How Far Would You Travel to Rehearse?

Bellycaster · January 2014

Just asking how far you'd go? Rehearsals not gigs, bands tend to be willing to travel a few miles to a gig, but what about bands that are not based near you.

I really want to get into a band but the ones I see on Musolist or Joinmyband are usually 30 miles away. Obviously I would need a car, but what would you consider "too far"? I get home at 6pm in the week except Fridays which is 5pm. It makes for a long night if travelling 30 miles to and from and can be costly on the old juice.

Also, can you recommend any other good websites for finding bands or sources etc. I'm not really keen about going alone to a Jam Night or anything.

Thanks.

Deijavoo · January 2014

I used to travel a 90 mile round trip twice a week for years and years. Then I got commitments other than being in a band and resented walking 90 seconds to my venue/rehearsal room. I now have a 10 mile round trip and I grumble. Maybe I'm just a grumpy lumpy.

octatonic · January 2014

30 mins, no more.

Handsome_Chris · January 2014

I used to travel an hour to practice, once a week; and it was a practice, not a rehearsal. The two people who lived near the rehearsal room did not put the time into learn their stuff, which was galling. Me and the other guitarist binned it off in the end; she had to travel 45 mins to get to practice too.

Nothing annoys me like selfish arsenips who can't be bothered to pull their weight.

Bellycaster · January 2014

@octatonic

That's about 1.5 miles in London ain't it ;-)

@Handsome_Chris and @Deijavoo

You put in some mileage there, blimey. I think 90 miles is pushing it for me, I'd have to give that the elbow. Chris, that would pish me off immenseley too, as soon as I even had the remotest gut feeling of that I'd have been off too, "with words".

randomhandclaps · January 2014

Bellycaster said:

@octatonic

That's about 1.5 miles in London ain't it ;-)

Yes, but in London there are approx. 7 bands per square mile - this increases greatly on the northern side of the Thames.

EricTheWeary · January 2014

Time rather than distance as the majority of places I might rehearse will be in or mean going across central Birmingham. I guess 45 minutes max including parking up.

Partysounds is the other website that comes to mind. If you are after a specific musician or genre then might be worth trying specific sites like Basschat or Oompahfolk.

Bellycaster · January 2014

EricTheWeary said:

Time rather than distance as the majority of places I might rehearse will be in or mean going across central Birmingham. I guess 45 minutes max including parking up.
Partysounds is the other website that comes to mind. If you are after a specific musician or genre then might be worth trying specific sites like Basschat or Oompahfolk.

Cheers for the links, Eric.

Edit: Lol, Oompahfolk went straight past me the first time ;-)

EricTheWeary · January 2014

I did put oompahnet at first but it turned out to be an actual site for this lot:

Catthan · January 2014

I travel about 30 mins for a distance that would need just 15 if there were good correspondence between the metro and bus.. Some studios we went were too far so the mates offered a ride from town to there.. But car or public transport 30 mins is the most I'd be willing to spend on the road.. As for websites, try starnow.co.uk or smth. you make an account-profile and you get castings adds. that's how they found me,,

Handsome_Chris · January 2014

Bellycaster said:
@Handsome_Chris and @Deijavoo

You put in some mileage there, blimey. I think 90 miles is pushing it for me, I'd have to give that the elbow. Chris, that would pish me off immenseley too, as soon as I even had the remotest gut feeling of that I'd have been off too, "with words".

It was over 80 miles round trip. I think their lack of commitment should have been obvious when the drummer couldn't make it on time - it was in his garage. FFS.

Reflecting upon this has made me feel a little bit disappointed in myself.

octatonic · January 2014

Bellycaster said:

@octatonic

That's about 1.5 miles in London ain't it ;-)

Providing the weather is ok.

Bellycaster · January 2014

EricTheWeary said:

I did put oompahnet at first but it turned out to be an actual site for this lot:

I wondered who'd been raiding my wardrobe.

GIVE ME MY SHORTS BACK!!!!!!!

:x

Bellycaster · January 2014

Handsome_Chris said:

Bellycaster said:
@Handsome_Chris and @Deijavoo

You put in some mileage there, blimey. I think 90 miles is pushing it for me, I'd have to give that the elbow. Chris, that would pish me off immenseley too, as soon as I even had the remotest gut feeling of that I'd have been off too, "with words".

It was over 80 miles round trip. I think their lack of commitment should have been obvious when the drummer couldn't make it on time - it was in his garage. FFS.

Reflecting upon this has made me feel a little bit disappointed in myself.

Don't be, it's better you have your attitude than to have theirs.

John_P · January 2014

I'd say 30mins is fine. Any more and it just becomes hard work keeping everything together. I was breifly in a thin lizzy tribute with a chap that used to play in limehouse - it sounded fantastic and I so wanted it to work but an hour each way made it unrealistic - I iwsh we'd all been closer.

If you're all in the same area everything about being in a band is easier to manage.

supes · January 2014

I wouldn't travel more than 45 mins each way, but if it was a good band and seemed worth it, then maybe. Put it this way, I'd rather travel 45 mins for a good band that I can see potential than 10 mins for a band that can't be arsed and ain't going anywhere fast.

Grunfeld · January 2014

Bellycaster said:

...but what would you consider "too far"? I get home at 6pm in the week except Fridays which is 5pm. It makes for a long night if travelling 30 miles to and from and can be costly on the old juice.

I think a major factor is how much you expect to earn with the band, so yep, you have to factor the expenses in. I'd go further for a functions band with regular work than for a bunch of mates who just want to do the odd gig down the Dog & Duck.

And perhaps consider any other little benefits which might appeal, e.g. our drummer travels across London to rehearsal because we have space and he doesn't have to schlep his drums, he can just leave a second kit there, turn up, hit it, and go straight home.

IanSavage · January 2014

I'd go an hour each way for a really good originals band with prospects, pretty much double that for one I REALLY wanted to work with - for covers bands, wouldn't go far outside Birmingham, I could put one together myself to rehearse at the bottom of my road that'd be better than most of the ones I see around

jd0272 · January 2014

30 mins, but I'm pretty central so it's no real bother.

Roland · January 2014

Up to an hour once a week for a good band (I'm currently doing 30 minutes each way, plus loading and set up time). Life's too short for bands that aren't any good, and don't have commitment.

stickyfiddle · January 2014

For my last lot (SE London based) it was only 10 miles, but on the way out that would take 45 minutes on a good day. Journey home at 1130ish was 25 mins though, so in total it was well under 90 minutes total travel. I'd happily do that kind of routine again for a good band, probably up to an hour each way for a REALLY good band with earning potential too.

I found that time in the car was really good for vocal warmups, listening to stuff I'm learning, or just listening to new music. You can get through most good albums in 45 mins

RocknRollDave · January 2014

To me, it depends entirely on the band and whether it was originals or covers.

For covers, I believe that if you find decent enough musicians, once you have got past the initial rehearsals of learning the set together and being ready to go, you shouldn't need to rehearse very often at all (so long as you are gigging regularly). My band did a few rehearsals at the start and nowadays we rarely rehearse (less than once a year, on average). Whenever new songs go in the set, we learn them individually as per the record, with any changes (endings, intros, key) agreed and tried out in soundcheck. I know it all sounds a bit "seat of your pants", but really you can't tell if a song will work until you play it for an audience anyway, and it works well for us.

For originals, on the other hand, the rehearsals will also be the opportunity to jam up new material, so they will be important on an ongoing basis, plus you will probably gig less often than a covers band and regular rehearsal will keep you sharp.

So..how far would I travel? Well for an originals band, given I have said regular rehearsal is vital, I'd have to have a sensible limit as time/ fuel will just get eaten up if I chase a great band halfway across the country...That said, if it really WAS a great band, a once-in-a-lifetime thing, maybe I'd think "Ah in for a penny..."
For my covers band, it's not such a big deal to have to travel to a rehearsal if they only come once in a blue moon, so the only restrictions are finding the actual time to do it - No point rehearsing in Dunfermline if it takes me until 4am to get there after work...!

EricTheWeary · January 2014

IanSavage;126248" said:
- for covers bands, wouldn't go far outside Birmingham, I could put one together myself to rehearse at the bottom of my road that'd be better than most of the ones I see around

Ah, if only Challenge Anneka was still on the telly...

Kebabkid · January 2014

Now, I'd only consider 45min-1hr away for external rehearsal studios and preferrably in Surrey/South London/south of the river. However, I'm lucky that we have a fully-kitted rehearsal studio at work (Central London) that we can use for free and most of my rehearsals of late seem to be there, so I just bring in a guitar and pedalboard.

For 12 years I drove a couple of times a month from Surrey to Finchley (22 miles) for rehearsals with my function band - that's where the majority of the band lived, plus we used the singer's home rehearsal studio. That's not a far distance but when you're driving across town mid-week in looney, rush hour traffic and it takes you 2hrs to get there, sometimes more, it's a killer. In the end, I had enough and left the band. Home, sound-proofed rehearsal facility is the way I'm heading in my old age

A good band source is Gumtree and as you can search/advertise for your locality - it narrows things down.

lustycourtier · January 2014

EricTheWeary said:

I did put oompahnet at first but it turned out to be an actual site for this lot:

I then googles 'Karls Bavarian Brass' and was dismayed not to find german hookers...

Cirrus · January 2014

It would totally depend on the band/ project. For a while I was living in Rugby and practicing in the middle of Birmingham, that was 35-ish miles, about an hour there after work and 45 minutes back at 11pm. I did find it annoying the times I'd get there ready to really knuckle down and half the band who lived 5 mins drive away turned up 15 minutes late and messed about.

Now I live on the south tip of brum it's a relatively consistent 10 mile, 25 minute drive up the A38, which is better.

bluechargeboy · January 2014

I used to drive from Leicester to Leamington Spa and back weekly (35 miles each way). Some years later I became reacquainted with the same band and drove from Wales to Leamington for practices over one summer, although I would stay overnight and often gig the following night.

I would not do this now (about half an hour currently).

IanSavage · January 2014

A disquieting number of West Midlands-types here, bring on Challenge Aneka

Kebabkid · January 2014

Bellycaster said:

EricTheWeary said:

I did put oompahnet at first but it turned out to be an actual site for this lot:

I wondered who'd been raiding my wardrobe.

GIVE ME MY SHORTS BACK!!!!!!!

:x

The trombonist's shorts look slightly soiled!

Bellycaster · January 2014

Kebabkid;127296" said:
Bellycaster said:

EricTheWeary said:

I did put oompahnet at first but it turned out to be an actual site for this lot:

I wondered who'd been raiding my wardrobe.

GIVE ME MY SHORTS BACK!!!!!!!

:x The trombonist's shorts look slightly soiled!

They'll be mine then, I forgot to wash them.

fretmeister · January 2014

About 30 mins travel if it was regular.

30 mins is always 30 mins plus set up and tear down, and that is the boring bit.

There should be a new law. All studios and venues should have AX-FX units so I never have to carry an amp again.

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How Far Would You Travel to Rehearse?

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