Being a musician abroad is an enlivening experience. It is even more so in Barcelona. Getting started can involve joining a band, getting musical equipment, and rehearsing before ultimately playing live. To ease this stress, especially if you are new to the city, I have outlined the basics of finding, getting and playing a gig date in Barcelona.
Getting your musical equipment over
For the past year airline security restrictions have made it difficult to board your musical equipment on a plane. Still, if you have your own kit, the cheapest way to get your instruments to Spain is still by plane. Airline holdall prices range from 21 Euros to 35 Euros.
Buying Musical Equipment
If you need to buy new equipment, there are areas with dedicated stores. In Barcelona town centre the place to head for musical instruments is Calle Tallers, which is just off the Ramblas. Head up Tallers for specialist string instrument and associated accessory stores. There are a few bargain musical stores to be found around the Sant Antoni district.
Getting music equipment deals in Spain
Unlike the UK, it is not always possible to barter for musical equipment in stores, partly due to a non-credit dependent culture. However, the thrifty can try their luck offering cash for a discount. If you have some specialist accessories or strings you can find some excellent e-bay bargains from the UK or from Thomann online. Keyboard players need look no further than a shop called Alfasoni that stocks a huge range of electronic and recording equipment. If independent chains are more to your liking, there are hubs of electronic music stores around the Eixample.
Finding Musicians in Barcelona
Finding musicians in Barcelona is not too difficult. Many of the music shops have a posting board full of audition notices. If you are short on time, the main website to post or enquire about bands is undoubtedly Loquo. Other highly-recommended sites include Craigslist and Barcelona Connect. An interesting website for finding the ever-elusive drummers is Batacas.
Benefits of being an English Speaking Musician
Having played in a mixture of bands in Barcelona, I can say that being a fluent English speaker has its benefits. Examples include correcting song lyrics and publicity to announcing songs and talking to the audience. Culturally, things might be different to what you’ve experienced elsewhere – in the UK it is an unsaid agreement to bring a 6-pack of beer to enjoy the musical moments with your chums. This is not frowned upon here but neither is it the norm.
Finding a Locale / Practice Room
Going to rehearsal studios is pretty much the same deal as in the UK. In the majority of cases rehearsal rooms are charged per hour and are equipped with amplification, microphone stands and a complete drum kit. There are quite a few rehearsal rooms in Barcelona. A sizable group of rehearsal studios are found around Pobel Nou’s old industrialized areas.
On occasions microphones are hired separately. This will be a relief for most vocalists taking offence at salvia-dripping mikes. If your instruments have not arrived from abroad or if you have trashed your kit at last night’s grunge reunion, a majority of rehearsal venues have low to mid-range instruments for hire. Hiring a room varies between venues. As an average expect to pay between 5-12 Euros an hour.
If you rehearse with your band more than a few times a week, you may wish to consider a fixed term ‘sala de enseño’. These rooms have considerable mid-term cost savings. The venues are open 24/7, are secure and are leased at fixed monthly rates. Additionally they can function as a semi-professional recording studio. One such venue offering these rooms is BandaSonara. Depending on the venue, you can share one of these rooms with another band but trust is important, as both bands will have access to each other’s kit.
Playing live is probably the most challenging objective of any band in Barcelona. The biggest hurdle is finding venues where it is free to play and getting an attending audience in free of charge. A near complete list of venues can be found online at Barcelona Rocks. For acoustic or semi-acoustic bands the most notable outlets to play venues around Barcelona can be found around the Borne and Sagrada Familia.
As you would expect, each venue has a waiting list for all potential performers. The average waiting time varies from a few weeks to a quarter of a year. The lack of local, central, live venues is one of the city’s shortcomings and is partly due to the noise restrictions placed on venues and the customers waiting outside to attend the event. Sadly a lot of venues have closed over the past few years but this has not discouraged bands and aspiring musicians.
Links:
Batacas http://www.batacas.com/foros/.
Bandasonara www.bandasonora.info
Thomann www.thomann.de/gb/index.html
Alfasoni www.alfasoni.com/
Loquo www.loquo.com
Barcelona Rocks http://www.barcelonarocks.com/venues_eng.asp
Craigslist www.craigslist.org
