Entretiens brouillés avec les propriétaires de studios de musique

Drew Winter, Bad Habit Studios

We take some time out to speak to Drew about their experience of breathing life back into a run-down studio and get their take on the struggles facing the live music scene in the UK today

For Drew, the draw of a passion project when moving back to his hometown of Eastbourne saw him taking on an unloved music studio. Drew tells us how he turned things around and put the studio, now Bad Habit Studios, back on the map. He also discusses his efforts to support the grassroots music scene in the area and his concerns for the decline in live music venues.

What inspired you to start your studio?

It was good timing really because I was living in Cardiff and planning to move back to my hometown, when I saw an ad on Gumtree which was the studio I used to rehearse at up for rent. I was moving back here and needed something that I would be passionate about and it seemed like a good opportunity, so I checked the place out. The previous owner had clearly given up on it quite a few years ago and it was very run down.

I remember when he first set it up, 20 years ago. He obviously started off very passionate and I think his plan was to make it more of a recording studio. You can see that in the way it’s laid out, with the windows between the rooms. I think it got neglected over the years, as his passion wasn’t really in it being a rehearsal studio. So, it came in good time and was something I’m passionate about that I could sink my teeth into.

It’s obviously going very well.

Yeah, I mean considering what it was. There were only one or two other places around and all of them had a similar kind of setup, with owners that didn't seem too bothered. It would be hard to make bookings at these places and to get hold of anyone. So that was sort of the plan with this place really: somewhere that people can easily book, that’s affordable and looked after. I think that’s the main thing. I haven’t done a huge amount to the place other than clean it out, give it a lick of a paint, new carpet tiles and clean it every day.

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There were beer cans everywhere, so it's just simple things like that really. A lot of the equipment is the original from 20 years ago, I've just had it serviced and maintained.

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Drew Winter

Bad Habit

Drew Winter - Bad Habit

I imagine the previous owner didn't step into the place for weeks on end. There were beer cans everywhere, so it's just simple things like that really. A lot of the equipment is the original from 20 years ago, I've just had it serviced and maintained. That’s what makes a difference.

What does a day in your life look like?

At the moment, I've got a day job as well, which I took on during Covid and just stuck with it. It’s a nine till two catering job, which fits around this really nicely because there's never really that much going on during the day, just the odd person will come in. I'll get up about 6am to do bits and pieces in the studio, then I’ll go to work, then get back and do some more before the next lot of bands arrive.

This place is kind of semi self-service. I'm quite hands off with it most of the time. I'm still always on call to a certain extent, if anything goes wrong. It's quite a long day really, but I can still do my own thing and be around if there are any issues.

It's been busy recently because we just finished off the third room, the recording room. That’s the last room we had to sort out properly and refurbish, so hopefully once this is running, I should be able to step back a little bit. But there is always something or other to do.

What sort of musicians do you typically see?

A wide range. Eastbourne is quite a funny place in terms of its music scene because there's nowhere putting on original music bands. I mean there aren’t any venues as such, with a decent in-house backline and sound engineer. This means that anyone putting on an original music gig needs to provide all this themselves.

On a grassroots level it doesn't really exist, but there are lots of cover bands. Every weekend there'll be 15 to 20 cover band gigs. So there’s lots of music here, but it's skewed towards one demographic. From a studio perspective, this can be issue because cover bands don't tend to rehearse as regularly. Once they have their set locked in, they will come in maybe once a month.

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Eastbourne Music Collective is something we formed to try and get that going and that's led to a real change

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Drew Winter

Bad Habit

Drew Winter - Bad Habit

I have been involved in a wider project to get original music going in the town. Eastbourne Music Collective is something we formed to try and get that going and this has led to a real change. It has attracted a lot more youngsters in now, forming new bands. It’s a recent thing which is starting to take hold, and the studio now sees a much wider variety of bands and musicians.


The studio has quite a wide catchment in terms of Hastings and Brighton, and I'll get quite a lot of bands from Hastings who travel here because apparently there aren’t really many facilities there. I tend to have a catchment of more established original bands travelling here because I'm cheaper and they haven't really got access to good places.

Did your business plan have to change during Covid? If so, what was it like?

Yeah, definitely in terms of taking on another job and I think it was a curse and a blessing because I did get funding and government grants. A lot of it went to the landlord, which is kind of depressing, but I was able to put in air conditioning and stuff like that, which I wouldn't have done otherwise. It was almost like a bit of extra capital which I didn't have, so I pumped it back into making the place better.

So yeah, it was difficult, and then there was the trouble of starting things back up, especially when the rules were relaxed but still a bit vague. You'd get a bit of stick from people saying you shouldn't be opening and all that kind of stuff. So that was difficult at the time. It was all really open to interpretation and different councils had different kind of ideas of things as well.

What do you think the biggest challenge is that the music scene/ industry faces at the moment?

It seems to be simply getting people to go to gigs. I've been involved with putting on local gigs and people don’t seem to want to commit to stuff anymore. It’s difficult to persuade people to buy tickets in advance, people prefer to get them on the door which is difficult from a promoter perspective not having any idea of expected numbers. I'm guilty of this as well, deciding on the day whether I’ll go along, so I can't really complain. But yeah, it's particularly difficult looking at the local level here in Eastbourne. There aren’t any properly equipped venues, so the work involved in making these shows happen makes them financially unviable.

Another thing is that it’s all tied too closely to alcohol sales, which is one of the reasons we don't really have an original music scene in Eastbourne. Youngsters here have got no hope really; we've approached places with under-18 licences and they're not interested in putting on under-18-friendly shows and they're not interested, as it doesn’t make them any money. I think this is a wider problem really. And studies show that youngsters’ drinking habits are changing, which is a problem when the industry is completely geared towards this.

I feel quite strongly that the music venue model should be geared towards rehearsal places that also have a venue space. Brighton Electric and The Green Rooms in South Wales near where I used to live are good examples of places that do this. I think the model going forward should be less dependent on alcohol sales and have broader sources of income.

And finally, do you have any advice for anyone looking to open their own studio or looking to do what you did?

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The man who built this place, he made the soundproof brilliant, so once everyone is in, it's really sealed in, but the complaints come from the people outside.

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Drew Winter

Bad Habit

Drew Winter - Bad Habit

I'm guessing everyone says don't do it! I would say get to know the neighbourhood well in terms of your immediate neighbours, but also in terms of your own rights. I shared a courtyard and that has gotten messy in terms of different people's parking rights and so on. It wasn't until there were disputes that I read up on things and realised if I'd done certain things at the start, I could have nipped a lot of issues in the bud.

So, really get to know all that kind of stuff, because any business like this that generates noise is going to cause problems with the neighbours. I think the bigger problem really is people outside smoking between sessions and the noise that they make outside. The guy who built this place did a great job with the soundproofing, so once everyone is in, it's really sealed in, but the complaints come from the people outside.

That would be my advice, to think about the neighbourhood and try and nip those kinds of problems in the bud rather than having to react to it.

Interested in reading more of this series of interviews? Check them all out here

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