INDIANAPOLIS — Rock Garage opened in September 2020 after leaving its previous space inside a music retailer when the pandemic hit. Since its opening, Rock Garage has been a hit with local musicians.
“We offer private music lessons in guitar, bass, drums, vocals, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, recording, songwriting, and then we have the band program," said owner Preston Nash.
“There isn't another place that I've looked into that allows you to write your own music or express yourself as your own musician," said Harley Brier-O’Brien, who practices with his bands at Rock Garage.
It isn’t at the end of a driveway, but gives musicians the same feel.
“When I was growing up, we had bands playing in my parents' basement," Nash said. "Very often you're rehearsing in someone's garage. It’s always been associated with that developing band experience. If you think of it in terms of cars, it's a place where you go and fix things, fine tune things, make it run better. There's also that aspect of it where, you know, we are trying to help people fine tune their musical skills and sound better.”
More free time because of the pandemic has seen more musicians dust off their instruments.
“A lot of folks that were kind of dormant musically for a long time, picked it back up and got back into it," Nash said.
Laying into a guitar or a drum kit can sometimes clear the mind.
“It’s pretty much a whole four- or five-hour break of me wearing out a whole bunch of steam and playing music," Brier-O'Brien said.
“You get some personal release and that sense of expression, but you also get a bond with people because it's the four of you, five of you, working together to sound better as a as a group," Nash said.