Case Study
A small unassuming chapel in Holbeck is making the most of the boom in local live music. A quick look at the Old Chapel Studios page on MySpace reveals some fairly illustrious friends.
The list reads like a roll call of the best bands to come out of the region in the last few years: Kaiser Chiefs, Pigeon Detectives, iLiKETRAiNS…
Old Chapel Studios opened in 1992 to provide rehearsal space for new and established musicians. Today there are five sound-insulated rooms and all the technology a band could need – PAs, mics, stands, bass and guitar cabinets and backline hire (for the uninitiated that’s all the stuff behind a band when they are playing, such as amps).
The studios are used by the famous and the infamous. Young Leeds band iRRegulars were just getting into their stride rehearsing a cover of the Kaiser Chief’s ‘Ruby’ when the lads themselves walked into the studio and joined in. Happily for the iRRegulars all was filmed and their seven minutes of fame duly appeared on YouTube.
Studio founder Mark Hubbard explains, “Musicians need places to practice, and most people would probably prefer it if they went to a sound-proofed studio rather than the front room.”
“There are around 600 bands in Leeds at the moment, but we’re still one of only a handful of fully equipped rehearsal rooms in the city, and one of only two in South Leeds. The city has a history of putting out great bands, like Sisters of Mercy, Cud and Embrace, who emerged in the 80s, to Sunshine Underground, Duels, and Shatner. But affordable, equipped studios are in short supply.”
Currently run as a limited company there are exciting plans for the Old Chapel’s future. Mark hopes to expand the available space to 10,000 sq ft, for studios, equipment hire and as a one stop shop for musicians in the city, to rehearse, meet, and find ancillary services, from musical instrument repair to promoters.
Mark predicts that 2009 will be an exciting year for music in south Leeds. “Watch this space, literally,” he says, and with Mark’s infectious enthusiasm for music and the area it will be hard not to.
