Imperial Warehouses (crash Studios)

[georgie t]

imperial warehouses was built in 1875 and was starting to look the worse for wear until 5 years ago when extensive restoration took place and put it back to its original condition.The first 3 years were very tough, both partners working 16 hour days 7 days a week. Reinvesting any money made back into the business, while trying to run the studio ( booking bands in / setting equipment up etc ), Mark and Jon carried out much building work and refurbishment as well. Without having any staff in the early years all aspects of running the business were down to them to do. From accounts through to cleaning the bogs, all for £25 per week each! Even today, both directors lead by example and get stuck into whatever is required.

Initially Crash rented part of the building. Then the building's owners decided they wanted to sell it as part of a bigger scheme. Faced with being moved on, drastic action had to be taken to secure their long term future. The Crash directors needed to pay double the valuation to enable them to own the building

Co-founders Mark Davies and Jon White opened Crash in 1987, having been in bands for several years prior to this.They brought band rehearsal practice out of the garage / church hall, into a more productive environment; more like that of the recording studio / venue performance like vibe.Crash is now legendary amongst bands and has been the backbone of the Liverpool music scene. As well as providing rehearsal space, Crash has helped and advised bands who have gone to become successful. Many have now become world famous acts. The studio has gained a great reputation from major record labels and management companies as a source for discovering Liverpool's up and coming bands.


client list include ,atomic kitten,echo and the bunny men,the farm, and the zutons to name a few

info taken from the website

http://www.crashstudios.co.uk/index.html

the film 51st state was also filmed in this alley yrs ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTtD5Ngcltc... the scene is at 2.47

visiting m8s rehearsing and asked for permission to go round and photograph the place and was allowed

originally i thought this was an old tobacco warehouse but it turns out it was an old fruit one.As said in the history its all converted but some features remain if you look closely.

visited with kevsy21 and the yorkshire ripper

this is the first scene in the alley way chase in the film




this is the top were both cars burst out of the alley but in the film where they come out is the bascule bridge and stanley dock area ??? if you wasnt from liverpool youd be none the wiser...its actually dale street where there supposed to fly out onto



anyway enough of that the film really wasnt that good anyway



theres not much really to see with most of the large open space converted into rehearsal rooms these stairs were a nice touch though small and spiral they were a nightmare to get gear up these when i used to practise here



an original external lift door still remains on all floors



in some of the storage rooms you can make out little bits that havent been covered up this window was interesting



a big old steel door rests against the wall



bottom floor conversion



some more of the storage rooms with brick work showing





one of the original fire escapes


more steel doors



basement conversion



a typical room although the differ in size but they all have the original supports in them






other things i snapped whilst there

[dazza]

Outstanding again Georgie.

[Ged]

Custy stuff. Have you been in Vulcan studios building on the dock road yet Georgie?

[georgie t]

Outstanding again Georgie.

cheers dazza

---------- Post added at 11:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 PM ----------

Custy stuff. Have you been in Vulcan studios building on the dock road yet Georgie?

cheers ged funny you should mention that it was down on my list as a possible....if im allowed access that is

[wsteve55]

Great pic's Georgie! Was that your crew hanging around Williamson square on Thursday night? All armed with camera's!

[JMLE]

Custy stuff. Have you been in Vulcan studios building on the dock road yet Georgie?

I was going to say that it reminded me of Vulcan only without the views from the upper floors.

[lindylou]

Great post. Good photos and interesting info.

[Ged]

Vulcan is on my site under the Inside Out page.

Because we used to rehearse in there upstairs, I had a little mooch around with the owners blessing as he got to know us. Another time stood still type of old warehouse, largely untouched.

[Kev]

Thanks Georgie