There was a lot of work to do in order to make the warehouse both livable and ready for practicing, performing and recording music. It was a pretty good size space up to 2,000 square feet. In one corner, we made a living room. We put down a big piece of carpet, sofa and chairs in a square shape with a TV on the fourth side. You would see this off to the left when you walked into the front door of the warehouse. The warehouse was on the second floor and you had to walk up some very narrow stairs to get to the front door. On the opposite end of the entire warehouse, is where Deniz, Laurence and Leo put their queen size water beds. Water beds were very popular at that time. I actually owned and used different water beds through out the years from the 1980's until 1996 when I purchased my first family home. In any case, the guys decided not to use headboards or even water bed stands. The beds just sat flat-low on the floor with shiny silk sheets or in one case a brown and white tiger striped sheet. Okay I have outlined the living area and the open bedroom.
As I stated earlier, there was a lot to do to make the warehouse ready. For starters, there was limited plumbing. Yes there was a bathroom with a toilet; however it was a warehouse so therefore it was very unlikely there would be a shower. Like I said we didn't have much money; so Deniz in his determination said that he would build the shower himself. I lived in a small studio apartment in Miami Springs at the time, which was about a five minute drive from the warehouse. I let the guys shower at my place for a while. I would say the project took about a month; but Deniz did finally completed the installation of the shower. I have to admit he did a great job. No there was never a kitchen; so as you can imagine all the food for a group of single young guys was all take-out fast food except on the occasion when we ate at someone's parent's house or could afford to go out to a restaurant, which usually ended up to be a Denny's down the street.
Now for setting up the warehouse for music: The acoustics had to be right and certain places had to be sound proofed. If you don't have much money, then a good method of getting the right sound is to use egg cartons and put them up on the walls. This was very effective. Wiring up all the equipment for sound lights etc. was next. Since we now had a place to store musical equipment, we could go out and purchase more equipment to work with. Again because of our limited funds, we would buy used equipment or negotiated some shady deals to get our hands on certain equipment that we needed.
Deniz took full advantage of the situation. The guys practiced a lot; wrote songs together; and worked repeatedly on perfecting the music. There was so much more progress in the warehouse than the two practice sessions a week we were doing in the studio. Of course, the guys bonded more, but some times the opposite effect happens when you are living with people. There were disagreements, and in some cases they were severe; however the strength of the friendships always prevailed. It was Deniz and I who kept everyone focused; of course Deniz was the motivator. The warehouse had its regular group of friends that would hang out, girlfriends, potential wannabe girl friends, party friends etc. They would hang out and hear the band practice. I would say that if the band wasn't practicing, then partying usually did not occur at the warehouse but at other locations such as clubs, houses, apartments, and events etc.
I don't believe the warehouse survived an entire year. Though I can't recall the time frame; but if I remember correctly, the warehouse was disbanded around the same time the group broke up. The warehouse was fun and productive. We could spend quality time working on the music and as a result there were great memories, creative music and lasting friendships.
