Skinnyman Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I've finally decided that travelling two and half hours every morning to get to work only to repeat the process every evening in the opposite direction is not the best use of my time. So we're moving down from the wilds of Lincolnshire to Hertfordshire. I guess a lot of this is also prompted by the demise of my last band and, although I have the chance of joining another up here, it makes sense to make the move now. So I'm wondering what music venues there are in the Watford, St Albans, Amersham areas? Jam nights? Pubs that have decent bands? Any advice from those who live in the area on venues, decent music shops, luthiers? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moos3h Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 The scene is FAB round there. I've moved away but there's a brilliant selection of venues and some cracking bands! Check out www.lemonrock.com to see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome. St Albans has a huge number of live music venues but you need to be very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Its a bit quiet around Amersham/Chesham as I recall, unless things have changed in the last couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Amersham and Chesham are in Buckinghamshire. Quite a distance from Watford and St Albans. Does the OP mean Amersham? Edited January 11, 2015 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Plenty of jam nights in many of the towns, but the venues I like in a few are: Hemel Hempstead - The Oddfellows Arms St Albans - The Horn Reborn Watford - The Horns Leighton Buzzard (16 miles from Hemel) - The Wheatsheaf And there`s also Milton Keynes which is a 30min drive and has some good stuff going on up there Music Shops, well theres The Music Dept in St Albans, Fretz in Hemel Hempstead and Coda Music in both Stevenage and Luton (Luton being Bedfordshire though). Luthiers, Terry Chapman of TJC Guitars in Stevenage - wouldn`t have anyone else work on my instruments now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 What Lozz said! In the St. Albans area there's a few bands that you simply must see: The Phoenix Blues Band, The Co-Jones and Huggy Flares. Guaranteed a great night with any of those! Welcome to the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 St Albans is a fantastic place for live music, there are so many venues, but as TimR says, you do have to be good, the quality of the bands is top notch, and it's not easy to get gigs for new bands if you don't already have contacts on the circuit. The Horn Reborn is the busiest and has live music virtually every night of the week. Just down the road at London Colney, there are also a few venues despite still only being classed as a "village". Watford is pretty good too, with The Horns being the best venue by far, and has two or three bands one after the other from Sunday lunchtime onwards. The Sportsman at Croxley Green is small but used to have some of the best bands in the area, but will be stopping live music in the near future. Barnet which borders Hertfordshire is also a great place for live music, and of course, London itself is only 30/45 minutes or so on the train from most places in Herts. These are two luthiers that I would recommend, Tery Chapman http://www.tjcguitars.com/ LA Guitars https://www.laguitars.com/ Despite being a great area for music, I recently moved to Bridgnorth, Shropshire, and the music scene is great here too, its a small town, but has over 30 pubs with most selling real ale and cider, lots of them have live music of all genres, and it's just so friendly, I'm in heaven now! Good luck with your move Skinnyman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentalextra Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Another thing you will find is that the nearer you live to London and the South East the more you will be hated! Edited January 11, 2015 by mentalextra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Great info guys, thanks enormously. I may stay away from St Albans then :-) And although the Title says "Hertfordshire" I'm not too bothered about county boundaries so I guess I should have been clearer and said "within a reasonable distance of Chorleywood". I'm not sure why I should be hated more by living nearer London. People seem to manage to hate me just fine while I'm in Lincolnshire :-) Thanks again. The next few weeks are going to be fraught as I try and get everything sorted.... I took an early decision that I'd let the movers pack everything at this end and unpack at the other so the only thing I need to worry about packing and taking myself are the guitars, my old Linn hifi (see turntable thread elsewhere) and the wife. Although if room is at a premium, she can always get the train.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 St Albans is only a short drive around the M25 from Chorelywood (J18 to J22), about 10 minutes at 3am in the morning, but could take a couple of hours any other time but there are alternative routes avoiding the M25 Seriously though, St Albans is worth seeking out, its a fantastic place with lots of history, great pubs, and a great music scene. Find yourself a good band in need of a bassist locally to St Albans, and I'm sure at least one of the band members will have the necessary contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 The Chilterns is an absolutely beautiful area. Property prices, ouch, St Albans is steep too. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Sod the venues. The Shapla Tandoori in Watford was the best curry house I've ever eaten at. Hopefully it's still as good now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I lived in Watford for 6 years back in the 90s and moved there purely for music - we were a short drive from Camden & the more local scene was great fun. Watford is great, St. Albans and Hemel all have good venues / audiences and the proximity to London was really useful. I left in 2001 to move back closer to family but found myself from 2004 - 2007 driving an hour to play with another band out that way. So yeah, it's a yes from me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 [quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1421006318' post='2656130'] Sod the venues. The Shapla Tandoori in Watford was the best curry house I've ever eaten at. Hopefully it's still as good now. [/quote] Certainly is the wife and I were there last week! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I recently moved from High Wycombe to Welwyn Garden City, so my habits of going into London for music haven't really changed. The guys above have listed the good Herts venues, but you'll find tripping into London will be your new favourite musical liberty I think Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I lived in Barnet for many years - technically Hertfordshire although there's quite a few tube stations straight into town. Apart from the live venues mentioned above I used to really like Farm Factory Studios in Welwyn. One of the best rehearsal spaces I've ever used and used to be nice people as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1421014131' post='2656281'] Certainly is the wife and I were there last week! Truckstop [/quote] I need to have a trip down there. I spent a lot of my student loans in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 All the above....another good venue is the pub next to Watford Junction train station, which for the life of me I can't recall it's name - I'm sure somebody will help me out here. Being in Herts also means that you can access the gigs at The Forum (Uni of Herts venue) - always full of drunken students but they have some great bands on. As Molan says The Farm Factory is a great rehearsal space. BCer Bassface 2k10 is currently upgrading their website and, partly in return, the owner has agreed to give discount on strings to BCers. Just let them know that you use the forum!! Lastly, being in Herts means that you have no excuse for not attending the Herts Bash!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moos3h Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 The Horns? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 The Flag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 [quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1421265351' post='2659205'] Lastly, being in Herts means that you have no excuse for not attending the Herts Bash!! [/quote] Too right Mick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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