Southsea Sound to celebrate turning 10 with day-long music festival at The Wedgewood Rooms

The rehearsal and recording studio in the heart of Albert Road, Southsea, is marking the occasion with a day-long festival at The Wedgewood Rooms featuring 11 of their favourite acts and a pay-what-you-can approach to tickets to make sure it is as inclusive as possible. Over the years the couple, who are both musicians, had collected various bits and pieces of recording equipment initially just to record themselves, and eventually running a studio from their home – Darlington Studio. “We didn't have the wherewithal,” El recalls, but we had a lot of passion and we were in the DIY punk scene, so we did it all ourselves.”

El was brought up in a musical household – her father was a musician, but he died suddenly, meaning she came into an unexpected inheritance, but as she says: “I'd have him back in a second.”

It was another five years before she decided to put the money into what has become Southsea Sound.

"I think he'd have probably tried to stop me (opening a studio), and then he'd have been extremely happy – he'd have loved it. He'd have sat in the control room, lording it up and having a beer with us in the evenings.

“And he would have used it for free all the time because my dad recorded on a reel to reel from home all the way through our childhood when I was very young. “I can remember clapping at the end of him doing a take and him being both pleased and extremely frustrated because I'd ruined it as it was all the tape back then.”

Finding the dream location

The pair were growing frustrated with their double-lives as touring musicians while also holding down demanding day jobs – El worked with vulnerable adults in frontline high trauma services, while Tim was doing a four hour commute to and from his job every day.

They began searching for premises.

“We looked at some real, real bad places. I can remember one place didn't even have a toilet. Eventually we found the Ye Olde Bike Shoppe premises, which was Hands On Records before that. Historically, in the early 1900s, it was part of the Portsmouth bakery network. It had been all manner of things.

"We finally found the spot and it was right next to the Wedgwood Rooms, which we'd always wanted. It just it had a bit of a Tin Pan Alley/ Denmark Street vibe to it, because there was also Russ Tully's drumming school there at the time. And Albert Road is just for us very convenient, we've always lived in that part of Southsea and it's the music, it's the nightlife part of town, it's the creative street in town.

“It's where we always used to do our promoting and where we played, and it was the beginning of our journey, we've been part of that scene for years.

“We wanted to not have to go to London, not have to go to Guildford or Brighton. We wanted professional, international standard – it's the same quality audio here that you would get in LA or London.

“We built the space and reinvested everything we had into it because what I had just covered the building costs, and then we just had to plough our money into it to get it to what it is now, which is a bit of a jewel getting awards and nominations, and Tim won producer of the year last year (at the inaugural Portsmouth Music Awards.)”

Setting up the studio was arduous work – El was hands on with the labour to save money where possible.

Saved by T-shirts

Those first few years were defined by long hours and El and Tim often being like ships that passed in the night. Ironically it was Covid and lockdown that made them re-evaluate things.

“Covid reminded us that we had a dual-life and we've been better with the work-life balance since then,” says El.

The pandemic was a tough time for the studio. They had to close down, and as a cramped environment were unable to reopen for nearly a year.

"We fell through a lot cracks as did a lot of people in the music industry. And they didn't really know what to do with us because we didn't fit into any boxes legislation-wise.

"When the help finally came, we'd had to survive for three or four months with no money coming in because we were self-employed we had no furlough, no job, no way of paying our rent, nothing.

“And so I sold T-shirts and was incredibly touched by the fact that we sold about £3,000 worth of shirts over a month because people are really amazingly nice! We wouldn't really have got where we have without the support of a lot of people.

"But then we did get the help eventually, and to be honest, the benefit of time was actually a huge bonus because I spent six months in the studio on my own painting, fixing, snagging. The nature of a late-1800s, early-1900s building of that sort – it's an industrial building, it was never meant to be a dwelling – is that it can get a little cold if it's empty for a long time. So I painted the floor and it took six weeks to dry.

"I never would have been able to do that if it hadn't have been for Covid. And I say this tentatively because I lost some friends during Covid, but you find silver linings in things.

"You can choose to look at the negative or you can choose to follow the positive and that the gift of being shut for a while and then having the help to to stay open...”

Staying true to a punk/DIY ethos

Now the studio is considered a cornerstone of the local music scene, and is celebrating turning 10 with Southsea Sound Fest, a day-long bash at their neighbours, The Wedgewood Rooms.

In line with their punk roots and DIY ethos, tickets are tiered from £5 to £15 based on paying what you can afford.

“One of the wonderful things about the people that I've met is the inclusivity and community that is inherent to a lot of the people who are out there putting on shows that would have come under that (punk) moniker.

"I guess it’s independent grassroots music, because when you say ‘punk’ to a lot of people, if you haven't experienced that world, it brings around images of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious and nothing else. But the sound that you'll hear if you come to this one-day festival, a lot of people wouldn't call that punk – but the people are very ‘punk’.

"I think that's sort of where we've come from – it’s community projects and inclusivity and having grown up with very little money, I know what it's like not being able to go to things.

“I want this to be all ages. I want this to be something that everyone can go to. And also it is our birthday party!

"I don't want people to miss out on having a 10th birthday hangout with all of their mates while we do the same because they're a bit hard up or they're too young or they're unemployed or they're a student.

“We have been afforded trust by people in the past where they'd be like, you know, pay what you can afford. If 15 quid isn't going to hurt you, then it’s 15 quid. This is a subsidised event because it is our birthday.”

It also harks back to when El did more touring: “I want all of these bands to meet each other because it's local and national acts.

“I got to meet a lot of people who I then went and played with, and we would do show exchanges. There's people from Norwich, Southampton, Devon, London, Brighton coming to play, and they'll all meet each other. Hopefully, they'll think each other are great because I like all of these people!"

Building a community

The community aspect is as important to El as anything: “It's a big wheel – other people did this and I got to attend, and then I would get to play, and now it's my turn to put stuff on.

“I started out putting shows on, Initially, because no one would book me, so I put myself on!

One person I did get put on by was someone in Reading called Kim Ford, who's an absolute legend of the scene. And I was like, ‘how do you do this?’ And she said, ‘I just did’. And that could sound annoying to some people, but she literally just did.”

It’s these DIY shows that build the community which Southsea Sound prides itself on being part of.

“And they end up being the best times you've ever had and meeting the best people that you'll ever meet. People might think that's pretentious, but this stuff has made my life better.

"It hasn't been a money-grabbing exercise and I'm not about to profit... who's making much profit in the music industry anymore?

"We do this because we're afflicted in a very positive way. One of my friends said that music ruined his life in the best possible way, and I relate to that. You don't go into it to be a millionaire, unless you're already a millionaire,” she laughs.

As to what she enjoys most about running the studio, El says: “Being able to drive my own ship is a huge privilege. I feel very grateful for that.

"But also being able to do stuff like this, which I spent my entire late teens and 20s doing in my spare time, I now do it full time.

“And it's being creative all day, every day, making stuff that other people love using in the same way.”

“And helping – I'm one of a big group of people who do this – but it’s about helping music in Portsmouth and Southsea continue to be great.

"Portsmouth's always had an amazing music scene and it goes up and it goes down and the wheel goes around and people take a turn at the rock face, don't they?”

She pauses and brings it back to how they were able to open Southsea Sound in the first place: “It's something that I love. I was brought up by a musician, I was brought up to be a musician.

"Now I get to do this sort of stuff all the time.”

Southsea Sound Fest is from 2pm until 9.30pm at The Wedge on Saturday, March 28 from 2.30pm. It features: The Monday Smile, Evil Villains, Skulker, Body Crisis, Kulk, Jay Cav, eatboys., Wooed, Self Torque, Slow Century and Soot Sprite. Tickets from £5 to 15.

Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.