ODA PRACTICE
FOU RTEE N
(fanmail)
Itt s not often I feel motivated. to r,srite to the press, either music ,or etraight r but f I d like to set the record straight with a few ftradford bands. Beinf an avid read.er of your comic, f rve twice noticed. in interviews ( Beats Worki-ng & Idle Rich) tnat tl .99 a throw for Codats rehearsal room is considered. a bit steeP. HeIIr let me tell you a story... Once upon a time I wh€n we decided to open a rehearsal roomt we di d-n I t have much second-hand ge ar around so we put our own personal gear up there - Ba^rryrs d.ouble Ludwig drum kit & Avedis cymbalsr rnJ Fender 2xL5 cab &, I'tarshall 4xL2 & Peavey Classic combo &, a Marshall ,O watt top to narne but a lot. Within a month or so the Fender c ab was blor+ne the kit was hlrecked., the output transformer in the Peavey was blown, two Avedis cymbals had been niOked, & some bastard. stole the valves from the back of nV arnp & if I ever catch him f f ll wring his bleeding neck. This state of affairs has caried on for 2 years nowl with varying degrees of success to the wreckers & thi€v€so the The room is now covered. in graffitir acoustic tiles have been ripped. from the walls & the gear has degenerated until it I s barely working. Generally speakingr the room is a s
o ia month that most Bradford bands would have to do resid.ency at The Vau1ts Bar to afford an al af ternoonr
atory sarne s' a
s r ally 1) Clean up the room, decorate it & generatart it up r put good cl ass gear up there && charge ut the a ridiculous rate for itr thus cutting out pace. band.s who d.esperately need. a rehearsal spa( earsei in a 2) Keep it as it isebut who wa^nts to rehea.: shithole anyway? 3) Give it all up as a bad. job & say itf ss just too re wonf t bad that bands that may just ge t somewhere have a chance. rsal room Since l ast April r provid.ing the rehearsi has cost C oda I'Iusic at, least {'?U0. ready Your suggestions are r*elcome. I I ve alrei e choice rambled. on too longr so ItIl shut rP. The is yoursr musj.c lovers. Think about it. A^ I \ tr 3
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Coda
hi thole .
In the beginning, the charge was f'I-OO r P€r
hour with all the gear provided right down to drumsticks & guitars & leads etc. which continued'
to di sappear al arl a}arming rate. llilhy I you may ask, didnr t we d.o something about it? There a^re very few alternatives. Closed circuit [V? A Ii ttle bit expensive &, although viewing would be better than the usual crap on TV music showsl someone would have to be paid- to sit & watch it every night. Check the room before the ba^nd leave the premises? Again, impossible with only one person in the shop al night. h{hy not just give it up as a bad jobr I hear you Bgk? l{e11, for some perverse reasonr we fee} that someone has to provi d.e encouragement & f acilities for local bands, f acilities r*hich are sadly lacking in Bradford.. Having seen the way some bands started off bashing out a few tunes at Coda, it|s good to see that theyrve turned' out to be damned fine basds - like fhe Negs (sorry, tgsterious Pawprints ) & my own f awrurites t Agony Cltumn & Radio 5 alt of whom are worth seeing at any time. More recently, wefve had in up-&-coming basds like Idl e R ich, Be ats Horkin g & To t a.I j-ous about their C onf usion, aI I of whom are ser promise of things to & show rehearsing nn:sic & COIII€
s rehearsal in there. Itf s the
everJruhare - tyou gets what you pays forr.t ative We are faced with three simple alternat:
o
The basds who rehe arse here seem to split into
f
ltl, tn LFtn
ffi
Guitar Night '*irf',!7tt, t
March.
RICHARD HARDING &, THE CRdSTER
MYLT & FRIEND t was a bl ind d-ate f or n€ o Spl ash I the basement with a bar & a Space Invaders was a:r unusual setting for a guitar nightr & when Gary Boyle took the floor with his friends I wa^s pleased' that though ftd. lost at fnvaders, I ryas obviously going to hear some good music. Cary (St")t Paul. iirctarr (tUas ) , Cary Culshaw ( aur & elec bass') & Gralram Dea^n ( arns ) played a1 excellent set of 7 numbers lasting over a;1 hour. There were I Chick Corea numbers, including his amazing tspainr, & th others were centred aroqnd Garyr s guitar r some brilliant pia^no, & a smattering of Stanley C1arkelike bass. Altogether good. Jaz?', fast-rnoving & smooth, from a new ba^nd with an obrrious wealth of stage experience. A break with the disco in half-sning }ed. to Richard Harding playing 3lovable guitar solos including rPeopler & a rateable rDancing cheek To I heekt as alt intro to The Cresters, f or whom he j-nto an invisibl p lays guitar &, mouths thank-your s microphone. The Cresters being an experienced club bandl they got the audience ("f a hundred.r or so ) going with medleys of f amous tr:nes like The Stars & Sti.ipesr, r!'iest Sicle Storyt & f t{hen You Wish Upo A Stari , finishing off with Fubeckt s stasdard |Take Five?. Their encore was deserved they trie hard even though Gariy B oyle t s band. had pl ayed' well to a seemingly fro zen audience &. got Doll€o All in all it was a fun evening, even down to the fact that I felt into a road vrorks hole on the way homet Cheers, God & thanks to Coda' GARY I
Ken Turner. 2 categories. The first are !h" serious bands like the ones mentioned (a others ). The second categor ( Sqre1y I West Side Storyr i s a f ilm/musical d'oes consists of bands who come to make as 10ud a noigo he mea.n rlvlafiat or maybe lTherets a P1ace For Us|? t eitherl ) as po ssible (""a just new wave ba^nds, ed) ... mustrve been that faII someone elser s gear cos if they d'id' it at home shot' them have would neighbouls parents o" their They think that by virtue of the fact that theyr v paia for a rehearsal room they ca]1 physically & electronically abuse someone elseis gear & roomt invite 43 matls in for a party at the same timet rip off bits of kits gr. amps, mics, leadsr plugsl etcnetCo&generallydisplayagmuchinterestin of creative rnusic as the progarnme ccntrollers itadio one. These bands ha0 better think a€ain beforetheyringuptobookanotherrehearsa}. is your i,;[Hilr Hhich cateiory ao you faII into? Andads in the he d.rurn the on r"*" s ba'dr P*rS"@ "t"ibhled" rehearsal room?
liehearsal roonns in London are amazLng - all top-class qeax, Pool tables, SPace Invadeler outr a€€ous cof f ee mzi.chines, etc' The pri ce s are so
H€^h^ hO CltCh
.a*e , no rvrallfr .ttg. hard he_ r