travelling for rehearsals

[christhammer666]

4 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

Having done the London thing for 30-odd years before decamping to the boonies I can assure you that rehearsing in London is a complete nightmare.

There may be a great public transport network but using it in evening rush hour (i.e. about the time you'd be on your way to rehearsals) is a Dante's Inferno of fat, sweaty locals and whining tourists. And it breaks down all the time, so you think 'F**k it, I'll drive', but road traffic moves slower than it did in 1900 so forget about sneaking out of work at five, home by six, studios by seven so that means bringing the car to work to go straight to rehearsals but there's nowhere to park your car on the street at work so you stick it in a private car park which costs you £20 and even if you set off on time there's a burst water main on Camden High Street and nothing's moving so you throw every back double you know and you're banging your head off the steering wheel and when you walk into the rehearsal room 20 minutes late the singer gives you the stink-eye and says' Glad you could join us' in that sarky way of his and the next thing you know you've got your teeth in his windpipe and everyone's shouting and grabbing at you.

And anyway London's full of cockneys going 'Cor blimey, guv'nor, I can only get me tone by turning right up, strike a light, me old china'.

So think yourself f**king lucky you live where you do. It's grim down South.

Amen to that 

[dmccombe7]

I live out in countryside so any rehearsals or gigs are usually about 40 miles from where i live. I have a limit of 1hr drive or 40miles.

That takes me to one of the best Central Glasgow rehearsal studios. If i didn't drive i would need to get a bus that runs once an hour and then a train that runs once an hour and then a bit of a walk from station to rehearsal studio at the other end. There's no guarantee that bus and train link up so if you happen to get to the train station and train has just left you need to wait another hour so its not practical if you have a time slot at rehearsal.

I currently rehearse on a Sunday so no peak traffic to worry about. I used to finish work at 5 and go straight into Glasgow at peak time. My work was only 18miles from the studios but it would take me an hour and 15mins nose to tail traffic on the motorway.

Most i've done is 60 miles to a rehearsal but had relatively quiet motorway roads but that was just to help a band out during start up.

My current band is well worth the travel as i'm enjoying it more than other bands i've been in recently. No ego's and just nice guys and all have an input into what we do. We all had a common interest prior to this band in Glam Rock music.

Dave 

 

[Wolverinebass]

On 21/09/2018 at 07:48, Happy Jack said:

I'm in NW London and I'm always struck by how many bands are looking for bass players in SE London ...

 

I think that depends on what you're looking for. In north London there are more progressive metal bands. In south east there's more covers bands. Shall we exchange houses?

[Bassman Sam]

I used to do a 160 mile round trip every weekend to rehearse with my last band who were based in Essex. I did that for 6 years. When I moved to Cheshire, I carried on for a year but the 360 mile round trip was too much in the end and called it a day.

[SpondonBassed]

11 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

So think yourself f**king lucky you live where you do. It's grim down South.

You paint a charming picture.  Excuse me while I copy your post to Trip Advisor and the London Tourist Board.

Isn't it a bit rum?  Here you can't do normal things without a car.  There you can't do normal things with one.

[Happy Jack]

12 hours ago, Bassman Sam said:

I used to do a 160 mile round trip every weekend to rehearse with my last band who were based in Essex. I did that for 6 years. When I moved to Cheshire, I carried on for a year but the 360 mile round trip was too much in the end and called it a day.

Pah! No commitment ...

[Happy Jack]

As we drove home from Leighton Buzzard at 1am after last night's gig, I was saying to Silvie how much I enjoy the drive home in the wee small hours ... a reminder of how driving in London used to be.

[chris_b]

An hour to travel to do anything in London is about par for the course.

The real question is why do some bands rehearse so much?

[theosd]

Like, being a bassist leaves you (us) with few options. Either you want to make a massive noise or the noise you end up making isn't massive enough. Be picky. (Be massive).