Toronto’s Music Scene Responds to the Rehearsal Room Shortage
they skipped what many bands consider to be an important rite of passage: getting their own consistent practice space. They bounced between friends’ private facilities, a room in the headquarters of Royal Mountain Records, and bassist Nestor Chumak’s parents’ basement. That finally changed in the pandemic, as the Toronto punk band rented a room in the Geary Avenue location of Rehearsal Factory and began working on the songs that would become their fourth album, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND.
“That was the first time we had really had a monthly room,” guitarist Steve Sladkowski tells Exclaim! “We wrote the whole new record basically in that room. It was sort of the only place I would go, or any of us would go, when we felt safe enough to be in a room together.”
The band were uprooted in January upon showing up to the space to find a letter informing them that they were being evicted following the sale of the building to C3, an Australian megachurch with welcoming messaging (“We’re about loving others,” the church’s Toronto website promises) and homophobic beliefs (“Marriage … is exclusively between a man and a woman,” says C3’s global website). All of the bands were evicted from 322 Geary, while the neighbouring 330 Geary will continue to operate as a practice space for the next few years.
“It’s fucking reprehensible,” says an audibly exasperated Sladkowski of the building’s new owners. “The church has openly promoted the most narrow view of marriage and how social organization should happen, and how society should be run. It takes no interest in people whose gender identities don’t conform to binary norms, whose sexual preferences don’t line up with a dumbass interpretation of the Bible.”
It’s the ultimate insult to a music scene that’s already hurting from the closure of Rehearsal Factory buildings across
Toronto, putting a huge dent in the availability of practice rooms and making the city increasingly inhospitable for upand-coming bands.
As recently as 2021, Rehearsal Factory operated seven facilities throughout the GTA and Hamilton. Then owners Chris and Evon Skinner retired — due in part to health issues and pandemic-related financial losses, according to an interview with the West End Phoenix — and sold off the various buildings; some tenants have already been evicted, while other facilities have rebranded. (The Geary Avenue and Hamilton locations remain open under the name Main Stage Rehearsal.) As of this writing, only the Etobicoke location continues to operate under the Rehearsal Factory banner.
Luckily, some arts-minded entrepreneurs are stepping in to meet demand. Jesse Seberras previously worked in retail management for nearly 20 years, but after losing his job in late 2021 due to his store closing, he decided to turn his attention to the arts. His new facility, Space Station Rehearsals, recently opened right around the corner from Main Stage Rehearsal’s Geary location with six rooms: four monthly rooms, one monthly room rented out by days of the week, and a monthly drum room.
If Space Station is successful, Seberras hopes to open more Toronto locations of similar sizes. With luck, he’ll be able to lower his rates even more as he expands. “For many years now, venues have been closing due to condo development, lack of insurance or noise complaints. Then, add to that the staggering cost of living, combined with lack of space to rehearse,” Seberras says, adding, “I am just hoping it’s not too late and we haven’t scared all the music out of Toronto.”
Despite the difficult situation Toronto bands currently find themselves in, these spaces give musicians a reason to be optimistic, proving the resilience of the local community.
“Toronto has this idea that it’s a music city, and I don’t actually know if that is commensurate with the experience of musicians,” reflects Sladkowski. “Musicians and artists are resourceful, and this is something people have always been trying to push against. So I just hope that we’re going to continue to be able to figure it out.”