What do you do when you're burnt out from your job? I decided to start my own business. Here's how it started…

Back in late 2004, I was frustrated with my job and came up with an idea to start my own business. Being a drummer in bands when I was in high school, I thought wouldn’t it be cool to have a rehearsal studio that bands could go in and play as loud as they want with no complaints from your parents and neighbors?

In January of 2005, I jumped in with both feet and created THE SOUNDLAB. Found a space in an industrial area in the south suburbs of Chicago. It was a dump but with some planning and help from my two cousins, Dan & Frankie (RIP), we built it all over the course of two months. All the work had to be done at night when we were done with our real jobs. White Castle Crave Cases and Rockstar energy drinks helped us work long into the night.

Here are some before and after and pictures of our handy work and then pictures from our first show.

The place was a dumping ground for the people who owned the building.

It was cleaned out and we started building. It was like the Three Stooges doing construction.

Learning as we went along. These are the three rehearsal rooms all framed out.

Inside the rehearsal room with soundproofing and insulation. Starting to take shape.

Had to wait for the landlord to move this out.

Framing out the "live" room. Reaching the top part was a challenge.

The ceilings were painted black. Insulation going in.

Drywall time.

Inside of the "live" room.

More drywall.

My brother and Frankie putting in the stage. That was a hot day. Did I mention we didn't have air conditioning?

It's time to paint. Lots of red paint.

The "live" room all finished and ready for the grand opening.

The hallway leading back to the game/lounge area.

Bathrooms

Men's bathroom wall. I glued a bunch of CD's to mirror paper.

Girl's bathroom. Spray painted graffiti designs

This was the reception area.

My office.

A view from my desk.

Inside one of the rehearsal rooms.

Game / lounge area.

Putting the finished touches on the outside signage.

After opening, some kids came in and asked if they could put on a show. Why not? I had to pay the bills.
The first show was September 23, 2005. The line up: Keaton, Summerset, Scare, From Me To You, Destroyvale.

Kids in the crowd.

Bill the drummer from Destroyvale.

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Hanging outside in between bands

The bands and the friends.

Up close and enjoying the show.

After a successful first show, we began to put on shows every weekend and the business turned into an all-ages music venue. This was during the time of Myspace and we had bands from all over the states come and play here. From 2005-2008, we had put on close to 400 shows.

Since I was getting sentimental about the whole experience, I put together a website (rememberthesoundlab.com) that has tons of photos, videos, flyers and a complete list of all the bands that played at The SOUNDLAB.

This is my first post. Hopefully I did it right :)
Thanks for letting me share.