Ughhhhh!
So I play heavy metal music in my band, and we rehearse at my house. We've been doing it for weeks. We play very loud.
So tonite is going much like any other jam night, then all of a sudden, at 8:45 pm, my girl bursts into the room and shuts us down, saying that the cops were screaming at her.
I talk to the cop, and he says that all of the people on my block had complained about the music, and that they were all outside in a mob, very upset.
What? So every neighbor on my block is up in arms all of a sudden, and not ONE of them had the courtesy nor the motivation to simply ASK that I turn it down?? Not one person has ever complained to me OR the police until tonite. My door was open and my girl was watching TV, and nobody even tried to contact us.
So I go outside to face this "angry mob", and it turns out it's the people across the street and their neighbors, having a snivel-session with the cops about me. They were complaining about my truck, my boat, my lawn, my porch light, my dog, my mailbox, everything they could think of to try to get me in "trouble".
But when I faced them, EVERY ONE OF THEM denied having been the person that called the police, and every one of them told the cops that they had asked me numerous times to shut it down, which is an outright lie. One even went so far as to tell them, in front of ME, even, that we hang a banner on the front of our house every weekend advertising a live band and that we play in the backyard!!
It was totally absurd. Why can't people politely confront other people about things? I do it all the time.
Were they afraid I was going to become violent?? I've lived here a year and the cops have never been to my house, and for that matter, I have been friendly and cordial to these people; the lady that told the live band lie, man, I dug her car out of FIVE FEET of snow when we had a blizzard last winter!
What the!!!???
Stupid crybabies!
Sorry for the rant, I really needed to vent!!!
BDV

 

Ya can't please everyone. I don't recommend being mean to them now that they did this to you. We had neighbors like that one time. Called the cops on our dogs, and forced us to put them down. They said they could hear and see our dogs all the time but we had an 8 foot fence with no space between the boards, no thats what I call trespassing. Even testified to it to the Judge.

 

"Very loud" and "8:45" used in your post seems to say you could have been throttling it back some before they called the police. I think if you live in a subdivision where the houses are all thrity feet apart, you could have expected something like this. Why should they be forced to listen to your 'music' when they want to sleep or watch TV?

Sorry (Okay it was me that called, you happy now?)

 

Pay backs are hell bro... Next time there car is burried and they need help getting it out. Just tell them you would love to but your late for your band rehersal(sp?). Then remind them that due to their complaints you had to move it to another place. Works in almost any situation. Just remember to give them a big smile everytime you see them, and always wave. Paranoia works better than any other imtimidation pratice.

 

Personally speaking..... These people shouldn't have to ask you anything. You should as a good neighbor, living in a neighborhood near other people, be considerate enough to think about them too. Unless they are doing the same thing they are complaining about, I understand their frustrations fully.

You have to remember that when you live around other peple they have the same rights you have. If you want to be as loud as you want , etc. etc. etc. move out in the country with nobody else around. Me and mine live in town. We keep to ourselves and try not to conflict with the neighbors. But, I will and have! We own our house in a relatively quite part of town. Most of the surrounding houses are renters. We get all kinds around here. Many are nice and considerate of their neighbors. Some move in thinking they don't have to respect the local laws or their neighbors.
No I am not the only one who would be filing formal complaints against your disturbing the peace.

It does sound like they may have been a little over zealous, but tired and frustrated people do that.

No offense intended but If you are going to annoy your neighbors expect to talk to the police. That is what the police are for.

Besides what would you have done or said if the neighbors had asked you to turn it down?
How long until the volume went back up? You know it would,I have been there ,I know it would toosooner or later!

Like I said , no offense intended, but these people do have the same rights to happiness and privacy, not to mention peace and quiet, that you do.

 

Damn good point Unc...

 

I believe that your neighbors should have asked you first to turn it down before calling the police. I also believe that uncleBS was right. You should have showed some consideration.

If you had neighbors like some of mine you would have been thankful if they called the cops. Someone in my neighborhood got so sick of the noise from the neighbors loud stereo, the following day when no one was home at the offending house, some one intentional ripped out all of the power lines to the guys house by way of cutting down a nearby tree. They still haven't found who did it. But the stereo hasn't been back on since.

 

I agree with UncleBS. How would you like it if you were trying to watch TV and the people next door or acoss the street were playing music so loud that you couldn't hear anything else? Maybe you'd go over there and tell them to shut the @#$% up, but if there were 5 or six roudy guys maybe someone would be a little intimidated about doing that.

 

I'm gonna jump in and agree with a couple of posts. I don't think it was wrong for your neighbors to have called the police. I think as suburbanites we need to consider those that live next to us.

Now, I suspect that if you guys were long term neighbors they probably would have wandered over and politely mentioned to you that they couldn't hear their TV...but..as you mentioned, you haven't lived there long. While your neighbors have willingly accepted help from you, they certainly don't know you well enough to know how you might react to a request to turn down the volume. If you ask any police officer they will tell you that they would rather you call the police if there is any doubt as to what a reaction might be to a request such as this. It's always better to be safe than sorry. I wouldn't get upset about it..this probably broke the ice..you may find that you have more conversations with your neighbors..which is a good thing for everyone...but that will only happen if you move forward calmly.

Remember, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your neighbors..so it's best to try to remain at least civil.

Lisa

 

I had a simular problem with 'rave' enthusiast neighbors, who would come home at 4AM and start with the thump thump techno sounds that I really dion't like much anyways. I asked if they would turn it off, the first three or four times, then just took to shutting of their main breaker, which was outside with the meter. They thought well of me, and always shared their head stash, which help smooth things out. Someone from that house would usually catch me the next afternoon and ask if I could help them with their 'blown fuses' again, they couldn't figure it out so after turning off their power, the first time, and then 'helping' them restore powere, I had them convinced that their lazer lights must be too powerfull, and were ' blowing the fuses' (modern house with circuit breakers). They were just college kids (rich kids with fun stuff, one of the kids father bought him the house when he got kicked out of the dorms for party like behavior) so I cut them some slack, tried to impart some civic responsibility lessons to them (their folks hadn't done much of a job, IMHO) and did I mention they shared their head stash? Problem solved, no police.

 

Where I live cranking the tunes to the point where the neighbors have to listen to it is simply unacceptable behavior. I don't do it because I figure my neighbors may not have the same taste in music that I do and I respect their right to some peace and quiet as they do mine. Besides, I would prefer to be on good terms with most of them, who knows, maybe someday smoke will be comming out from my attic vents or someone will be trying to steal something .....I'd prefer they have reason to help me rather than ignore me.

Myself, I used to talk to people, but the problem nowdays is that so many people seem to think that they are so damn special and that nobody else matters except themselves. If you talk to them and get no results and you follow up with a call to the cops then they know for sure who did it. Therefore, it's much easier to just call the cops and then they don't know who called. The cops in my community are pretty worthless, so if you do need to call them you may need to add some strong words just to get them to come out. I like to tell the cop dispatcher "you need to get there before I do because if I have to go down there it's probably going to get physical". I also like to tell them that after 30 minutes don't bother to show up. It's too bad that society has gotten to this point.

 

I'm so glad I live in a small town where all my neighbors know me, and could care less if I test nuclear weapons in the backyard.

 

Well, they really should have come over and asked you to turn it down, but, you really should not have been cranking the tunes after 8:00 pm either.

I love to work on my truck, but, after 8:00 p.m. the compressor is off and the impact tools are put away. I do not start before 8:00 a.m. either. Same with cutting wood, cutting my lawn, letting my kids play outside yelling and screaming, etc.

My neighbor said my truck (basically an unmufflered 390 V-8) bothered him and woke him up in the morning (5 a.m.) when I cranked it up leaving for work. So, I threw on some cherry bombs and keep off the gas driving 10 mph through the neighbor hood. Everyone is happy.

I have always told my wife to turn down the tunes in the car as soon as she is off the highway and well before she gets to the driveway because noone wants to hear stuff at midnight when she comes home or any other time either.

Just because you can do something does not mean you should, you have to consider other people. I have done things that have caused people to be angry with me. Thing to do is forgive and forget. Say out loud "I forgive my neighbors and I am sorry for anything I have done wrong" and then forget it.

If they need help, help them again with a smile without throwing things back in their face. You have more in common with your American neighbors then people that want to blow up skyscrapers.

 

Everyone has said most of what needed to be said, but one thing I think needs to be mentioned is about the type of music you are playing and your possible appearance.

I dont know what you look like.... spiked hair, shaved heads, whatever.....but in my experience through the years of the hippies and other rock n roll types, there are a lot of people who may just fear you simply because of your music... the screaming of all the words, the loudness, the seeming hate evoked by a lot of todays music. Your appearance is also frightening to some people... simply because you are "different", rebellious.

Personally, I cant stand loud music. Even in my own party days, loud music drove me up the wall. I used to have a friend who would walk into my house, hear something playing and would have to trot right over to the stereo and crank it up so loud I couldnt even think. To which, I would trot right over and put it back where it was. I knew then, as I do now, that if I dont like other people to be loud and obnoxious, then I shouldnt either.
You may love your music, and I respect you for that, but always try to respect your neighbors, who ever they are and where ever they may be.

Try to understand that they may simply have been too frightened to ask you to be cool and respect their rights to quiet and relaxation.

 

I agree with everything except, "They should have come over first and asked..."

That was their option, they didn't have to and chose not to. Being as our Government wants everyone unarmed, you can't tell neighbors to place themselves in harms way if they choose not to.

I'll bet BVD wasn’t expecting this many votes for the neighbors.