How Far Would You Travel to Rehearse?

RocknRollDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kebabkid

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

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

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.

midiglitch

I do about 20 minutes each way currently.  On average once per two weeks and that is an originals band.  More than half an hour each way starts to grate on me in my experience, but I think I'd do an hour each way for a really really good band.  That's the limit for me though - I get up at 6 and can't be doing with finishing practise at 11 and then driving an hour home - I need more sleep than that!

koneguitarist

What's this "rehearse"?

NervousJohn

Currently I'm travelling an hour each way for an originals hobby band. When we started it was about 15 mins to get to rehearsal but I moved and wanted to keep the band going as I enjoy it so much. The rest of the band are travelling about 30 to 45 mins.