....

3 drum kits
3 sets of back-line and a PA around each drum kit facing the middle of the circle
3 refrigerators

I was impressed!

[jimcroisdale]

That IS Impressive!

Like the Jules Holland show!

[rockstar_josh]

Over here the majority of rehearsal spaces are monthly lockout rooms, the cost of which is often split by two or three bands. It works well for them when the rent can be up to $400 a month. They have 24/7 access and keep all of their gear there.

It suppose it works out fine except for the risk of another band having access to your gear. I think there was a thread on here once containing pictures of the aftermath of a bad situation in a shared rehearsal space. One of the band members got hammered and decided to trash their rehearsal space and subsequently the other band's equipment.

I'm sure that's not always the case, though. Noone wants to be liable for another band's gear and risk legal problems, an *ss kicking, or both.

[Johnny Favorite]

You realize you`ll have another job you`ll have to work on? Studio manager. Or do you know 3 bands of people you entirely trust to pay things on date? It`s quite a lame gig.