Rock Legends at Rockfield , livre ebook

Calon - Jeff Collins

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134 pages

English

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Get your backstage pass to the world-famous Rockfield Recording Studios in Monmouth, Wales. Featuring frank and funny interviews with the artists who recorded there and studio staff, Rock Legends at Rockfield reveals the fascinating stories behind some of the world’s best-known and loved rock albums and records, including Oasis’s What’s the Story (Morning Glory), a number of Queen songs including Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody, and Motörhead’s first recordings.

This new edition will be fully revised and updated with new chapters on the artists who have recorded at Rockfield since 2007, including new interviews with bands such as Thunder, The Dirty Youth, Gun and YES; the Studios’ recent appearances in film and television such as the Oscar-winning Bohemian Rhapsody film and the Rockfield: the Studio on the Farm documentary; and a section on Rockfield’s neighbouring rehearsal studio, Monnow Valley, which later became a recording studio in its own right and has hosted bands such as Black Sabbath.

Sujets

Musique

Culture musicale

Musique

Wales

Music

Informations

Publié par	Calon
Date de parution	22 septembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781915279057
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1074€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Jeff Collins, 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to Calon, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-915279-04-0 eISBN: 978-1-915279-05-7
The right of Jeff Collins to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover artwork by Andy Ward
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
The publisher acknowledges the financial support of the Books Council of Wales
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter One:
From small acorns
Chapter Two:
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Ozzy s causing mayhem at Rockfield
Chapter Three:
Welsh rockers Budgie influence metal greats
Chapter Four:
Hawkwind invent space rock in Wales
Chapter Five:
Mot rhead s painful birth at Rockfield
Chapter Six:
Queen and Ace rule the airwaves
Chapter Seven:
Judas Priest, Rush and Gillan: legendary names descend on Rockfield
Chapter Eight:
The 1980s usher in a new breed
Chapter Nine:
A Led Zeppelin legend rediscovers himself
Chapter Ten:
The 1990s: Oasis and The Stone Roses raise hell
Chapter Eleven:
Tokyo Dragons, Kasabian and The Darkness usher in the 21st century
Chapter Twelve:
Rockfield on the Silver Screen
Chapter Thirteen:
Monnow Valley:The Sister Studio
Chapter Fourteen:
There s a horse outside my window! More tales from the studio-cum-farm
Chapter Fifteen:
You broke Freddie Mercury s piano? The adventures of Thunder and Opeth
Rockfield timeline
Acknowledgements
Plate section
INTRODUCTION
This is the tale of a small farm in south Wales with big ideas.
Big ideas that turned into big success and put the studio s name at the forefront of rock legend.
I first visited Rockfield Studios in 2006 for a guided tour of the place where the great, the good and the bad of rock had spent time writing, recording and creating music that would make its mark on the world.
As a presenter of a rock show on FM radio, I had spoken to, and interviewed, numerous musicians, who had either recorded at Rockfield or dreamed of doing so. That was - and is - Rockfield s lure.
Any artist, or band, who has dreams of being part of rock folklore wants to record at this studio in Monmouth.
When I first wrote this book in the mid 00s, bands and musicians delighted in telling their stories of Rockfield. What they experienced there was always a highlight of their career.
Legends such as Rush, Mot rhead and Robert Plant regaled me with their experiences there. Whether it was backstage at a gig chatting to Lemmy ahead of one of Mot rhead s thunderous gigs or reuniting Robert Plant with his solo band for a catch-up on days gone by, all looked back fondly on their time together here in the studio.
As well as the rock legends, newer bands like the Tokyo Dragons would breathlessly try to explain to me how they could almost physically feel and absorb the heritage of the place.
Acts such as Coldplay would find inspiration in the studio s surroundings that would help them write the lyrics for worldwide hit singles. Sometimes, bands who found themselves at the studio at the same time would bond, either spending time drinking together or playing football matches on nearby fields against each other. At other times tensions between bands would spill over into physical altercations, whether it be Oasis ending up in a fist fight with another band or groups like Simple Minds and Judas Priest indulging in a food fight.
Occasionally the studio would hit the headlines for other reasons, such as when The Stone Roses were arrested there for taking revenge against a record company they felt had exploited them. Rockfield has seen it all.
Fifteen years after I first visited the studio to see where all this musical magic was made, I have spoken to bands and musicians who have recorded there in the last decade. In four new chapters, we hear from the likes of Thunder, Gun, The Damned, Opeth and Pixies, who share their reminiscences of life there. This time we ll also take a closer look at Rockfield s sister studio, Monnow Valley, which started out as its rehearsal studio before becoming famous in its own right, favoured by bands like Black Sabbath and Oasis.
We ll also see how Rockfield saw itself reaching new audiences, such as when it featured in a major Hollywood biopic about Queen as well as in a TV documentary.
So let s start at the beginning of my journey with my first trip to Rockfield Studios back in 2006
CHAPTER ONE:
FROM SMALL ACORNS

It really was a working dairy farm. They d get us to help them round up the cows There was a bit of haymaking in the summer and we d drink cider. You just mucked in like one big happy family.
Ray Martinez, Rockfield session guitarist
It is like that scene from the cult movie Wayne s World . I m driving along the M4 motorway from Cardiff, cheerfully singing along to one of music s best-known songs as Freddie Mercury and Co move into overdrive. Brian May s guitar is blasting out of my car speakers at an ear-splitting level as the band reaches their crescendo. Roger Taylor s drums are pounding in sync with John Deacon s booming bass line as Bohemian Rhapsody moves into its beautiful finale.
With Bohemian Rhapsody drawing to a close, I turn off the M4 and onto the A449 to Monmouth, heading for the very place this legendary song was recorded: Rockfield Studios here in Wales. I continue to drive past miles of wide open countryside. A gorgeous expanse of trees rushes by as the bright sunshine lights up the lush green meadows and fields, which stretch as far as the eye can see.
That s Queen at their very best, the DJ on the classic rock station Planet Rock informs me as I make my solitary journey to the world s first, and most famous, residential studio. We ve a classic from Black Sabbath in a moment, but first here s Closer to the Heart by Rush.
It is like listening to Rockfield FM as song after song pumping out of my car stereo seems to be yet another famous tune from that studio. Whether it is Queen, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Oasis or The Stone Roses, some of the world s most famous artists have recorded at the farm converted into a recording studio in the sleepy countryside, just outside the Welsh market town of Monmouth. Some of the world s best-known songs and albums were brought to life at these studios, which are now just a few more miles down the road. The beautiful landscape continues to roll past as I leave Raglan Castle in my wake, and by the time Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne have kicked up a storm on the radio, it is the turn of Mot rhead and Ace of Spades .
I smile to myself as another band forged at Rockfield commandeers the airwaves. As a teenager I had bought record after record bearing the legend Recorded at Rockfield Studios, Wales . It is not the kind of place you d expect a whole host of classic albums to be made. It lacks the glitz and glamour associated with the bigger, richer studios based in the more fashionable cities of the world. So what is it about this rural studio that has captured the imagination of so many major bands? How could a small Welsh farm compete against some of the major names such as Abbey Road in London, George Martin s Air Studios (which started life in Montserrat before relocating to London), The Record Plant in Los Angeles or The Hit Factory in New York? This was something I was determined to find out. Rockfield has locked horns with these giants of the recording industry and more than held its own. In doing so, Rockfield has carved itself a major place in rock history.
I drive through the town of Monmouth and out the other side, where the roads become small lanes, and just ahead, I see a turning. There in front of me is a huge green sign at the bottom of a big driveway. It reads: Rockfield Studios - Video surveillance systems operating at all times. Any worries I had about getting lost evaporate with a sigh of relief and no little excitement. I am here. I have arrived at the spiritual home of rock music from my youth.
I carry on up to the top of the drive and park up alongside one of the outlying accommodation blocks. The anticipation is building as my thoughts turn to how many famous musicians have trodden this well-worn path down to the studios. Following in their footsteps, I turn right into a large courtyard, which is the hub of the studio complex, to be greeted by an incongruous sight: right in the middle of the yard is a horse box! It is not the kind of vehicle you expect to see at a major recording studio. But that s the charm of Rockfield. Things here are done differently. Very differently. I look around the courtyard, known as the Quadrangle, and find the reception. Inside, Rockfield s owner, Kingsley Ward, is waiting to greet me and I find myself shaking the hand of the man who has been and continues to be at the centre of all that Rockfield has achieved. He s a friend to all the stars who stay here. Kingsley always wins over his rich and famous clients with his warm hospitality and friendly, easy-going style. No one who has recorded here has a bad word to say about him. And legend has it that the huge-selling album by the Canadian rock band, Rush, A Farewell to Kings , was named affe