King Music

Had A VERY BAD EXPERIENCE with this place. If you’re planning to buy anything in this place using a credit card or even debit card, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE RECEIPT FOR AT LEAST 7 YEARS. Yes folks, you heard me right, 7 YEARS. If you lost your receipt, say HELLOOO! to the collection department. And when you try to talk with the manager/​owner, he acts like he doesn’t know what going on, when in fact he very much knows why the billing always screws up. DON’T LET A BUNCH OF INCOMPETENT PEOPLE, WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO OPERATE YOUR REGISTER RUN AS YOUR CASHIERS. I will never NEVER !!! buy or even go back to this place!

I don’t know about their performance venue, but I do know that they provide extremely reasonably priced rentals for kids in music programs. I have had great service whenever I walk in to the store, and their products are good quality. Just don’t get the colored instruments (blue, green, red etc) because they aren’t made as well as the regular silver or gold ones.

This review is about the venue, not the musical store; haven’t seen that part yet…
First off, I have finally determined that this is an extremely run down and scandalous version of The Che Café up at UCSD.
With that in mind,
Let me just say that my ex-​boyfriend and his friends have a wonderful metal band, yes, not my genre, but still decent «Remains Forgotten» check them out.
Remains Forgotten is exactly what this place is…
Lemon Grove is rather seedy in the majority of its areas and King’s Music represents everything Lemon Grove. The trolley is right across the street with the most questionable of folks getting on and off of it. The streets driving into the venue are just about as smooth as the Oregon Trail. And the parking situation is like playing pin-​the-​tail-​on-​the-​donkey.
1. The people running around the venue were scary, probably stray trolley folk. The staffing that I dealt with were pretty rude, especially when being instructed where to park seeing as every place I picked they had a heart attack over but failed to be specific about where to put my little car. Even in the open spaces in front of the venue were «off limits». Let me tell you this, post signs, that might be a starter. And in addition to this, never before have I experienced such rude answers when asking for where to purchase tickets. Yes, I see your merch table outside, but no other postings were made like TICKETS HERE. These people make Soma look like 5 star folks which doesn’t say much.
2. As Tony N. said before, the lights they had were like a seizure waiting to happen. Yes, sometimes they were fun effects but after a while it just got annoying. I could only imagine how the bands feel.
3. The «ambiance» of this place has the personality of an abandoned 1970’s basement. There is a couch that looks like it was taken from someones grandma’s house and what looked to be some weird wood paneling. However, I did appreciate the window that separated the entry room from the venue space when its packed like sardines, you can still see the band via glass.
4. The temperatures in this building made me want to start looking for the alligators. Humidity was out of control with the sweaty bodies and smelly stale walls. Disgusting.
5. For as large as the sound board was you would think there would be enough buttons to control how it sounded. Volume control, microphone adjustments, etc. etc. It kept cutting out and nothing seemed to be On the correct levels. Epic failure.
6. But, there was an ample amount of space to accommodate the audience which was much appreciated. As I previously stated it is hot inside but it is nice to feel that you aren’t on top of the people surrounding you.
However, I can’t talk too much trash, it’s a suitable all ages venue in the midst of East County, perfect for youngsters like myself and blossoming bands like Remains Forgotten.
Kings Music could be a lot better if there were new staffing, and a little TLC on the inside. I appreciated the facility and the extremely cheap 2 dollar admission. I’ll continue to patronize the space for the support of my friends in their bands, but I wouldn’t go out of my way in hopes of discovering something cool here on any random night.

So about 5 – 10 minutes east of me, there is a land where none doth dare to enter. A land that time and civilization passed over. This land is Lemon Grove.
All right, Lemon Grove isn’t that bad, but there are still spots that seemed to have missed the future train. Spots like King Music. Keep in mind, this review is only for the «music venue» portion of the establishment and not a reflection on the store or the instrument lessons.
Let me paint you a picture. King Music is situated in a sort of office park with two parallel set buildings which reminds one of school bungalows. In fact, the designers probably had this in mind when they plotted out and built the offices, as I was instantly afraid that I was late for enrichment class.
The «venue» is towards the back of one of these bungalow like structures. Inside is everything you would need for a successful show. A multi-​channel mixing board, a huge sound and light system and a couch.
Yes, a couch.
You see the actual performance space is about the size of a large living room, so this couch was probably the right idea.
This sounds like the perfect recipe for success for a fledgling band right? You’d be right if it was any place other than King.
First off, the sound was terrible. The vocals kept getting cut out and at points the instruments sounded like they were being played through speaks stuffed with pillows. Second, the lighting. An epileptic’s nightmare. For some reason, the guys doing all the sound and lighting thought it would be a great idea to keep using strobing colored lights throughout my friends’ show. Instead it caused me to freak out over the course of the next three days.
All that being said, a fledgling band needs to seize every opportunity to play in public. The audience were kept enthralled by every band that played that evening and showed their appreciation throughout. There was even dancing involved. Pretty good clean fun for the under-​aged crowd in Lemon Grove whose only other option is hanging out at Grossmont Mall or the Del Taco down the street.
Start up bands take this down. You may not sound great at King, but you’ll find an appreciative crowd.

I just purchased a clarinet for my son at King Music. I called first and wanted to rent and the young man on the phone recommended that I buy a used one for a little more than what I would rent for a six-​month period. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a store where the employees are so honest and helpful.
I would recommend going to King Music just for the personal service… the prices are pretty good too.
Ohh…by the way… I purchased two clarinet lessons for my 9 year old. He already had one lesson and can play 3 songs! Here’s the kicker… after one lesson he’s now in advanced band at his elementary school. NOT KIDDING!
Ask for Mr. King to teach you or your child the clarinet. He’s great!