ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD -- latest extract -- from chpt 10 - the 90's

Rock Legends at Rockfield -- latest extract Chapt 10
ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD Out on Sept 15th.

Hi here's the latest extract from my book ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD.
Its from chapter 10 -- the 90's featuring Oasis and The Stone Roses etc.

Oasis were riding the crest of a wave. Now settled at Rockfield, the band were enjoying making the follow-up record, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Photographer and close friend Michael Spencer Jones recalls the camaraderie and high spirits, both in the studio and socially.
‘I remember one night, at 11 o clock, we were at a loose end, when we heard some music coming from one of the cottages at the Studios. So we went down there to check it out, and went in, thinking it must be a party. And inside there’s a guy playing a fiddle in the corner in the midst of this Country and Western, thigh slapping kind of atmosphere. I thought to myself “Oh yeah! That’s pretty good fiddle playing.” It turns out that the guy sitting in the corner playing fiddle was Nigel Kennedy, the popular classical musician. So there was a bit of bonding with Nigel, who is a top geezer. A couple of days later, we arranged a football match. The Nigel Kennedy All-Stars versus Oasis. So we went down to the local football pitch in Monmouth to play against them and our jaws dropped when Nigel Kennedy’s team turned up in a pink strip. We were all playing in jeans and t-shirts - just a scruffy rock ‘n’ roll band and their mates! But Nigel’s lot were wearing this specially made pink kit to play in. It didn’t do them any good as we won. Bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and Liam were very good at football, so we ended up hammering them something like 6-1. There was plenty of bonding going on that day. And it was fun for us in the studio too. One day, after Paul McGuigan had had a haircut at the studio, I remember the producer, Owen Morris, doing impersonations of the Gallacher brothers by gathering up huge amounts of the cut hair and sticking it above his eyes to form these monstrous eyebrows! We were in hysterics at that.
**********************************************************************************Producer John Leckie admits he was baffled when the Stone Roses failed to show up on time at Rockfield for record their new single.
‘We were meant to start on Monday. So I got down on Sunday evening – the night before - to get everything ready. I had an engineer, a programmer, all the roadies and the equipment. They all came down with me on Sunday evening. So after work that night, we all had dinner expecting the band to turn up the next morning. But Monday went by and nothing happened. We couldn’t get in contact with anyone. There were very few mobile phones back then and we just got answering machines everywhere we called. Then on Tuesday after dinner - 48 hours later – just as we were all agreeing that we might as well go home, the door burst open and the Stone Roses fell in. All 4 of them were covered from head-to-toe in blue and white paint. They trod paint footprints all over the carpet and they just sat down on the settee and the floor. Then they told us what they done. They had just plastered their old record company in paint. It was all over the release of Sally Cinnamon, which was recorded by an earlier incarnation of the band long before they had success with the first album. Now the Roses were “The next big thing” this company re-released Sally Cinnamon and claimed it was the Roses new record. That angered them! The band took them to court, but they lost. The record company owner had a contract and so it was perfectly legal for him to re-release the song. So the band were full of frustration and took their revenge. They had obviously been plotting this for a long time and did it on their way down to Rockfield. They’d bought tins of paint and basically threw it all over his offices in Wolverhampton, and cars in the car park. They caused thousands of pounds of damage. I knew the police would be on their way soon, but I wasn’t going to let the session be wrecked, as we’d been there for 2 days and had all the equipment set up. So I said “Come on. Let’s hear what you’ve got. Let’s hear this new song.” I hadn’t actually heard the demo yet or anything. And so they went out to the studios, still with paint on their clothes and in their hair, and played me the 2 songs they had. I put them down on tape and then after the session, we stayed up, messed around and went to bed around 3 o’clock in the morning. Then at 8am the police arrived at Rockfield, arrested the band and took them away back to the Midlands.’
The Stone Roses appeared in court and were found guilty of criminal damage, having thrown paint over the offices of Revolver records and vandalised 2 cars. They were fined 3 thousand pounds plus costs.
But the single One Love and its B side Something’s Burning made number 4 in the UK charts.

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD is out on Sept 15th.
It's now availabe for pre-order on Amazon and from all good book stores.

JEFF COLLINS

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD -- book cover

Here's a first look at the cover for my book ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD.

It's out on September 15th on University of Wales Press.

It's available for pre-order now from Amazon and all good book stores including Waterstone's, WHSmith, Tesco, Woolworth, Wal-mart etc etc

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - Extracts from chapter 9 - ROBERT PLANT

ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD - out Sept 15th -- Available for pre-order NOW on Amazon.

Extract from Chapter Nine --- Robert Plant - Led Zeppelin legend rediscovers himself in the pubs and studios at Monmouth.

This is the latest in the extracts from my book on Rockfield which shows behind the scenes of the making of some of the greatest rock records of all time including Queen, Black Sabbath, Rush, Motorhead, Judas priest etc etc.
On May 15th 2006 I reunited Robert Plant with his first solo band. They recorded Pictures At Eleven and Principle of Moments at Rockfield from 1981.
Drummer Phil Collins couldn't make it as he was in New York working on the musical Tarzan.
In the first of these two extracts, I read out an email Phil has sent to me to read to his friends and former bandmates. In the second - Robert relates some of the stories about how the songs got their names.
Enjoy!!!!


At Rockfield, Robert Plant greets me and my friend and photographer Andrew Pritchard. Eventually he sits down on one of three large green sofas in the living room, which are laid out in a ‘U’ shape around a coffee table. Sitting to the singer’s right in the living room is Jezz Woodroffe (Former Black Sabbath Keyboard player), while Robbie Blunt (Guitars) hovers nearby, lost amid his own memories, on the other side of the room. Andrew starts taking photographs of the three band members, while I sit opposite Robert Plant and read out an email, which I have been sent by another member of this band, who can’t be here today.
‘Dear Lads. Oh the memories. I remember it like it was 25 years ago! If you ever want to do it again, call me. I can still play drums, but I’m better on the slower songs!!!  Wish I was there! Phil Collins xxxx’
‘Well’, laughs Robert Plant, ‘having played in Genesis all those years, being with us had to be good fun, didn’t it?’ Jezz and Robbie both chuckle loudly at their former singer’s affectionate barb at their one time drummer. Phil Collins was one of two drummers used on those albums:  the other being the late Cozy Powell.  Phil, though, is three thousand miles away in New York promoting the Disney Broadway musical, Tarzan, for which he has written the music. But he’s sent me an email, ahead of this reunion, to read out to his former band mates. At the end of the message, they nod and smile in unison at the memories of the long-time Genesis drummer’s contributions to the albums and the subsequent tour of America. They all agree that Phil Collins enjoyed his time at Rockfield, even if he sometimes couldn’t take the pace. ‘One of my favourite memories,’ says Robbie Blunt, ‘was hearing Phil throw up in the bedroom next to mine, after he’d been on a night out with us. That was amusing!’ My mind resists a mental image of the Phil Collins Spitting Image puppet on its knees, bent over a toilet bowl. I shake my head to clear the bizarre image from my mind and refocus on the conversation in hand. ‘I thought it was great when he played on the road with us,’ chips in Jezz - still on the subject of Phil Collins. ‘It just got better and better, and I loved that old plane we toured on. The five of us rumbling across America in this 60’s prop plane.’
‘That was a 1948 Viscount!’ corrects Plant, who’s either an aviation expert or simply a stickler for the facts. Mind you, he probably should know as he paid it!!

**********************************************************************************************************************************************

Robert Plant leans back in his chair as he pauses to remember the lighter moments of the band’s time together, and the three musicians look at each other and exchange smiles as they reminisce.  ‘We can all relate some songs to one funny incident, or another, during recording,’ continues Plant. ‘The song Horizontal Departure is a great example.  We all went to Ibiza to get in the groove of writing the second album Principle Of Moments. Our bassist Paul Martinez is a lovely guy, but could come across as a stroppy fucker. He could be so offhand that people would take it as an insult. One night he was in a club and someone he’d offended decked him. He flew through the door and hit the floor as he came out. We all rushed out into the street after him and there he was lying on the kerb, which was covered in his blood. We’d watched him be punched straight through the door – so that inspired the song Horizontal Departure. So there were all these little innuendos, which were comical to us at the time. It’s just the same for any band I guess.’
Jezz Woodroffe puts his cup of coffee on the table in front of him as he recalls another inspiring moment. ‘The song  Fat Lip was called that because Robert’s son Logan, who was about 6 at the time, used to walk round telling people he was going to give them a fat lip!’ Robert Plant laughs at that recollection before adding, ‘Burning Down One Side was about a spliff. Big Log was about a spliff as well. In fact, its all just one big spliff attack,’ he announces with a flourish, clearly warming to his theme.


ROCK LEGENDS AT ROCKFIELD by Jeff Collins is out on sept 15th.

It's now available for pre-order on Amazon and from all good bookstores and their websites.