• First posted: 27/8/02 • Updated: 25/11/02

VIEWS ON THE CO-OP
Jump to views by: David Gray • Nick from Anenemy

CULTURAL GEM
Former volunteer Bridget Halldearn reveals the secrets of the Musician’s Co-op – and just why tearing it down as part of new development plans would be such a bad idea…

I've used Lancaster's Musicians' Co-op in a former life, as the bass player for Strawberry Girl (God, we were good!!) and I also volunteered for a time there. For the band, it was a real discovery.

We had heard rumours that there were new rehearsal rooms, but thought we were just fine using (guitarist) David’s front room, until we realised that it was far better being somewhere where you could make much more noise, hire equipment when yours broke down and generally be part of the music scene. It was the Music Coop that helped get us our first gig at the Sugerhouse many, many years ago and then we started rehearsing there all the time (and recording, too).

Like any creative art it is a great to feel part of a scene that isn’t cliquey or inaccessible, even though our band was, of course, the best by miles. We were on the Co-op’s compilation tapes, we did swap gigs with bands from out of town and just generally felt passionate and involved about being Strawberry Girl. The Music Co-op was (and of course still is) hugely exciting to anyone who wants to play/record music; the fact that it is so user friendly, that it is affordable, that so many different people use it... It is the equivalent of painter’s studios, somewhere you can be creative, splash paint everywhere (well - notes, chords, big loud drums and bass lines), be expressive – to be ready to perform live or to record, or just to play.

Every week in Lancaster there are bands playing gigs at the Bobbin, at the Yorkshire House, at the Gregson, the John O’Gaunt, the Wagon & Horses... some even go and play gigs further afield in Manchester/London etc.! This is brilliant - and many rehearse at the Co-op.

The Bottle Shop youth theatre also used the Co-op for Young Women's Music Workshops for a couple of years as it was affordable and the staff were so supportive. Now, the Dukes (and other businesses and arts organisations) hires equipment from them and has also used the studio a number of times, including for the audio-tape guide of what's on at the Dukes for the visually-impaired.

Lancaster's Muscians' Co-op is a fabulous place run by three hard-working, talented members and used by countless musicians. This area of Lancaster could be such a dynamic and exciting cultural area (the Dukes, the Grand, the Dance Studios!). I think we should be very proud of Lancaster and the initiatives of local people and not let the city become not just another faceless chainstore town.



A UNIQUE RESOURCE
by David Gray

Delivered 7/9/02: For the last three years, I have been living and studying in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the home of Prince, Husker Du, The Replacements, Babes in Toyland, and (from up the road in Hibbing), Bob Dylan, Minneapolis has been one of the most influential cities in contemporary American musical history. Despite this, Minneapolis has nothing that compares to Lancaster‚s Music Co-op. My musician friends‚ jaws drop here when I tell them that in my hometown of Lancaster, there is a place where bands can walk to, to rehearse and record by the hour for less than the price of a pitcher of Budweiser.

While recent observers have rightly pointed out that the Co-op provides a safe, cheap and well-managed space for musicians of all ages, and is intrinsic to the city‚s larger cultural life, less emphasized has been the Co-op's centrality to the local economy. By continually generating the bands that have brought people into the city's pubs and clubs week-in week-out over the years, the Co-op has actually encouraged people to go out and spend their money. The Yorkshire House, John O' Gaunt, Gregson Centre, Brown Cow, and The Bobbin are just a few places that have thrived from the community of musicians and music fans that the Co-op has helped to cultivate and sustain. And of course, the Co-op continues to foster the all-important relationship between the city and the University by bringing the student community into town to use its facilities, and to enjoy the bands that it helps to develop.

During my extensive travels throughout the United States, I have found Lancaster‚s music scene to be unmatched in any city of similar size (as well as many larger ones), and this, it is clear, has absolutely everything to do with the support that the Co-op constantly provides to the local music community. While the closure of the Music Co-op is far from certain, such an act of barbarism would demonstrate a startling lack of foresight on the part of those who would support this. It would not only obliterate a key institution within the city's cultural and economic base, but also degrade Lancaster's rich tradition of cultural and artistic production.

David Gray
Minneapolis.

NOWHERE TO GO
Nick from Anenemy

Delivered 4/9/02: I currently play in a band in the Lancaster area. I was shocked to find out the other day, whilst practising in my band at the Lancaster Musician's Co-op, that it is heading for demolition.
I am 17 and play in a serious band with four schoolmates of the same age. We have been rehearsing at the Co-op for over a year now and believe it would be a tragedy if it was shut down. We are practising for quite a few gigs at the moment and the Co-op is the only suitable rehearsal facility in the area. If it was to be shut down, our band, and many other bands of people our age, younger and older would have no-where to practise and many would cease to exist. This would be a great shame for the talent in the area.
I am sending this e-mail voicing my opinion of the matter in the hope that it will somehow make a difference. I hope that the power of the media could possibly sway the council's decision of demolishing the music co-op.
Yours faithfully,
Nick (Anenemy)
from Carnforth

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Write to your local councillors asking them to support to the proposed Local Plan which proposes a Cultural Quarter for Lancaster - a plan that includes the Musicians' Co-op

• Write to your local MP asking them to support the Local Plan and ensure Chelverton do not proceed with a plan that would spell the end of the Co-op.

Hilton Dawson is the duly elected Member for the Lancaster and Wyre Constituency. He can be contacted at the Constituency Office at 15 Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 1QD.  Tel: 01524 380057

Geraldine Smith is the duly elected Member for the Morecambe and Lunesdale Constituency. She can be contacted at the Constituency Office at 26, Victoria St, Morecambe LA4 4AH. Tel: 01524 411367

MORE INFO/LINKS

• Lancaster Muscians' Co-op

• Kingsway Development Feature

Save the Co-op Posters
• Grayscale • Black
Print these out and put them somewhere prominent!

• Music
Our list of locally-based bands and musicians