Flats show us round their practice space...
The other day I was sitting around at home watching Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel. Whilst they were throwing fire extinguishers into a fire, they explained about the fire triangle, and as they went through the facts, I was thinking bands need a bit of a pyramid of their own. Not only does any budding band need promoters to put them on and a crowd of people to play to, they also need a space to practice in.
Whilst we always go on about the first two, we hardly ever do anything about practice spaces, which is a bit of a shame, as this is usually where bands hang out, strategise and generally come up with all their ideas. This is the first in a series of articles on bands and their studios, and for the first one I asked Samir from Flats to tell us a little bit about theirs. If you’re now spitting out your coffee whilst exclaiming “who?” do you even read the NME? If you’d bothered you’d probably have heard of these four guys who have basically been resurrecting the old fire and brimstone punk of bands like Discharge and UK Subs and causing the likes of Gallows to shit their pants. That’s who Flats are.
Here's how it went:
Tell us about your studio.
It’s Unit 6 rehearsal studio in Cable Street Studios down in Limehouse. It’s a tiny little place surrounded by workshops, clubs, a venue and a café. It only has one room with various bits and bobs, but it definitely has a certain je ne sais quoi.
What other bands practice there?
Oh, only a few dozen – Trash Kit, Flats, Blue on Blue and Electricity in our Homes are the guys who practice there regularly. Bob Constant & the Goodbye Horses and Panic Attract also practice regularly at Unit 6 and they're two of my very favourite bands.
What’s the best thing about practising there?
(Looking wistfully into space) The stains on the carpet... that familiar smell. I think the best thing about it is that it’s so isolated. It’s pretty much one room where you can make as much noise as you can because there's no-one around to hear you. Well, actually that’s not true – there’s a transvestite club next door, and they can probably hear us.
Apart from that, there’s a 24 hour café round the corner, and it has pretty good transport links.
If you want to check out Unit 6, either email tommyhaha{at}hotmail.co.uk, or phone 07951104004. Or, even easier, head over to their facebook group. Samir also works at the Jamboree and recommends you stop by there to.
Flats are currently touring the UK as part of the NME Radar Tour. They'll be playing the Hoxton Square and Kitchen in November. http://www.myspace.com/flatsofcourse.
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