Check out the Christmas CD, "It's For You He Came", featuring Bart Elliott on drums and percussion, available in the Drummer Cafe Store.

NEW PREMIUM RESOURCE

Frank Briggs has provided yet another play-along for our Premium Resource subscribers. "Potato" is an intermediate level play-along track from Mike Keneally's CD, Sluggo!

Subscribers can download audio tracks (with and without drums as well as solo drums) plus a PDF drum transcription and recording session notes.



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December 02, 2008, 06:41 PM *
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News: Christmas CD featuring Bart on drums & percussion.
 
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skinbeatergreg
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« on: February 03, 2008, 06:15 PM »

A very interesting article from the NYT about the cost of rehearsal space here in New York continuing to climb. I gig with three bands right now and all of them use different spaces: Smash (nicest & priciest), Funkadelic (ghetto) and the crawl-under-the-street Ludlow Studios (cheap in every sense of the word). 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/nyregion/23rehearse.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=nyc+performing+arts+spaces&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Between the real estate developers and BloomGulianiBerg (same guy, different suit) it's no wonder the music/performing arts scene in The City is hovering just above comatose.

Clubs and venues are shutting down all over the city with nothing new opening up. Folks are being driven out into the hinterlands of Brooklyn and Jersey to find affordable performance space and gigs.

I'm interested in knowing what you folks do for rehearsal space.  I'm sure finding a place to call one's own in suburbia presents its own unique challenges.

Do you rent? Share? Own? Converted your garage/basement? Use your church after the youth meetings? Any stories to share?
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Paicey
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« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2008, 02:06 PM »

We share a huge! room with Ghostship. We split the rehearsal days. We have 9 guys in our band and Ghostship has 4. Between us we pay little fees. There are 4 local bands in various rooms throughout the building. Weve got the service elevator for equiptment load ins. Weve got the fridge, the TV and the studio all in one room. Its the perfect situation....BUT.....weve heard the building may be unavailable soon and we are on the seach again. I can bang to my hearts content at 2AM if i desire. Its scarey going down the hallways at night though, kind of like the chainsaw guy is waiting for you.
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New York Frank
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« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2008, 04:38 PM »

Most of the rehearsal I have done in the past few years in this region was done -
in someone's studio/basement - in their home.

There Are rehearsal studios, but they are only a couple, they are hard to book, and
they cost money.  Smiley   And since most of the cover bands in this area make very
little, the studio option becomes less attractive.   Around here, if you want to
chase away a new group of musicians, just say: *studio*.   Smiley

Then there's me, blessed to have a home,  yet there's so much going on in it,
that my Own rehearsal space is - my bedroom.  Yup, 40something years old,
and my *studio* is a few square feet of my bedroom.     Yeah, baby.
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Hannah Ford
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« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2008, 12:26 AM »

When I drummed for the last band, USBK, we rehearsed in the lead singer's basement.  There was hardly any room and we could not ever play full out, as though in a live setting.  Better than nothing, but not the best situation.  We did this for the entire 4 years I was in that band.

Once I made my mind up to start my own band I wanted to do everything we could to establish a practice location where one of my kits, guitar/bass rigs, pa etc could sit up all the time and when we rehearsed it could be full out any time we wanted it to be.  Just like performing live.

So The Hannah Ford Band, and my Jazz Combo rehearse in a 3000 square foot warehouse space that my Dad's office and the office of Peace Love & Drums is adjacent to.  It has worked out wonderfully.  We can rehearse any time after 5 on week days and all day any Sat or Sun.

I also use the address as a shipping and receiving address for equipment, shirts misc items etc.  We're really lucky, because I know that there are a lot of bands that just don't have the same luxury. 

I'm going to take advantage of it for as long as I can.

Hannah

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Hannah Ford

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eardrum
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« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2008, 01:06 AM »

We use a church room/bldg. It's not a church band but it's my church and they are fairly generous with the use of the facilities.  It is the room (actually a small separate bldg) the high schoolers use for their gatherings and it has an old kit that I use - I just bring my snare. It sounds terrible but for rehearsal it works alright.  Except, and I'm glad you reminded me, tomorrow is the primary election and that bldg is used as a polling station, so we have to move to another room.  Alternatively, we could practice at my house in our big garage - one of the benies of being in the burbs....
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Chip71
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« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2008, 03:32 PM »

A few years back I was with guys who were looking for practice space. Plus a spot to store gear between gigs. I got in touch the St.Paul building inspector and he gave us a list of buildings that were to be demolished but still had the electricity, plus heat on. We contacted the owner of a buildling which still had offices rented in the building. Because of the situation it would be a year or more before the building came down. We rented a space for $100 per month and the other tenants were very happy to have us. They could go home at night and on weekends with us hanging around to watch the place. It was a good situation for all of us. Sure was a shame when we lost it. We had 3 rooms for practice and storage. Plus our own parking spaces. We had a 30 day notice before demolition. That was a great setup for all of us. We could be as loud as we wanted.  Cool
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« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2008, 03:12 AM »

This is one of the benefits of living in the West (but not on the West Coast): Cheap real estate.

I was a property manager for about 2 years up until last September. I had a 25-year-old block home in the middle of suburbia, decent-sized backyard, two-car attached garage, 3 bedroom. I was asking $850 mo.

I was showing it to a woman who inquired about my ad. She said she was a musician. It took me about 10 minutes of good conversation to realize she wasn't looking to lease a place to live -- she wanted to a place for her band (and possibly other bands) to practice and hang out. It's one of the few subdivisions that DOESN'T have an HOA in our area. I guess it's a common thing property managers have to be on the lookout for.

Anyway, secured warehouse space is cheap here. Less than $400 in the more desperate warehouse districts. Actual studio space is hard to come by because there's so few places catering to musicians -- and real estate is so cheap you have to find other uses to maximize the dollar.
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