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Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

Insane in the Brain - Prince Fatty

Pleasure to meet Steve yesterday when he came to buy a bass from me. Easiest of deals, and we probably could have talk bass and such for hours if we were able to. Enjoy the bass 👍

Sadly yes, never give a jobsworth the opportunity or excuse to be a jobsworth, they relish it. Sign of the times 😕

If the owners of The Venue were honest with themselves, it wasn't a suitable place for loud concerts, and spending 10s of thousands of pounds on soundproofing was short-sighted. Ultimately, the financial crash of 2008 was what bought them down.

Of course you are 100% correct, Steve. I was initially told that I was talking to an AI chatbot.

This debate will be as sterile as tonewood. Some people believe they can make as much noise as they want as well as some don't believe in tonewood. The funny thing is that those preaching for noise tolerance would refuse to live in such a neighbourhood all year long, it's exactly the same as those complaining about people driving too fast in their street and doing it themselves everywhere else. Strange selfish world we're living in. And it didn't take 8 paragraphs to state my point of view as it was obvious from the start, but @Rich, you were only talking about one venue in peculiar and not in general, which is my speech: Empathy doesn't seem to be a part of your emotional panel.

I went to see Iron Maiden at the London Stadium last month. It was loud, but not overbearing. They had a 10pm curfew. They just started a bit earlier. Contrast that with their Hammersmith Odeon gigs in the 80s, my ears were still ringing 3 days later. I always take my earbuds to gigs now (even pub gigs) and I had to wear them at a recent gig at the Underworld in Camden. They shouldn't really be necessary if we are honest with each other.

This live track, 'Howie's Tune', didn't make it onto the album.

It would be even funnier if it said “volume 11”

Often overlooked, but he managed two years in the Buddy Rich small band (Septet) between 1973 and 1975. The link below is the remastered full album, 'Very Live at Buddy's Place':

While your experience was frustrating, maybe your language was unnecessary? Most places have signs stating that abuse of staff won't be tolerated.

Sounds like an awful situation. Used to work for the fire service and ignoring alarms isn’t ever a good idea! I’d personally send a message to their head office outlining your concerns. If you feel you want to, you can do the same to the local fire service, anonymously if you wish. As a business model I sort of get what Pirate is doing, but I’d the tech fails and there is a problem lives could be at risk.

Just need to vent about our recent (really bad) experience with Pirate Studios (a collection of 24/7 non-staffed rehearsal spaces peppered about the UK). My band moved to using Pirate Studios for rehearsals after our usual space was shut down (the landlord there didn't renew the owner's lease). We used Pirate on a number of occasions in the past, and until yesterday our only other hiccup there was a last-minute booking cancellation 'due to unforeseen circumstances'. We booked a four hour slot at Pirate in Sheffield for Sunday morning, and I arrived about 10-15 minutes in advance of our slot. Our guitarist was already there when I arrived, and we could both hear the fire alarm blaring when we each pulled up. No one else appeared to be at the site, and we have no idea how long the fire alarm was already sounding (could have been 5 minutes, could have been hours). There were no visible signs of a fire (but okay, the property is at least two floors, and is also quite deep). We popped our heads in the front door, and there was no hint of any smoke. We try to hail them on WhatsApp (per their instructions), but there is just an automated AI bot responding. Not useful at all. We tried to phone them and get an recorded canned response that leads us into a labyrinth of options. Not useful at all. More folks start pulling up for their own rehearsal sessions. We're all camped outside for more than 30 minutes... I decide to give Pirate a call on the phone again. I get lucky with selecting the correct sequence of options and manage to reach a human. I tell them that their Sheffield site might be on fire as the alarm is sounding. The guy on the phone proceeds to tell me that he can give me the instructions to shut it off. WAIT A MINUTE! (1) How does he know there isn't a genuine fire / alarm? (2) I don't work there. (3) IF there is a real fire, and I shut the alarm off leading to the death of 1+ people, who is liable? I tell the guy on the phone that I'm not comfortable doing that and end the call. He tells me that he'll have security come and investigate. We wait another 30 minutes... the fire alarm has now been sounding for over an hour. No one from security ever arrives. Frustrated, I hail the AI chatbot again and tell it that the alarm is sounding at the Sheffield site and that 'your f*-ing studio might be on fire, do you care?'. Frustrated and stressed, I send a series of additional colorful metaphors to the AI chatbot... but unknown to me, and unannounced, a human being connected to the chat and was less than happy to see my messages. They reply that I am now banned from Pirate Studios for using abusive language. Someone from another band also hails them on WhatsApp, and decides he is okay with rolling the dice for the liability and follows their instructions to deactivate the alarm. There was NO investigation into the cause. There is NO STAFF on site. NO SECURITY ever showed up. We go into our rehearsal room for our session, now more than an hour late. We jam for a bit more than an hour and suddenly, unannounced, the power cuts off. The session that I booked was suddenly cancelled by Pirate due to 'abusive language'. Nice one. I am genuinely concerned about the type of operation they are running at Pirate Studios. Please be aware that there is no 24/7 support. If all goes well, it's a great space. But if something goes wrong, there won't be anyone coming to help you (ever!).

If it’s in a city and you’re trying to get your kids to sleep? I get that if it was already there when you moved in, it’s not the venues issue much as we like to make what is essentially noise, it has consequences for other people

I think it’s a shame we have become less tolerant of others having fun Many established music venues destroyed due to noise complaints often from one individual! People jumping on the mental health issue ( seems to be any reason these days it’s stated ) Granted in some cases of course it’s valid but perhaps it’s more down to lack of respect and tolerance. We really just don’t have much of it these days, proportionate fun and live and let live should be more the thing like it seemed to be years back Jeez we are all musicians on here and music comes with volume which we should applaud and congratulate any opportunity to keep venues open for music.