Published: March 29, 2008 09:27 pm         

Making music

Local musicians use Big as a Barn Studios to create music

ROYAL CENTER — Local bands such as the Roach Brothers, Pikedriver, Rude Barb and the Rude Beggars, The Woohoos, The Crop, A Failed Escape, Cyndi Fisher and the Knuckleheads and The Mudhippies have all at one time used the recording studio called Big as a Barn Studios.

Even Jack Logan recorded an album there, and the “The Today Show” captured him in the studio on television more than 10 years ago.

The studio has seen all types of musicians, from country to rap, and everything in between, but not many people know about it. That’s OK, though, because that’s how Terry Rouch likes it.

Rouch, a local farmer, doesn’t operate the studio like a business. Instead, it is an outlet for local underground musicians to get together and jam.

He said the studio was the idea of his brother, Jamie, who is now suffering from ALS.

“I give him all the credit,” Terry said.

He and Jamie spent a lot of time in the studio — writing music together as well as bonding.

The brothers made up the band, the Roach Brothers.

Members have rotated, but the band has made several CDs through the years, with songs appearing on MTV, CD reviews in Rolling Stone magazine and most recently, a track on “Musicians for Minneapolis: 57 Songs for the I-35W Bridge Disaster Relief Effort.”

From their childhood, music was a big influence in Terry and Jamie’s lives.

Terry, Jamie and brothers Steve and Tim started playing instruments such as the guitar, bass and banjo when they were around 10 years old.

“We all learned how to play guitar right off the bat,” Terry said.

Jamie started recording using small reels at the age of 12. He continued recording music through college, and eventually, the barn became a recording studio.

That was 20 years ago.

These days, the studio still gets frequent use from local musicians wanting to jam together, write songs and bounce ideas off of each other.

“If people want to hear local, original music, I want to give them that,” Terry said.

Every week the studio, once a home for livestock, is a gathering place for local musicians.

“A community of musicians gravitate toward this place,” Terry said. “People are here almost every night.”

The Crop, a newly-formed band consisting of Terry, Josh Rouch, Dave Hazeldine and Ted Pitman, has used the studio to record tracks. The band is scheduled to play in the April Arts festivities.

Hazeldine said he gets ideas from playing with the fellow musicians.

“It’s a constant creative atmosphere,” he said.

Hazeldine said the studio allowed musicians to be inspired.

“This studio has that effect on people,” he said.

Terry’s 22-year-old nephew, Josh, has recently joined the music scene. He said he’s learned a lot through hanging out with the musicians in the studio.

“There’s a good vibe in this barn for recording and hanging out,” he said.

Terry said the local music scene has expanded over the years.

“There’s a lot more people in the vicinity that we know of playing music,” he said.

He said a circle of 20-30 people use the studio on a regular basis.

Terry describes the studio as a “semi-professional” studio, and says the reason it is popular among local musicians is because it allows them time to be creative. In professional studios, musicians are required to pay for the time they use and end up having to work against the clock.

The more relaxed atmosphere of the barn allows for musicians to write in an “organic way.”

“A lot of bands don’t have that luxury,” Terry said. “I like the spontaneity, the roughness of it.”

Terry hopes hopes a younger generation of musicians will maintain Big as a Barn Studios as a gathering place.

“I don’t want the barn to die,” he said.

Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com