Rock LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - Extracts from chapter 6 - Queen

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD -- NEW BOOK.

Latest Rockfield extract from the new book due out on September 15th.

I've included here three extracts from Chapter Six which focuses on Queen and Paul Carrack's band Ace. They both had massive hit singles in 1975 with Rockfield songs --- Bohemian Rhapsody and How Long.

About from Rockfield Queen also recorded parts at six other studios. In the first extract Roadie Paul Hince talks about the chaos this caused. In the second producer Roy Thomas Baker looks at the creation of Bohemian Rhapsody. And the the third members of Tigertailz and The Darkness talk about being inspired by Queen during their times at Rockfield.


EXTRACTS FROM CHAPTER SIX

Given the chaotic recording arrangements, Queen roadie Peter Hince spent a good deal of time traveling between studios and would probably have been better off being paid by the mile than the hour! As such his time at Rockfield was limited.
‘I only spent a brief time in Wales. I remember driving a van up to Rockfield to pick stuff up and drop equipment off. It was a nightmare because of all the different things going on. I remember there was a pub down the road that everyone used to go to after recording and I recall that the food at Rockfield wasn’t very good. I spent more time in London in the studios at Sarm, Scorpio and The Roundhouse. It was a hugely chaotic period. Some of the band would be in one studio, while the rest would be in another. All the while us guys on the crew would be moving equipment back and forward. If that wasn’t bad enough, at the same time, we were building this complex new stage show up at Elstree studios. Overall it was a pretty hectic time. The band made it quite difficult for themselves. I don’t know why they did it. There was a lot of pressure, so you got a feeling it was a real “make or break” time for the band. They had just left their old management company and signed up with John Reid. He used his clout as Elton John’s manager to persuade EMI to stick a lot of money behind Queen. At the time, A Night At The Opera was one of the most expensive albums ever made. The cost in terms of studio time was phenomenal. I think that if it hadn’t sold as many millions as it eventually did, there was this feeling that EMI might have had second thoughts after spending all that money and might have dropped Queen. Of course that didn’t happen.’
A Night At The Opera would be a huge hit reaching number 1 in Britain and number 4 in the States. It’s crowning achievement would be the smash hit single Bohemian Rhapsody. It was released on October 31st 1975 to huge acclaim and massive worldwide sales. The six minute epic swept through gentle ballad into operatic drama and a fiery riff-filled rock-out before another transition into its beautiful conclusion. With one broad sweep, the song sealed Queen's future in the Premier Division of rock performers.
Recording had begun on it at Rockfield Studios on August 24, 1975, after a 3 week rehearsal period in Herefordshire. At the time, guitarist Brian May referred to the track's parent album, A Night At The Opera, as "our Sgt Pepper".
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At Rockfield, the first draft of Bohemian Rhapsody was just Freddy on a piano. Over the next few weeks, the singer’s skeleton framework for the song would change many times. Roy Thomas Baker recalls ‘the rough vocals were done at Rockfield, but they were rerecorded in London. There was a room at Rockfield full of saddle bags. It was one of the many rooms we used to hide ourselves away in individually to get away from the studio - to clear our heads and re-energise our batteries.  So if people wanted to hide away, there were loads of these little rooms full of saddle bags and farm type things. I remember Freddy playing me Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time on his piano at his place in London. Then later at Rockfield, with the basics mapped out, he focussed on pinning down what was right. He played me the beginning part and said, “Right, now this is where the Opera section comes in” and he’d leave a gap and I’d have to imagine this dramatic opera style segment. And it just kept changing all the time in Rockfield. It took 3 weeks to record on a 16 track tape machine and we used 180 overdubs, which was very, very unusual for back then.’
**********************************************************************The legacy of Queen’s time at Rockfield is immense. Many bands have been inspired to record there to follow in the footsteps of Queen and try to capture some of the sound and magic of Bohemian Rhapsody. Welsh glam-rock band Tigertailz - best known for their 80’s hit single Love Bomb - arrived at Rockfield in the early 90’s to record their album Wazbones.
‘We were there for three months’ says singer Kim Hooker. ‘I went into the studios really late one day and our producer said “Here’s the tape machine that Queen used to make A Night At The Opera”, and I thought, “We’ve got to use that same machine, because then we can sound like Queen.” But, of course, we didn’t! I was talking to some of the studio staff and they remembered Queen. They were telling me how the band got richer which each album they did there. Roger Taylor for the first album drove a mini cooper. Then for the next one, it was an MG, but by the end of Night At The Opera it was a Ferrari. The money was now rolling in.’ When in January 2005, The Darkness arrived at Rockfield to record with Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, one of the group, bassist Richie Edwards, was in seventh heaven!
‘I’m probably the biggest Queen fan that I know. When I found out that Roy was going to be working on this album One Way Ticket To Hell And Back, and it was going to be at Rockfield - probably the most famous residential studio in the world - I was like a kid in a sweet shop. Just walking in there, I really did feel something. It sounds silly, but I could feel that history. And, as you know, Rockfield is not the most palatial studio in the world. It’s tatty and you get the impression that its not been decorated since Queen did Sheer Heart Attack.

Extracts from ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD. The book is published on September 15th 2007 on University of Wales press. It's now available for pre-order on Amazon and all good book shops (inc waterstones, Walmart, WHSmith etc )

Jeff Collins

New Band - Killing for Company

STUART CABLE'S NEW BAND GIG WITH THE WHO AND PLAN TO RECORD AT MONNOW VALLEY STUDIOS by Jeff Collins

Stuart Cable’s new band are to record their debut CD at Monnow Valley studios in Monmouth.
The band, called Killing For Company have also secured themselves a high profile gig with The Who. The former drummer of the Stereophonics got his band onto the bill of the prestigious concert at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on June 1st simply by calling his old friend Roger Daltrey. Killing For Company also comprise of brothers Steve Williams on guitar and Andy Williams on bass, who were both formerly with the hotly tipped Sheershock Revival. Also in the line up are Ritchie King on rhythm guitar and Greg Jones on vocals.

I met up with Stuart in Cardiff and he told me how the band got together.

“It was through a mutual friend really. My Ex-drum tech Swampy as we call him - or Chris Stone. When I left the Stereophonics we were still friends and he said to me one day as we were sitting and having a pint “I know the guitar player for you!” Andy! I was in college with him. So I asked for his number. I called him and he came up for a jam and a chat. And then he told me that his brother was a bass player. So I though ‘This is great’. So then Steve came up and we had a jam and it worked really really well. So for a long time - about eight months - It was just Steve, Andrew and myself -- and Steve was doing the vocals. But no disrespect to Steve - I like his voice - but I don’t think it was quite right for us. We needed something with a bit more balls in it really. Then we had this audition.”
Stuart groans as he recalls the audition.
“About 20 singers came. It was awful. Terrible! Some of the worst singers I’ve ever seen in my life were there. Not just from Wales but the whole country. So then I went to do this thing for the BBC, which was basically a talent search for a band. We started off in North Wales and worked our way down. And the last one we did was in the little theatre near where I was born and bred. It a nice big stage with about 300 seats and this band came on and all I could see was this guy running round the stage like an idiot - he was all over the place - and he had a great voice. I thought “He’s the man I want”. So I talked to him afterwards and he said saying he’d love to come up and have a jam. So he did and we went through a few songs. The songs we had already written we gave to him and asked him for a melody line -- and we liked what he did. He also recommended a guitar player from a Cardiff band called The Teeth. Its mad, because I was saying how its crazy how we’ve come together and how its worked so quickly. We went into the studio about a month ago with ten songs and picked six. We did a demo tape and the next thing we know eveyone’s raving about it.
HOW DID THE WHO GIG COME ABOUT?
“From me phoning Roger Daltrey!!! ( He Chuckles) I knew Roger from my days with the Stereophonics and the teenager cancer trust thing which we’d always do with him. He’s a really cool guy. When I got sacked from The Stereophonics, he rang me and said how appalled and disgusted he was about the way things were handled. And thought the band should have worked out its problems. He’s very old school in that way. He then said that anytime I needed any help I should just ring.
So I remember someone saying I should ring up Roger and ask him about playing with the Who at Swansea. In the back of my mind I was thinking he’d answer the phone and say “Stuart who?” So I plucked up enough courage, which took me about two days. I rang him and his wife answered. I introduced myself and she said he was away on tour but gave me his email address, as it was the best way to contact him on the road, So I put an email together and attached one song Say About Me. I sent the email and didn’t have anything back after five days. So I though he’s just deleted it!! So then in a bizarre series of events I had a phone call from a mate of mine in Swansea - wondering how he could get a box for the Who gig as it was his 50th birthday on 1st June. So I though ‘The only person I know at the Liberty Stadium is the former Welsh rugby international Scott Gibbs, who is a director for the Stadium sponsors Liberty properties.’ So I called Scott straight away. He was in the pub and said ‘yeah we can sort that out’. He also said ‘You know the Stadium are promoting themselves.’ So then he phoned this guy Andrew Davies who is looking after the Stadium on the Monday. We had a meeting and he was happy to have us on the bill. He said he had to confirm it with the band so rang Live Nation who are looking after them and they said Roger Daltrey already been on the phone and told him wants Stuart’s band playing there. And when I got home there was an email from Roger saying ‘I really like the songs, great to hear you back - its a band decision - but I’ve done my best to get you on the bill.’ So hats off to Roger!
GREAT START. GREAT SHOWCASE FOR YOU.
Its bizarre because one of the first major bands we (The Stereophonics) supported in 1997 was The Who in Earl’s Courts on The Tommy Tour. Roger had liked our first album. We were in Edinburgh with Kenickie. Remember them? I love lauren Laverne (Their singer) - she’s great, but I did an interview with her a couple of weeks back and I said something about Kenickie and she said “Oh we don’t mention those days!!” So yeah, we left that tour to go to play with the Who. So it’s gone full circle. The first big gig for Killing For Company will be the Who. We’re hoping to get back into the studio soon and do some new songs. But of the six we’ve already done we’re going to release one of those as a download only at the time of The Who gig. That’s the plan. Lets hope it can chart.

Jeff Collins has written ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD which is published on September 15th 2007 on University of Wales Press.
It's now available for pre-order on Amazon and from all good book stores.

rock LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - Extract from chapter 5 - Motorhead

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD -- Latest extract (Motorhead)

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - New book -- Out on Sept 15th 2007 (Now available for pre-order on Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith, Walmart and many many others)


New Extract -- Chapter Five Motorhead.

This chapter is about the band's painful birth at Rockfield. The band recorded their first album in 1975. Lemmy himself says "Motorhead were born at Rockfield".
In these two extracts, the first one is about the first fews gigs played by Motorhead after Lemmy was sacked by Hawkwind. The second one is about dissent in the band over the appointment of Dave Edmunds as producer of their first album at Rockfield.
ENJOY!!!!!


'Then Lemmy got chucked out of Hawkwind when they were crossing the border from Canada to America,' says former Motorhead guitarist Larry Wallis. 'I was sitting around at home not doing very much, when Lemmy phoned up and said "I've just been thrown out of Hawkwind. How would you like to join the most evil band that ever walked the earth?" So I said "Sure" and jumped into a taxi, right there and then, and went over the rehearsal room in Chelsea, where Lemmy and Lucas Fox were waiting and that was that. We made an awful racket, took a load of drugs and became Motorhead.'

Lemmy set out the band's stall early on. His amps, which had been psychedelic coloured with Hawkwind, were now painted black. Their first show was at the Roundhouse in London on Sunday July 20th 1975. They were supporting pomp-rockers Greenslade. The band took to the stage to the recorded sounds of marching feet and people yelling 'Sieg Heil'. One of the band's dark black amps had a big silver-painted human skull on it – the forerunner to the now legendary Motorhead logo. That night the band played just 7 songs, including Silver Machine and Motorhead. Wallis was enjoying life with his new band and thought the Roundhouse gig boded well for the future.
'It was a great gig! We'd let people know it was going to be an awful, noisy, speedy monster of a concert. And so all of Lemmy's fans were there and a lot of Pink Fairies fans turned up. They loved it.'
After a handful of gigs – including a disastrous experience supporting Blue Oyster Cult - Motorhead were voted 'worst band in the world' by Melody Maker magazine. Splashed over the front page, it was nevertheless good publicity for the embryonic band. Many audiences, though, were bemused. Lemmy and the band were often confronted by rows of people with blank faces and their mouths hanging wide open. Despite being early days, the trio already prided themselves on being the fastest band in the world. Sometimes this desire would get the better of them at their early gigs, much to the annoyance of many a promoter.
'We were doing a Sunday night gig in Croydon,' remembers Larry Wallis. 'We rushed on stage and off we went at 100 miles an hour. I remember Lemmy and I were shouting at Lucas "Faster, you bloody idiot, Faster." We went down well, and triumphantly strode off the stage. In the dressing room we were considering an encore, when a furious promoter burst in, demanding to know why we'd done 25 minutes instead of the agreed hour. We were astonished to find we'd played the entire set in half the usual time!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Larry Wallis had his doubts about appointing Dave Edmunds as producer: 'Basically I never agreed to it. Edmunds is a fabulous producer. Absolutely incredible! But just because Lemmy was a fan of his, he wanted him to do our record, which I never thought was a great idea. I don't think Dave could cope with working with a group of maniacs, who had a mental entourage of drug addled Hells Angels and groupies.' Long time Rockfield producer John David also felt that Edmunds and Motorhead were unusual bedfellows.
'At that time Dave wanted to do more production and was willing to look at pretty much any band. Motorhead's manager even came up to us in the studio at Rockfield and said "Of course they're not really a band. They're just car thieves." That's how he explained them! But I do remember one time, when the band were completely out of their heads on drugs. It was about 6 o'clock in the evening and Lemmy was trying to overdub this guitar solo. It wasn't difficult. It was a very simple riff and only about 10 seconds long. But Lemmy was so out of it, on some drug or other, that he just could not play it. But he was trying over, and over again, without success. Every time I walked past the door, I could hear it, the same bloody guitar phrase. And Dave is sitting at the mixer desk with a dazed look on his face, while Lemmy was in the studio, sagging at his knees, still trying to play this solo. Anyway I was back there at about 10 o'clock the next morning. They were still there! They were still doing it. All night they'd been trying, so they hadn't gone to bed. And there was Lemmy still playing that same guitar line – and badly! I couldn't believe it. Then later that morning, the maintenance guy, Otto, went in to the studio just to tidy some stuff up and he saw this plate of beans on the floor with mildew growing on it. He thought that the way Lemmy was staggering all over the place, he was going to step in it. So he was going to take it away. But Lemmy saw him and slurred in a loud voice "Aww, don't take that. I was going to eat that!" So he left it for Lemmy to have for lunch! Motorhead used to get in a terrible state.'


In ten days I'll be posting extracts from chapter six -- Queen and Ace rock the world with two major Rockfield hit singles - Bohemian Rhapsody and How Long.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD is written by Jeff Collins and is published by The University of Wales press on sept 15th.

Jeff Collins