Fender Bus Jam August 2014
The Fender Stratocaster guitar is celebrating 60 years of hit making and the Routemaster London Bus is also celebrating 60 years of transporting Londoners and visitors around the Capital.
Fender have designed 25 limited edition Routemaster inspired Stratocaster guitars, to mark these anniversaries, and TFL have wrapped a number 24 bus in a unique Fender Stratocaster design.
On Tuesday 19th August the specially designed 24 bus was unveiled in Camden where it played host to an exclusive pop up performance. Music Room London were on board to lend a helping hand, we all had an amazing afternoon with Fender on TFL’s Routemaster listening to fantastic performances from - Violet Bones, Bare Hunter, Arcane Roots and Lower Than Atlantis
Mural By Artmongers
The Mural by Patricio Forrester of Artmongers was commissioned by Music Room London.
A creative collaboration between Artmongers and Music Room London, the journey began to create our new mural in May 2016.
The process required quite a bit of scaffolding, gallons of paint and several months of sweat and tears. But as you can now see the finished mural looks amazing!
See the scale of the work as our project unfolds, finally delivering something for all the world to enjoy for many years to come.
A very big thank you to everyone involved with this brilliant project, it would not have been possible without you. Moreover this is something for us all to be very proud of – Thank you.
About Music Room London
Music Room London established its first rehearsal studio in 1985 located in the basement of The Garden Gallery on Monson Road, New Cross Gate.
This small basement studio, famous for its toasted cheese sandwiches, was frequented by many including Daevid Allen’s Franco-British progressive/psychedelic rock band Gong. The old green shop front of the gallery and Music Room London can be seen clearly in the 2004 movie Shaun of The Dead, which was filmed across the road in the Duke of Albany pub (The Winchester) and in the street outside.
In 1993 we moved to the former New Cross Library, an Andrew Carnegie building, and created five rehearsal studios. Previously known as ‘Music Room’ we became known as Music Room London.
In 2019 we started to transform our character building into its current wonderful form, building on the existing offering to provide an additional dedicated seating and performance area for bands, including established and new musicians to perform to audiences. The Old Library Bar has been lovingly curated to cater to all tastes with a wide range of craft beers, wines, ciders and softs. Our garden is a lush natural oasis in the middle of urban south east London with roses, grape vines, hops, and our resident cat family.
Although the pandemic hit us very hard, with enforced closure over a long period, somehow we managed to survive. We are one of only a handful of rehearsal studios and live music venues in London and we are unique in our area. However we continue to face serious challenges, including the threat of building development close to us on all sides. This is on top of all the hurdles faced by live grassroots music venues and bars, small creative businesses trying to make a real difference to people’s lives through music.
We are proud to continue to offer our creative services to everyone - rehearsal studios, equipment hire, venue hire and exciting live music for all the community to enjoy in our wonderful Old Library and garden. We look forward to seeing you.
Long live Music Room London, your local grassroots music venue!
Arthur Lee & Lee Hazlewood
One of Music Room London’s most enduring rehearsal clients are ‘The High Llamas’.
Formed by guitarist and songwriter Sean O’Hagan who introduced several legions of rockers to us at Music Room London.
Arthur Lee rehearsed with the High Llamas back in Music Room London’s Monson Road day’s around 1998.
Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007), rehearsed at Music Room London for his final European tour circa 2001 at our current location, accompanied by his friend the late great guitar player Al Casey (The Wrecking Crew, Elvis Presley etc).
Lee returned for his last gig, the Heroes & Villains Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in 2004.
Shaun Of The Dead
Music Room London was home for Zombies during the filming of comedy/horror film Shaun of The Dead in a five-day piece of location work.
The former library became base camp, housing make-up, wardrobe and catering for most of the five day’s shooting which took place locally at The Duke of Albany Public House in Monson Road London New Cross Gate SE14 and known in the film as The Winchester Arms.
Army trucks, military equipment and other paraphernalia trundled up and down the small terraced street through the night – all under the fierce blaze of the set lighting. The shoot culminated on the final night with the local pub being set ablaze as part of a scene with some spectacular special effects.
