Quick Take
Drummer and longtime Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios customer Eric Peterson and his wife, Lisa Lincoln, took over earlier this month from Jenn and Paul Gallacher. They aim to keep things affordable for local musicians while planning some renovations and upgrades.
A pair of local music lovers is committed to keeping the spirit of Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios after purchasing the business from its longtime owners this month.
Eric Peterson and his wife, Lisa Lincoln, officially took the reins last week from Jenn and Paul Gallacher. Peterson, a drummer who plays in several bands locally, has rented space from the Gallachers for about a decade, and said he’s excited for the opportunity to continue the studio’s mission of providing affordable, accessible practice space for musicians.
When he and others in the local music scene heard the Gallachers were putting the business up for sale, “it took us all aback,” he said. “We wanted to keep it going. This is an institution.”
For more than a decade, Santa Cruz Rehearsal Studios has been the place for local and traveling musicians to gather and practice. Rental fees have been kept affordable at $18 to $23 per hour, along with gear and equipment rentals. At the end of last year, the Gallachers announced that they were ready to pass the torch to someone else, and they sought a buyer for the Coral Street business. The couple told Lookout last month they were ready to retire from running the studio full-time, but their hope was to find someone who would maintain their vision. (The Gallachers own the building the studios are in.)
For Peterson and Lincoln, who moved to Santa Cruz about a decade ago, it was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.
“I’m excited to expand, maybe do some recording [here], but we’ll keep the same format,” said Peterson, who also plans some renovations and upgrades. “I’m all about local music. I like it live and real, all genres. Lisa and I always enjoy a local music scene [wherever we live], and we want to keep this affordable.”
Peterson said he also hopes they’ll be able to make a positive impact on the local neighborhood and bring opportunities for more local musicians working across different genres.
“This is a dream for me,” he said. “In the old rock-and-roll vein, I don’t like working for the man, but I like working for my friends, and I am really looking forward to this.”
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