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Powersurge, Noiz, and Men<br />
From Earth... just to name a few.<br />
Bars & music venues started<br />
sprouting up all over, showcasing<br />
some of the best talent the Bay<br />
area had<br />
to offer in all forms of music, but<br />
especially in rock music. It was<br />
usually standing room only, no<br />
matter what venue or which<br />
band you went to see... the clubs<br />
and venues were always packed.<br />
Venues such as the Rock-it Club,<br />
ML Chasers, Alley Cats, Brass<br />
Mug, Killian’s, Bourbon Street...<br />
They all were hugely<br />
popular, and showcased a lot of<br />
great original bands. During this<br />
time, the only "cover bands" you<br />
would find would be either some<br />
house band, or some lounge act<br />
playing at a local Holiday Inn<br />
somewhere.<br />
This area was rich with "original<br />
bands". You couldn't go into a<br />
venue to listen to a local band<br />
that didn't play all, or at least<br />
mostly, original material. Most of<br />
the venues would only gig bands<br />
that were original.<br />
This area became so rich with<br />
original talent that A&R reps<br />
from all the major record<br />
companies started looking in our<br />
direction, heading down to the<br />
Bay area to scout all the local live<br />
music bars & venues, just<br />
drooling at the possible prospect<br />
of being the first to sign the next<br />
big band.<br />
Along with the A&R scouts<br />
coming down here from all the<br />
major record labels to tap the<br />
well of talent Tampa Bay had to<br />
offer, Independent record<br />
companies started popping up all<br />
around the bay area as well. The<br />
record companies that were<br />
here already now had a much<br />
larger pool of talent to wade<br />
through. Some of the local<br />
independent record companies<br />
(just to name a few) that were<br />
prominent in<br />
the area include: Blue Heart<br />
Records, BSP Records, Concrete<br />
Cargo Music, Deep Cut records,<br />
and Little<br />
Leaque Records.<br />
Along with the record<br />
companies and the saturation of<br />
bands came a demand for<br />
recording studios and<br />
rehearsal space as well. New<br />
ones started popping up, and old<br />
ones started getting much more<br />
business<br />
than they ever could have hoped<br />
for before. Some of the local<br />
recording studios (just to name a<br />
few)<br />
that were here were: Anything<br />
Audio, Atlas Recording Studios,<br />
Axium Recorders, Bay Sound<br />
Recording,<br />
Morrisound Recording,<br />
HouseQuake Recording Studios,<br />
Labyrinth Studios, Infinity<br />
Studios, Panda<br />
Productions, and Slam Studios.<br />
Rehearsal studios were popping<br />
up as well, but couldn't keep up<br />
with the high demand. There<br />
was such<br />
a high demand for the limited<br />
rehearsal space that even the<br />
air-conditioned storage units<br />
started<br />
advertising rehearsal space for<br />
bands in the media. Public<br />
Storage (or PS for short) was<br />
one of the more<br />
popular ones that would actually<br />
advertise as rehearsal<br />
studios...believe it or not. The<br />
local media<br />
started also writing editorials<br />
about the problem of bands<br />
using storage spaces to rehearse<br />
in that<br />
weren't air conditioned. The<br />
news media was actually<br />
publishing public service<br />
announcements in the<br />
papers and on TV, warning about<br />
the dangers of practicing in a<br />
non-air conditioned storage unit.<br />
Some<br />
of the more popular rehearsal<br />
studios were: Apple rehearsal
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