As someone who practiced in some amazing hovells in the 80's and I can name them all, the most noteable being The Bridewell off Duke Street Liverpool, can I say what a fantastic place the Catalyst Studio is.

I was there last week for a 2 night practice and used the in house PA, which in itself was of excellent quality and the whole experience cost us a tenner each. £5.00 each per night, where can you go for that in town and spend 4 enjoyable hours.

Back in 1982 we were paying £3.00 each and humping a PA down with us too. To contrast, back then the Bridewell was a delapadated old prison with water running down the stone walls and on the right of us we would have say The Icicle Works and on the left Frankie Goes to Hollywood. We would be playing acoustic guitars thinking we were Liverpools new Aztec Camera or Orange Juice whilst being blasted out from either side of us.

20 years on and St Helens has Catalyst Studios. Here we can park in a very convenient car park (free) have great access (a lift and trolley available), its also has central heating and very useful in the summer it has air con, the rooms are spacious, very well soundproofed and very clean decor and boasts excellent storage for a ridiculously cheap weekly rate.

excuse my language, but bloody hell, how spoilt can a band get, ok there may not be any members of 'Frankies' or the 'Icies', but you get comfort and an environment that lends itself to giving you space to create and be inspired.

Hats off to Andy and his dad for all their hard work and in particular their energy and drive in trying to help bands in St Helens get noticed.

I for one will be using them again. Why not come on and share your stories about unusual places of practice or how bad they were or still are.