That Eindhoven is Rock city may be regarded as general knowledge according to Fred Sparringa, director of PopEi. “Just like everybody knows that Rotterdam is Hip-hop city and Utrecht R&B city.” Anyone thinking that Tilburg is Rock city is mistaken. “Tilburg may have the Fontys Rock academy, but that is everything it is. Eindhoven features 463 registered pop bands. They rehearse mainly in De Oefenruimte along the railway line near Tongelre, in Temporary Art Centre or with us.” Every week some eighty to one hundred bands come to the Klokgebouw. Without driving any neighbors insane they can make music there and are provided with all appliances.

All the rooms in PopEi have a box-in-a-box construction: each floor stands on rubber blocks, the walls and ceilings are decked with thick layers of rock wool, all windows have double glazing and the whole building is fitted with sound attenuating doors. When you do not say anything yourself, all you hear is the faint noise of fans. A train thundering past remains unnoticed. Ideal circumstances for recording a CD, for instance. “In fact, PopEi is one big service bureau for musicians”, says Roy Bazelmans. He guides Cursor along the recording studio, the thirteen rehearsal rooms, the three dance halls rented by the Centrum voor de Kunsten, the dressing rooms, the catering facility and the concert hall. “Two to three times every week a wide variety of bands use this podium. Our programmer books anything from rock-‘n’-roll to metal, from dance to reggae. One night last week we had three big bands.” By way of fee the bands are presented with an audio/video recording of their performance. “We aim to help young bands forward”, says Bazelmans. “Therefore it is not a good idea to give them a sum of money which they may spend on beer the very same night. A good recording helps them to promote themselves with other concert halls.”

Stick vending machine
During our tour we pass the ‘vending machine for strings and drumsticks’. By inserting coins musicians can get anything from the machine that they may need. Forgotten cables, new batteries, new drumsticks, the commonest problems can be sorted here independently. And if everything fails, they can turn to the repair shop along the corridor, where the technical service can repair instruments.

Anybody can rent rehearsal rooms in PopEi. At 5.5 euros per hour you have forty square meters for use in the daytime. Soundproof! Players of wind instruments, drummers and other noisemakers can live it up here. For equipment they can rent a safe at twenty euros a month. If you have rehearsed long enough and are ready to record a CD, thirty euros gives you a whole hour in the fully equipped recording studio, where a sound engineer lends assistance.


The vending machine for strings and drumsticks.

Back to the concert hall on the ground floor, where other activities than performances are organized as well. “Now and then we have a ‘guitar hero battle’. A big beamer in the hall shows two X-box screens. Using a special guitar with keys instead of strings, participants can play along in a karaoke-like manner”, says Sparringa. “We have noticed that real guitarists really do not stand any chance of winning here. It is a totally different manner of playing.”/.

All concerts and activities may be visited for free. For the program in PopEi you can check out www.popei.nl.

PopEi is interested in the wishes that foreign students may have. ‘What would they like to hear during their leisure hours?’, is the question that Bazelmans would like to get answers to via roy@popei.nl.