What sort of place does/did your band rehearse in?

Cols

Back room of a pub, rehearsal studios, living room or (weather permitting) back garden.  The last two require the neighbours to be out; they tend to have limited patience for musical shenanigans.

MattNovak

Used to rehearse downstairs at the Hard Rock Cafe in Prague when they weren't using it. Also was in the house band there for a while

Flanging_Fred

A popular local rehersal studios which is a load of converted farm outbuildings. 

I’m lucky in that we are friends with the owner and share a room that his band has private use of. This means we can leave our gear there and the PA is always ready and set up. 

Which reminds me that I haven’t been to pick up my amps since February! 

webrthomson

Berkley 2 in Glasgow - if its good enough for Biffy Clyro

Its very nice and not actually that expensive!

Sometimes the Green Room in Govan, which I prefer, they have excellent vintage Marshalls!

jeztone2

In recent years those awful Pirate places. The one in Nottingham isn’t bad. But they are incredibly cheap. I honestly don’t know how they make money. 

My previous band in London was lucky. Our drummer owned a small independent gym and we rehearsed in a room upstairs above it. He’d bought a small PA so he could hear his electronic kit. For louder rehearsals we’d go to Mill Hill Studios and occasionally have The Damned in the room next to us. I thought they were a tribute act at first til I saw Captain Sensible at the vending machines. 

Snags

Jamming/ideas exchange: my living room or the other guitarist's garage. Actual full band rehearsals in a local-ish rehearsal room - basically a couple of units on an industrial estate in Harlow that had been divided up inside, two rooms in each unit. Not posh, but adequate as long as you didn't sniff the supplied microphones (if you did, the next week you remembered to bring your own).

Jalapeno

Adey said:

Jalapeno said:

A room in the drummer's palatial gaff.  (The unused Au Pair's flat to be precise !)

@Jalapeno ;What was unused? The room or the Au Pair?

Well they separated over something ... but in our case the room

Barquentine

Most recently (last year) a very nice but small rehearsal room with decent drum kit, backline and P.A. Immaculately clean, unlimited free coffee and cups that did not resemble the petri dishes most other places provide. The worst place was the 'basement' of a kebab shop which was essentially a hole in the ground.

stickyfiddle

Depends what you're doing imo. Arrangements and vocal harmonies are often best done in someone's living room as you don't need all your kit for those conversations. If actually rehearsing for recording or live shows then you need mics and PA so a proper rehearsal/recording studio is the best bet. 

I love a good rehearsal room. It's been far too long since I was last in one. 

TTBZ

We use a rehearsal room with provided PA and decent backline amps. I go through a JMP100 halfstack which is better than my own amp!

TheBigDipper

These days it's the kitchen and no PA required. 

My first two serious bands had the best practice spaces I've ever used. Nothing since has matched them, and there's been quite a few... 

The first (1979, I'm old) was an anonymous room in a Victorian industrial estate by West Kensington rube - we had to walk past The Nashville to get there. We rented the room 24/7 with another band and kept our gear there. Small but inspiring. No sound proofing, but we only used it on evenings or weekends. The floor below was the factory for a young-and-hungry Diesel Jeans. There's something nice abut being able to pop in by yourself and mess about with gear at gigging volumes without boring anyone else. 

The second was Atlanta in Camden Lock, under the railway arches. It had a nice PA, good sound and a mezzanine floor where people could come and watch if you had a showcase. Rumour was (this is 1980/81) that it was once called Rehearsal Rehearsals and the domain of The Clash - but I've no idea, TBH. We used to use it on Sunday evenings. The regular Sunday afternoon band for a few months was Flock Of Seagulls. Not very sociable at changeover time, I'm sorry to say. 

Adey

We used to use Bush Studios at Shepherds Bush mostly. Tried Pirate, but it was barely cheaper and there was no one there to sort out any problems. Bush are highly recommended by me.

EricTheWeary

Used the Pirate one in Brum a couple of times but there was always something broken and you’d have to call someone up and they’d give you directions...just lost loads of time lost. Between that and the drummer’s fifteen fag breaks hardly worth turning up. 

Cirrus

A lockup room we rented by the month for 10 years, everything set up and ready to go. Recorded in there too. Was great to have!

But my all time favourite was a year long period where I was the drummer in a band with someone that lived in a big farm type place - we usually rehearsed in office space in a converted barn, but when it was nice we'd set up in an actual open barn and play to nearby livestock.

Roland

Over the years I’ve rehearsed in most places. Recently, until lockdown, it was Pirate in Nottingham. Since it’s been a village hall and a British Legion hall. 

rico

Mainly it’s pirate studios. Very convenient. Have also used a local pub (back room and outbuildings), garages, and a horses stables - vacant thankfully!

Lestratcaster

I've been to a few rehearsal studios, I also used Bush Studios in Shepherd's Bush for a while with one of my first bands. Have used Pirate a couple of times too. When I was studying in Guildford I used Silent Hill studios alot, or Water Rat in Woking. 

Have also rehearsed in garages, one rock band I was in the singer had a nice little space at the back of his garden that housed a full band in there where we'd save a lot of money on rehearsal costs.

For non-band stuff I've used living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms but that's more practical if you've just a couple of acoustics. If the weather's nice we've gone in the garden too.

ManWithoutSkin

I've rehearsed in everywhere from my old school, church halls to purpose built rehearsal rooms.  My old band also had our own room for a little bit where our gear was left set up which was great.  

You know you've made it when you're rehearsing in this place.  https://www.productionpark.co.uk/studios/studio-001/ ;

John_A

Quad studios in Lecester.  A very professional set-up with 7 well kitted out good sized rooms.  A choice of backline, Orange, Marshall, Fender, Ampeg, Mesa etc, good quality kits, PA and mics.

Social area/coffee bar, clean toilets too!

roberty

Dedicated rehearsal space, cheap and cheerful. Takes ages to load in and set up but it's friendly and the room we play in is a decent size