Waking up in the stables is great. There’s black-out blinds on the windows and it’s easier than normal to sleep. Slow mornings are compensated by long days. We start in the studio at around 11am and usually finish up around 11pm, though sometimes later. This seems like this is a long day but when we’re in there the time flies. We’re spending the first week on getting the drums and guitar down. Songs we think are going to take no time at all take much longer whilst some come straight out the blocks.
Meeting Kingsley, the owner of the legendary Rockfield Studios, is interesting and he’s got loads of stories about all the greats that have recorded there and how many hits have come out of the place. Dave heard that Ozzy Osbourne got chased around the grounds by a swan and Phil Collins puked in Max’s room after a night out down the town. Nothing that rock’n’roll happening here yet unfortunately but once the pressures off I hope we’ll be getting up to our own mischief. Hearing these stories, I have to say, I’m in a bit of awe over the people that have stood in that room. We learned today that the piano we’ve been tinkling on was THE piano used on Bohemian Rhapsody. Nuts.
I’m not really doing much at this stage, mainly listening to the lads and watching Ted Hutt rock back and forth over the vintage Neve preamps that everyone seems to be getting very excited about. There certainly seems to be lots of equipment here and everyone who works here are amazing. Becky, our evening cook is definitely fattening us up with tasty dishes in the evenings and I’ve heard a rumour that we’re finishing early for a film – yep – that’s about as rock’n’roll it gets so far. I’ve never seen the whites of my eyes so bright. I thought it best since having ruined myself last week for my birthday!
The tracks are sounding great though and I can’t wait to finish getting the basics down so that we can start putting vocals and other instruments down. Wuh-whoooo! Lets hope we don’t get too crazy with cabin fever before that kicks in! Dave has already started imitating Ted.
