The Cave In Club

By Pooch

So Nancy and I moved into a new house in December 2021. Despite the fact that it had a pool (which I wanted nothing to do with….at all) the house was otherwise perfect. It needed no painting (I have painted all the rooms but two), was in great shape (we had the dryer and microwave fixed) and best of all it had a huge basement…..

SO what does one do when they are in a rocking band and have such a huge space? Well….they build a studio…..and then when the studio is done they build a club to play gigs in. Surprisingly, the first room in the house that was finished was….the basement. It really turned out pretty perfect; there is enough room for the band and the layout facilitated an off stage area (the “Green” Room). The Green Room also is a place for our band office and home recording equipment (where I record the demos of the songs for our albums). I built a small riser for the drums and was able to fit Nancy’s keys in the back next to the drums. There was also a nice storage closet where we could put our spare guitars (you can never have too

many guitars you know) and other assorted band goodies….including a violin, a melodica and a spare keyboard. Plus 11 or 12 guitars….but whose counting!

We had room to put in a private club…aka The Cave In Club. Which is also very cool. We have been playing gigs aka rambles with other bands down there every few months or so. It’s not fancy but we have been having a good time putting on some really great shows. The club has a bar, stage lighting, club lighting and best of all free beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks….who could ask for more. OH and did I mention free music? What’s cool about is ie everyone chipped in for the necessary studio equipment as well as the décor…..which pays homage to Nancy and my rock heros.

The nice thing about having space dedicated to our band is Nancy or I (or other bands even) can just go to the basement and pick up an instrument. I usually have a few guitars hanging on the wall, set up and ready to go. The keys and drums are right there. I have always wanted to play the piano – I am mesmerized on how it sounds. So I find myself tickling the ivories on Nan’s keyboard a lot of times. I have built up a repertoire of three songs and have even written one for the Velvet Blonde album with a working title of “Words and Music”.

Yes life is good!