Bill Gates may have started his empire in his garage, but it was in one of the 139 bays of “The Sheds” – also known as Sumter Street Self-Storage - that hometown favorite Hootie & the Blowfish wrote and practiced hits like "Hold My Hand" and "Only Wanna Be With You," which were included on the 1994 Grammy-winning album "Cracked Rear View," selling 16 million copies, according to an October 23 posting on wsj.com
"The Sheds," which are located on an industrial strip on the fringe of the University of South Carolina campus (in Columbia, the state’s capital) have been legendary to local rockers for more than two decades, but thanks to local curmudgeon Clif Judy, the music at "The Sheds" is about to end.
Mr. Judy, whose taste leans more toward Bach and Beethoven, lives less than one mile from The Sheds, and claims the "boom, boom" of the rock music interrupted the bucolic sounds of chirping crickets and whirring of wee-hour trains he so enjoys. So, for the past two years, he has made it his mission to shut down The Sheds.
Sadly, his consistent complaints to the Richland County zoning board succeeded when, in early October, the board declared that the self-storage bays were not intended for band practice. The Sheds' owners (who claim they have already spent in excess of $20,000 defending themselves against Mr. Judy's complaints), shocked Shed’s fans when they opted not to appeal, and have begun the arduous task of notifying the various band tenants that while they may continue to store their equipment at The Sheds, the must stop.
"The best thing about Sumter Street Storage was you could make noise," says Hootie drummer Jim "Soni" Sonefeld, who still lives in Columbia, SC. Hootie played and stored gear at The Sheds for more than two years in the early 1990’, claims Sonefeld. "That's where you hone your craft; if you don't have anywhere to practice, how you going to get good?"
Having once served on a local zoning board, Judy gambled on a hunch that the storage units were not be properly wired for amplifiers, guitars and the like, so he lodged a formal complaint with the Richland County fire marshal last fall. In November 2008, the fire marshal agreed, finding that the storage sheds could not be used safely for any kind of regular activity other than storing things. "It's not about the noise," says Deputy Fire Marshal Miranda Spivey. Interestingly, however, Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said The Sheds were an asset, not a nuisance.
Attorney Tim Rogers, one of the lawyers for Sumter Street Self Storage, said his clients, owners Richard Simoneau and Robert Mullis, had complied with the fire code by hanging new extinguishers, improving wiring and educating renters about what they can and cannot do.
Nonetheless, a county building board ruled in favor of the fire marshal: band practice in units meant for storage amounted to an "unsafe condition," a serious fire violation. The deputy fire marshal says The Sheds could be used for purposes like band practice only with substantial building improvements, including replacing the roll-up doors with traditional ones, building bathrooms, and an electrical systems upgrade.