Nick Byng Blog
Old Times, New Times, The Big Time!

Enjoying a beer in Bondi

Since backpacking across Canada in 1998, I have visited various other countries and cities, but mainly around Europe. The Canadian experience left me with a desire to get out there again at some point, to experience the freedom of travelling light, being awed by new sights and the meeting of new people.

Australia had never really appealed to me until a few years ago, when it dawned on me that, a couple of mates were living down under. On closer inspection, I realised the country could have a lot more to offer than I had originally given credit for. I planned to head out in 2007 but I had started an online dance music record store, which, although successful never quite provided an adequate enough income to afford such luxuries as backpacking.

So 2010 was to be a new hike, to the Great Ocean Road, to Bondi and beyond. I organised it with work a couple of months in advance, and was kindly allowed to book all my holiday for that year in one go. With this in mind I prepared for the journey ahead. With the purchase of a new backpack, lightweight sleeping bag and other travelling essentials. I also armed myself with a new camera, with which I used to record my journey.

Lost Luggage.. Again

Tough MacPac Design

The flights were booked from the UK, and with a quick stop off in ‘humid’ Hong Kong, I found myself cruising at high altitude above central Australia. As we descended into Sydney, I thought of the last time I backpacked and how I collected the wrong bag. I hoped my backpack would be collected without stress this time, however, this was not to be the case.

By the time the last person had collected their bag, there were just three items of luggage slowly rotating on the carousel, and none of them resembled my ‘macpac’, I couldn’t believe it! In fact, all the staff were disappearing too. I called for assistance, and after a search of the area, I was directed to a Chinese man who, as I filled in a lost luggage ticket, discovered that my surname was the same as his first name.

‘Bing’ found this most amusing and kept repeating “Bing, your name is Bing.. ha ha” I tried to raise a smile out of one corner of my mouth but the thoughts of losing my carefully planned package of clothes limited my ability to offer up a belly laugh. As a last ditch attempt before giving up, I stood on the top of some metal railings to peer down the delivery chute, to my astonishment, my backpack was rolling like a rolly sausage far below. The ‘travelator’ had to be turned off so that someone could climb in from the depths below and ‘clear it’.

The security guards laughed reminding me it was a highly unusual occurrence, to which I thought “nothing seems unusual in my world”. I then had to be cross examined at bag search as I appeared suspicious for coming through customs so late after the flight had landed.

Around Sydney

Palms & Scrapers

I love that first journey in a new land. It’s truly exciting, trying to take in all the new sights, sounds and smells. Australia seemed bright, busy and colourful. Lush palms and soaring skyscrapers greeted my tired eyes.

I decided to split the youth hostels up with hotels throughout the trip. The idea was to provide some much needed lavish comfort amongst the sometimes impersonal nature of youth hostels. My first stay was in a hotel with outdoor swimming pool.

The view from the hotel room did not disappoint, and seeing as I appeared to be insusceptible to Aussie jet lag I headed out the night of my arrival for a few beers. I ventured around a few bars in Kings Cross, dropping into a few Irish pubs and touristy type bars, I later discovered a funky little jazz club.

This first experience of an Australian club was an interesting one.

Sydney Harbour from hotel room.

A rather stylish and friendly woman came over and started chatting. Her friends were all quite lovely too and we danced and drank.They wanted to smoke, so we moved to the smoking terrace. With the busy street scenes of Kings Cross unfolding outside, one of the women became unbelievably racist towards Aboriginal people, claiming their DNA is closer to Neanderthals than humans (she naively believed this). One of the women had her bag stolen, so I decided it was time to retire to the hotel and try and steal some sleep.

Something that did strike me in Sydney, was the lack of Aboriginal people out and about, and for such a huge city I found this a little eerie. Where were the indigenous people of Australia? This would become clear later in my journey.

The next day I took a hike around town, with a trip up the viewing tower, and a walk around the parks and Opera House, but more interesting to me was the walk home.

Fruit Bats

As the sun dropped, an intense orange sky began to glow over the harbour, and as the sun set dozens of huge fruit bats began to flutter above. As I took photos the locals looked at me and probably thought I was a bit odd, to them it was an every day occurrence, to me it was the intro to the 70s ‘Scooby Doo’ cartoon.

Kings Cross was on my doorstep and one evening I sat with some new friends watching the world pass by. We were sharing a beer and talking about music when a Rastafarian stepped out of a cab with two ‘dolled up’ women, they walked off.

About half an hour later, the Rasta returned with just one of the women, and she was absolutely out of it, falling on the floor and he was trying to prop her up whilst hailing a taxi. As we watched a story unfolded. A group of other women stopped and demanded to know what was going on, he protested his innocence, then a group of other passers by started getting involved, at this point the Rasta guy was becoming really agitated. By the time the police arrived he was surrounded by about fifteen to twenty people all trying to pull this limp woman off him.

I’m not sure what was going on, or where the other woman was, maybe we should have intervened, but there was so much of that stuff going on in Kings Cross. I also witnessed a tramp attacking another tramp from that seat.

Sydney from up high

I spent a few days in the hotel and, although it was quite up market, I discovered tiny blood sucking bed bugs in my clean sheets along with a few bites. I was sort of pleased to head to the hostel for the rest of my stay in Sydney.

The city was interesting, although, If I’m honest, once you appreciated the harbour and a few bars and parks, Sydney itself was just like any other city, in fact I found the pedestrian crossings really frustrating, having to wait for ages to cross at every block.

Sydney did offer some memorable experiences though. I do recall visiting one of the coolest roof top night clubs inside a tall building which was surrounded by skyscrapers.

It was like something from a George Michael video, with large lit-up pool and projector screen which accompanied the DJ, lots of fake tan and white jeans. I met some fun partygoers here, but the price of a small bottle of beer was around $9, so a little expensive considering I was supposed to be backpacking.

Bondi & Manle Beach

Surfer at Bondi

The rest of my stay in Sydney was spent in a backpackers. This was quite horrible, very noisy, unfriendly spoilt teenagers and a bit of an alcohol problem at night. It reminded me of the kind of Australia I had always imagined, and I hoped to never experience.

I am just grateful I rented my own room with a nice lock. The teenagers next door were arguing until the early hours, and the night club below often played cheesy shit dance music until all hours, the room was more basic than a prison cell but I’ve slept in worse.

The community spirit of other backpackers I’d stayed at in Canada seemed a distant memory, it seemed a bit ‘dog eat dog’ here. There was a generally moody atmosphere, and loads of hungover looking college kids queuing up to moan at staff. I know a few people who came, and went the next morning, due to the ‘school holiday’ atmosphere at night.

During my days here, I discovered Bondi Beach. What a brilliant place, this really made up for where I was staying at night. If I ever return to Sydney I would head straight here.

Bondi Lifeguard

Bondi had a friendly vibe and I found it surprisingly less commercial/busy than I had expected. I headed back to Bondi both night and day, it was so simple to get to from the city.

One occasion I ran from Bondi to Coogee bare foot, this was foolish and I developed a bit of plascia fasciitis (knackered foot). I became a member of Bondi surf club just so as I could drink a nice cold beer and was disappointed to discover shark sightings amounted to only a couple each year.

The other beach I visited was Manly. This was attractive but extremely busy and funnily enough, it resembled more of how I imagined Bondi to be. Hordes of people, sun shades, bikinis, volley ball, extremely touristic.

Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains Haze

The Blue Mountains was done by coach. This was a bit ramshackle and we had problems as the doors wouldn’t close. Things were made worse by a Japanese couple who were late getting back on the bus at every single stop by about 20 minutes.

This really pissed off everyone on the trip and it was starting to get a bit ‘Lord of the Flies’, even I found myself wishing they could understand the words the guide was saying “if you’re late again we’re leaving you here, OK guys?!”, it made no difference.

A single day wasn’t really enough up here, I felt the loneliness of Australia once or twice, with the vast forests, and seemingly no wildlife? No bird song, no animals, I wondered if the recurrent years of forest fires had taken more of a toll than we were led to believe, regardless, the views were effortlessly impressive on a vast and remote scale.

Sydney Sunshine

My time in Sydney was coming to an end, so I had one last night in Kings Cross, which reminded me of home a bit. Broad Street in Birmingham about fifteen years ago. I limped through the streets back from a bar where I’d made friends with a Mancunian musician earlier in the week.

My limp made me a bit of a target for the drunks and pimps outside their brothels “hey mr cowboy, you wanna come inside, I got a lady for you mannn!”. Tempting as it may have been I limped on by and tried to laugh off the various comments. I was told Kings Cross was the most dangerous part of Australia, but what I found was quite a cultural little hub, the abundance of police (and tourists) probably kept it all from getting too wild on the main drag.

My bags were packed, and I embarked on flight number three to meet longtime mate Doctor Jones on the Sunshine Coast.

Jericho Beach

Jericho Beach Sunset

The rapid descent down to the West Coast left me with an ear infection. It affected my balance and everything seemed to be leaning to one side.

We stayed in a beautiful old backpackers on Jericho beach, just outside the city. At night you could see the distant, twinkling lights of down town Vancouver. Next to the hostel was an equally old wooden theatre, we attended a shakespearean play where the audience had to wear masks.

This was probably the best hostel for making new friends. I ended up working there changing beds for my nights board. There were a few truly weird people staying here. I had to refuse cleaning one mans bed as he defecated at night and left it in a tied up plastic bag on the window side. I lost interest in bed cleaning duties around this time.

It started to feel like I was working in a prison block, rolling my little troly past all the blokes in the morning “new pillow case please mate”, and “have you got an bog roll there” and so on. One bonus was being given ‘first dibs’ on lost property, something which was to haunt me later on.

I remember a small party on the beach. We sat around a camp fire underneath the blanket of stars, burning autumn drift-wood, and drinking Kokanee beer. The crackle of our fire, accompanied the gentle sound of the cold Pacific waves against the shore, a great place to get pissed without a care in the world.

Vancouver

Wreck Beach

My partner and I made the lengthy treck to Wreck nudist beach. It was all a bit hippyish with live music and naked people selling hot dogs at sun down. I remained clothed, however my partner went topless and soon attracted other “nakeds”. I later signed a petition to keep the beach free from commercial development and to keep the ‘bare bummed’ hot dog sellers in business.

One of the highlights of Vancouver was a trip up Grouse Mountain. The cable car takes you high above the city, with panoramic views of forest filled Pacific islands beyond. Wherever we went, we seemed to have these locations to ourselves. It was late in the evening and the lights of Vancouver were beginning to glisten miles below, you just felt so tiny amid the vast forests and huge horizon.

On the way up we had already found a $20 note on a park bench, being tight for money we took this a sign of luck.

Grouse Mountain, into the Pacific

We were sitting in the restaurant overlooking the urban patchwork of Vancouver, when a lady from the opposite table got up and placed something into my partner’s hand, she clasped her hand tight and muttered a few words. She had overheard our conversation about spending and placed a $20 note into my partners hand, two $20 notes in one day.. We ate well that evening with a feeling of fate being on our side.

Vancouver was very modern, and busy during the day. The music scene seemed slightly hindered though by early licensing laws. One evening we were salsa dancing in a jazz bar and some guy invited us to a break-dancing competition. We accepted his offer and were enticed by the prospect of a T.V. network who were apparently covering the event.

Vancouver

It soon became evident this was not the case, we had to walk into a Caribbean takeaway, and then down a ladder through a hatch in the kitchen floor, into a small concealed basement.

There were no camera crew, just a painted circle on the floor with a DJ playing hip-hop. The break-dancers were good but the atmosphere was moody, my partner didn’t feel safe so we left after a few bottles of Budweiser with one guy trying to block the door.

I also walked down a dodgy part of the infamous ‘Hastings Street’ for a dare, taking pictures as I went. It was full of beggars, drug dealers and other shady characters and I met a scar faced man from Luton who, after realising I didn’t want to buy his dope, advised me to “be careful man, yeah!?”.

Vancouver Island & Home

Fan Tan Alley, Victoria

After a couple of weeks in Vancouver we set sail for Victoria, navigating our way through the Strait Of Georgia.

Victoria was a funky little city, some great shops existed amid the tourist trail, such as the psychedelic record store in Fan Tan Alley (a place I could not resist).

I think I ate some of the finest pizza in my life in this little city. We were interviewed live on Canadian T.V. about the whale watching and how it was becoming commercialised.

We went out ourselves one day, a tiny boat sped us right out into the Pacific and we were lucky enough to get ahead of an Orca whale pod. They were magnificent and very lively, breaching the surface with leaps and splashes, they were so huge and our boat so small in comparison – they came really close and we were all treated to the creaks of their communications via a small receiver dipped into the water – seeing them in their natural habitat made the Aquarium in Vancouver seem a bit cruel.

Pod of Orca whales, north Pacific

We had accumulated a small rabble of friends in Jericho who accompanied us to the Island, all really good folk and some brilliant times were had, from playing volley ball on a hotel roof, to eating chocolate covered insects, not to mention being accused of stealing cookies from a cat ridden hostel.

Upon returning to Vancouver, my partner and I decided that home was calling and money was thin, so we embarked on the long journey back to England.

Canada was an epic 7,000 mile journey, on highways and through prairies, in endless redwood forests and up Rockie Mountains, with a great ending in the Pacific north west, a journey best made with a backpack and a shoe-string budget!

Calgary

As the coach apprached Calgary, we passed through intriguing places such as Maple Creek and Medicine Hat, the approach to the city limits was one of the most stunning.

Calgary

Staying in hostels could throw up some interesting characters, and having to sleep in the same room could be a bit uncomfortable at times.

Trans Canadian Highway

We attended a reggae bash one hot and dusty evening in an old part of town. At one point a bottle fight broke out between two rival gangs, the staff were cowering under the bar, as bottles flew from side to side.

We often explored places like this, off the beaten track, to gain a true perspective of Canada, you don’t get the same ‘tourist’ treatment when you cross the tracks.

Banff

The road to the Rockies was impressive, as expected. I seem to remember

Sulphur Mountain gondolas

the mountains looming like an immense wall of darkness, which cast huge shadows over the ever nearing foothills.

We ascended by Greyhound into the heart of the Rocky Mountains, to Banff, our first destination in British Columbia.

Banff hostel was an impressive log cabin perched on the outskirts of town. We had our first encounter with an Elk – an extremely large and grumpy one was plonked, grazing, by the entrance to the hostel. Elk are responsible for more injuries to humans than bears in Canada, and frustratingly for me, this one was stood guard over the entrance.

Once settled in, we were advised to take a trip up to Sulphur Mountain with the hot springs so, the next day we took the long trek up the hillside.

There had been a few bear attacks around that time, being ignorant to the danger we took a route through the lower forests and emerged out by a bus stop. An elderly lady complained about how we shouldn’t have chosen that route, with a black bear warning in force at the time.

Banff National Park

We took the cable car up as far as we could go, it felt like being on top of the world.

The visitors centre offered views down over the wooded valleys with Banff carved out of the middle. Banff, as a town, was very touristic and there were lots of late night bars serving Coors and Kokanee beer.

One night we ended up in a lively bar with a band playing, they band were all naked much to the womens entertainment.

Lake Louise

Lake Louise was by far the most stunning place we had visited in the Rockies,

Lake Louise

we took a grand day trip up to the ice flows.

There were several routes up to the Lake from the hostel and I think we took the longest one, it was a quiet and secluded track which followed a pearlescent blue creek – bear territory and no bear-bells again.

The journey up to the ice flow skirted around the valley of the lake and we rested at a log cabin settlement which served tea and muffins.

By the time we reached the ice flows, the last of the tourists had passed us on their way back down. It was quiet and eerie up there, the only company was from the odd chipmunk and a cool and gentle wind in the trees.

On the way back down it was getting dark fast, I was winding up my partner by making bear calls across the wooded valley, until what sounded like a bear cry came back in the far off distance. I shut up rather quickly, I had to remind myself that we were not in Symonds Yat anymore.

Toronto

Toronto was fast paced. The soaring skyscrapers and evening glow of the CN Tower was clearly visible from our brightly coloured youth hostel.

The MD from Amato back in London hooked me up with

CN Tower Toronto

the manager from Eastern Bloc records in the city. I took a copy of a track named ‘Woman’ which I had been working on with a friend back in England.

He said he would take an initial 20 copies when it reached release. He also got us onto the Industry guest list, which was renowned across Northern America and Canada. We met clubbers who had driven up from Detroit and New York to catch some of the Techno DJs there.

The suburbs were fascinating and we stumbled across a fab flea market, selling retro leather gear and boxes of cool 60′s and 70′s vinyl. I picked up some cool titles, from The Doors to Beatles albums, not quite so collectible as the English pressings, but a bargain at $10 a shot. This bag of vinyl records, was to slowly accumulate across Canada and become nearly as much a pain to lump around as my partners bag of shoes, which I was now responsible for.

We took a trip to China Town, with all the vegetables and produce on stalls

China Town, Toronto

and in the gutter. I managed to trade in an old watch for a new one which was made from a spliced section of a gun barrel.

A visit to the CN Tower was blagged for free, the views from the top offered an infinite horizon of skyscrapers, suburbs and lakes.

Our time was spent between two hostels there, and on one occasion, I remember being caught sleeping on the top bunk next to my partner. Not a problem usually, but we were in a female only dorm and I had to make a quick exit after a Chinese woman awoke to the sound of my snoring. She would have looked up to catch a glimpse of my bare bum hanging over the edge of the bunk – I heard a yelp and the door opened in the darkness, and with a pitter patter of feet she had informed reception of my presence, I made a fast exit back to my room!

Niagara Falls

Niagara was next up courtesy of the Greyhound bus. The youth hostel there was a huge old wooden building with a swing

Niagara Falls

chair out front. We unpacked and made our way to the Falls. It was jammed full of tourists, and everywhere seemed over commercialised, the volume of water cascading was impressive but there seemed to be a plethora of cheap burger bars and litter.

A walk into the quiet office district the next morning, offered an authentic coffee bar, we tried waffles with maple syrup, the locals were friendly and i strangely enjoyed this more than the falls.

Niagara was fairly peaceful, and we only stayed a night, with thoughts of the Rockies and the Pacific North West on our minds. Summer was fading fast and it was time to pack once again, chasing the sun into the West.

The Great Canadian Interior

We prepared for the 30 hour coach trip to Winnipeg. The coach skirted Lake Superior, stopping off at quiet backwaters such as Sudbury, Sault Ste Marie and Thunder Bay. These were for driver breaks, fag breaks, pizza breaks and a chance to stretch the legs for half an hour.

Winnipeg reminded me of a small UK city, and after being warned

Canadian Interior

by a member of the youth hostel about the local area, and a string of assaults on backpackers, we stayed just one night. We viewed the city and great river, then embarked on the next leg of the journey along the ‘Trans-Canadian Highway’ to Calgary.

This journey moved from vast great lakes, to immense prairies of the interior country. One night, I remember being one of the few people left awake on the Greyhound, we were seated at the front, and I was talking to the driver as we struggled through a rain storm where the roads turned into rivers. He stopped talking as the lightening started hitting the ground ahead, I lay back and turned on my Walkman, as I listened to ‘One Rainy Wish’ by Jimmy Hendrix, a massive bolt of lightening struck just metres from the coach and I sank deeper into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep!

In the summer of 1998, I was in the process of recording my first record album.

Snorkie Release on D*Fusion Records

I was signed to ‘Amato Disco’ and had to travel down to London for recording sessions.

Meanwhile, my partner was becoming frustrated with living in rural Herefordhsire, so, I suggested she take ‘time out’ and join a friend who was about to explore Canada after finishing Universisty.

Contact was extremely difficult due to the vast distance between us, there were no mobile phones and no permanent address. After a couple of weeks I decided to join her, not wanting to miss out on the fun.

I managed to quickly scrape together the cash, and within a week, the tickets were bought, passport renewed and backpack & sleeping bags borrowed from my brother. The record album was put on hold, and some of my music equipment had to be sold to fund the trip.

Hawkwind

The Lakes from above

On the flight across, members of legendary space-rock band ‘Hawkwind’ were on the flight, and their groupies were getting drunk. We chatted and I handed them a demo tape of a friend’s band.

We touched down in Toronto and the coach soon departed for the city centre, I was greeted with cross town traffic, bumper to bumper.

The wide busy lanes reached out to the impressive hazy skyscraper horizon. I alighted at the busy downtown district and, racing through busy streets of suited office workers, with my heavy back pack on, beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. Would I make the last train to Montreal to meet my partner? She was keen to move on and I had no ‘plan B’.

The Wrong Backpack!

I missed the last train.. and the last bus, not only that, I had picked up the wrong back pack in the airport.

Hawkwind Spacerock

I resigned myself to catching the midnight coach and left a message with my partner’s youth hostel to inform her of the delay.

At the ticket office, I reached into the backpack to retrieve my wallet, but in its place there was a beige bikini top? It was an identical bag but with a Maple Leaf sewn on to the front – the thing had been on my back since the Airport.. I had collected someone elses flippin backpack!

Luckily, I had several hours before my new departure, enough time to hoof it back to the terminal and swap it for the right one. As I approached lost property, I was unnerved to see Hawkwind waiting there, thankfully, not for the bag I had picked up. The band’s guitars had gone missing.

I finally caught my midnight bus, and I awoke to a huge and intense sunrise as we cruised into the Montreal suburbs. I flicked through the radio stations on my Walkman for company, and as daylight broke, the neon signs blurred through the misty windows of the coach.

Montreal

Montreal Sunrise

To my great relief, my partner arrived at the bus station with a large grin on her face, we hugged, and then began the short walk back to the youth hostel.

The hostel was a basement of a hotel, and as I descended into the darkness of the male dorm, a smell of sweaty feet and farts overwhelmed me, bodies lay beneath a stillness of bed sheets in the crisp Canadian heat. My first job was to open a tiny window hidden behind security bars; the morning sunlight, and warm summer air, christened the stale fausty room!

Heatwave

There was a heatwave in Canada that year, and I discovered that you could run a cold tap as long as you liked in Montreal and it would still run warm, but I soon acclimatised to the heat, the city was alive, waiting to be explored!

Jello Jazz Bar

We toured bars and clubs at night, from dingy rock venues to dodgy hip hop joints, where the local rude-boys carried walking sticks and danced around them- we visited some great bars, playing cutting edge house music and drum & bass! Montreal is a diverse musical city. Rockerfella Skank by ‘Fatboy Slim’ had just been released and it could be heard everywhere.

We toured the city by day, sampling crepes and sipping coffee at the foot of skyscrapers, we walked parks and viewed the city from up high. But time was passing, and we decided to head back to Toronto.

Foot In The Door

Coach House @ Rockfield

Upon leaving high school, my dream was to work in a recording studio, so I decided to approach local studio owner ‘Kingsley Ward’ for a work placement. It was extremely difficult to get work in this field, but after a patient autumn, I eventually received a call, asking me if I could start for a trial.

The day of my interview, the singer from Neds Atomic Dustbin walked across the courtyard, eating a banana, I knew this was the place to be! I was also shown the piano that Freddie Mercury composed Bohemian Rhapsody on while ‘bumming’ around the studios during the 1970s.

The place was rambling, and the outside farmyard views could not prepare you for the ’state of the art’ studios inside. To a 16 year old lad, It was like being inside a space control centre.

The Charlatans

The Charlatans

I started off as a trainee tape operator, with one of my favourite indie bands of the time ‘The Charlatans’. I can remember sitting in awe of the band, being asked to make tea & coffee for band members and the producer.. I was a bit panic stricken as I couldn’t remember all the different requests; some with sugar, some without, white, black, strong, weak, and so on. I delivered the tray shaking slightly, sitting there watching them drink my brew.

It was like a dream working those early days, moving the lead weight tape reels around, narrowly escaping getting crushed by the portable sound proof walls, setting up microphones, watching and listening to the endless rehearsals and band banter.

In Between 10th & 11th

In Between 10th & 11th

The album we worked on was ‘In Between 10th & 11th’, and although the studio takes were raw and rocky, the finished product was mixed down very synthy.

I remember one time, being totally bollocked by FLUD, for playing my own dance music demo over the studio speakers, just as the band were rolling in for a days recording, it was my first effort at ‘Rave music’ created on a Commodore Amiga, that track ended up getting played on Radio.

Rob’s Departure

Charlatans

The band returned to Rockfield in later years, and Woodside Studios down the road, to record subsequent albums. I took a copy of my first white label record down for Tim some years later; when he was getting into DJing.

The band were sitting on a table in front of a signed picture on the wall, which showed them posing with Rob. The atmosphere was a bit sombre as we sat there sipping our beers, Rob was much missed, but I am sure he was around ‘in spirit’.

I still see the band on the odd oaccasion, and it’s nice to see they’re still the same old ‘down-to-earth’ group of guys that I remember from my days at Rockfield.

Black Sabbath Practical Joke

Black Sabbath

By the time Black Sabbath came to work at Rockfield I had reached seventeen, the L.A. riots had kicked off and Freddie Mercury had died.. Both events were watched in the studios by bands recording there at the time.

I don’t think I really understood the importance of Black Sabbath back then, and being into rave and techno music, heavy metal was not something that really inspired me. Their eerie sounds would drift out of the studios, as I waited in the winter darkness for my brother to collect me in his battered old Ford Escort.

Tony Iommi & Ozzy Osbourne 1977

I wasn’t supposed to be working with the band, however, on this occasion, I was lounging on the sofa while the band were telling dodgy stories of their hedonistic days. I had gained a reputation as a ‘space-cadet’ by the band, as I didn’t really say much and often drifted into my own little world.

Tony Iommi asked me if I could go and check the large, powerful speakers in the sound proofed studio in front of the mixing console. I trotted down and my voice came over the main studio speakers, “what do you want me to do?”  Tony’s voice came back over the monitor speakers, “there’s a buzz coming out of that speaker, can you check it please?”

Paris Angels – Not From Paris And Not Angelic

Perfume - Paris Angels

Some of the bands I worked with at Rockfield were: The Charlatans, Black Sabbath, The Damned, Crush, Naked Truth, Clannad, Kinky Machine, Paris Angels, Pop Will Eat Itself, Saw Doctors, X.T.C., Rumblefish and various other soloists.

The Paris Angels were another favourite band of the time, these guys were from the “MadchEster” indie scene and we got on really well, there were a lot of them, and certain band members were often up to mischief, the drummer was usually after Marlboro Reds!

They were often back and forth to Manchester. The sad thing is, that E.P. they were working on never made it to release, they were really very talented but a little unorganised, much to the frustration of the Sound Engineer at the time. I seem to remember him puffing on a lot of roll ups.

Their track ‘Perfume’ is possibly one of my all time top songs from that era.

Captain Sensible & The Damned

The Damned

I knew about one Damned song but not much else, so when I was told I would be working with them I couldn’t really relate.

I walked into the living quarter early one morning to discover pellet holes in the walls. The clock on the wall had pellet holes in the plastic cover too. I took the clock off the wall and the pellets rolled around inside like a cheap travel game, I think Mr Sensible had gone crazy with a ball bearing gun the night before. This kind of behaviour was normal for some bands. He must have been quite bored, or maybe angry (I remember PWEI smashing up a guitar for fun).

Music Calling

Bad Manners

Towards the end of my time at Rockfield, I found myself drifting into my own music more and more, I ended up day dreaming about being in the band rather than behind the mixing desk.

Bands came and went and I was starting to dream of pastures new.

Rockfield was an experience that I will always remember, and I feel lucky and grateful to have lived that dream.

Oasis Vs Stone Roses

Ian Brown

After I left, Oasis and The Stone Roses recorded some of their best material at the studios, and I still keep an eye out for albums being recorded there now.

We often saw Ian Brown and The Gallagher’s around Monmouth.

In my opinion, Rockfield is one of the finest recording studios in the world.. Through it’s idyllic location, the warm friendly staff and a rich musical heritage. I hope that the studios remain popular and stay vibrant and ‘used’, they have already helped shape Britain’s audio identity, and the bands just keep rolling in through the doors.

60s Disco DJ

With all the technological advances in audio formats over the last few decades, vinyl is still going strong, record collectors and dance music enthusiasts have been keeping the sound format alive when major record labels lost interest in the late 1980’s. More recently record labels in Japan, North America and Europe are getting back into the groove by releasing special limited edition Albums and 45 records by popular demand.

Disc Jockey

Tony Blackburn

Disc Jockeys came about in the U.S. during the 1930’s, but beat matching didn’t arrive until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s through people such as Francis Grasso of the Bronx.

One of the first people to use twin turntables for continuous play was British DJ and T.V. personality Jimmy Savile. Jimmy paid a metalworker to weld two domestic record decks together, this was at the very beginning of ‘twin-deck’ DJing, this allowed two records to be played back-to-back continuously at discos.

Hip Hop DJs in New York, took vinyl record play to a new level, with scratching and beat juggling in the 1970’s, vinyl records have since become an intrinsic part of the dance music scene.

Digital Jockey

Digital DJing

Some DJs now use laptop computers or
purpose built digital modules to mix. Beat Matching software, is designed to beat-match, digital tracks with great accuracy.

The software can effectively beat-match for you, if you need it to, some working DJs now openly admit to having never bought a vinyl record in their life.

Some people embrace the new technology 100% for its ease of use, whereas others regard this style as untrue to the roots of DJing, others simply work between vinyl and digital by burning downloaded digital files to CD.

Analog

Vinyl 45 records

Downsides of vinyl include the large amounts of space they take up, the weight, scratches, specks of dust and wear to the disc which can be heard as noise or static. Records should always be placed back in their sleeves avoiding touching the vinyl surface with greasy fingers.

Cd’s that are lightly scratched become totally unplayable and are prone to jumping, whereas vinyl records that are scratched often still play, the CD is just as fragile if not more so than the vinyl record. Record collectors accept light surface noise on certain records as it allows the audio a unique history, and can indicate years of loving play. (Image courtesy of Ian Watkins)

Vinyl can be placed on the turntable in an instant, you can pin point exactly where the needle should fall accessing any part of a song immediately with no forward tracking, there is a physical response from the needle to the groove, through the turntable into the mixer and then into the amp, and then out again through the speakers, 100% analog.

Channels are grooved into the vinyl disc when an original sound’s waveform is recorded. Little audio information is lost. Record players emit sound as analog, they feed directly to the amp with no need for conversion i.e. analog to analog rather than analog to digital and then back to analog.

In an image conscious world, musicians can create detailed artwork and fit large graphics on a record’s jacket, or sleeve. Also, you can choose the colour of the vinyl rather than having to settle for a silver CD or non-tangible MP3, put simply digital formats lack the permanent aesthetic benefits of vinyl records.

Digital

Sound wave file

MP3s are easy to store on CD or on your P.C., and work for many people as their only sound format. With the development of the I-Pod, portability is digital’s forte. With format tools such as ‘Serato’, digital tracks, can be transfered to a ‘mock’ vinyl disc on a turntable, this can give the appearance and feel, of the digital sound being a traditional vinyl record.

Digital recordings don’t degrade over time, however if your computer is not backed up, any crash or virus that effects the p.c. could result in total loss of your record collection, it’s the equivalent to your house burning down in vinyl terms. Backing up your digital music collection is time consuming but can save you time and money, this will need to be done whenever you upgrade your p.c. Downloading music files can also be stressful, some files may become corrupt or damaged.

MP3s can be burned to disc but CD-Rs often have a much shorter shelf life than both vinyl and normal Cd’s, depending on quality and storage conditions. A down side of MP3 is reduced sound quality. Original sound is analog by definition, vinyl doesn’t sample sound it records it in a natural state as a vibration.

Sound waves

Digital recordings take approximate snapshots of an analog signal at a certain rate, this means that, unlike vinyl, a digital recording does not capture the complete soundwave, it makes up the bits in between so you will get a less true sound of the original source.
A stereo, computer or CD player simply converts a digital recording back into an analog signal which is then fed to the amplifier, the amp then increases the voltage of the signal to drive the speaker.

Digital sound is sometimes described as narrow, flat and compressed for these reasons, whereas vinyl is often described as sounding more analog, a deep, rich, wide sound, the qualities of the original recording are more audible on vinyl. However, some vinyl records, especially LPs, can be extremely quiet and will not match up to the ‘fuller’ more compressed sound of digital.

Hybrid record deck

The Future? 

Vinyl’s strength has always been it’s superior sound quality. Dance music DJs and record collectors have helped keep vinyl a cool format. Other music formats and electronics manufacturers, have simply chosen to work with vinyl rather than against it, ensuring the formats longevity.

Record labels are still releasing popular records on vinyl, thin plastic discs remain an appealing part of the music industry, in fact the music industry has built its reputation on them.

Vinyl records will never be as popular as they were in the 1960’s, but if used in conjunction with other modern formats, vinyl will continue to reign as a champion sound format.

Amiga 600 Idea 1997

Well it’s finally arrived!!! – After a few months of twiddling and reworking… ‘Woman (She Want My Money)’ is winging its way around the globe again on home grown label ‘Music For The People’.

‘Woman’ was first conceived back in 1997/98 when I was living in Symonds Yat West, England. I was signed to D*Fusion Records in London and had already released ‘Long Board Blues’. The MD liked the ‘Woman’ demo and I spent several days in an East End studio working on an acid jazz ‘live’ mix with an Italian house music producer named Marco.

The mixes were raw and funky, created on my little Amiga 600 computer. It wasn’t easy translating the track to a professional recording studio but the end results were pleasing. The studios were owned by ‘Paul Weller’ and we had ‘Shola Ama’ recording upstairs, a really nice vibe and cool studios.

Eastern Bloc Canada 1998

The mixes were finished and I sent an album’s worth of material to D*Fusion for them to digest, however, an epic journey to Canada was calling and I sold my entire studio in a week, to embark on a jouney, thousands of miles away.

Summer of 1998, I backpacked from East to West across Canada with my partner and I took with me a remix of ‘Woman’ on cassette by my friend Sam. The MD from D*Fusion hooked me up with the manager of Eastern Bloc Records in Toronto and, after an interesting meeting and (not) getting us on Industry guest list, he agreed to distribute the record should we ever get it pressed… when we finally returned to the UK, it took me a while to settle and the demo was once again put on hold.

A year or so later, I bought back the equipment I had sold to visit Canada, and tentatively fired up the studio in Herefordshire again. I revisited ‘Woman’ and sent off a few remixes to various places such as Catskills Records (who were interested), but it just wasn’t strong enough.

A Promo Makes It To Vinyl 2002

In 2002, Sam got back on the case and we spent a few intense weekends in the studio.
Sam’s mate ‘Dave Cotterill’ had played some nice guitar over another track and I suggested we try it over ‘Woman’. As soon as Sam laid it down we knew it was the final touch to a great mix. We released it ourselves in 2002 on Sam’s ‘Steppin’ Stone’ Records as a promo 45 vinyl release; just breaking even.

It had a review in Muzik Mag stating “Put it on an advert and it’ll reach number three in the charts” (click here to read).
It was played across the world with little or no promotion with two of the fans being ‘Tim “Love” Lee’ and ‘Ursula 1000′ both in New York.

Time fleets by, and end of last year, Sam and I decided to really push the music out there again. With plenty of new ideas and pending releases in the wings, what better track to kick things off with than a re-visited version of ‘Woman’.

A Full Release For ‘Woman’ 2009

And so, again, on Sam’s label, and funded by us… we have released ‘Woman’ (semi) officially and this little record continues to beat it’s own path around the world.
So far, ‘Woman’ has: reached number 2 in the Juno Records download ‘single chart’, featured as “Record Of The Week” at Manchester’s ‘Fat City Records, been playlisted on Nemone’s BBC Radio 6 weekly afternoon show (click here to listen), plugged on ‘Tim love Lee’s’ East Village radio show straight outta New York (click here to listen), playlisted ’prime time’ on Craig Charles’ Saturday night funk show on BBC Radio 6 (click here to listen) and was used as the opening track to a recent Don Letts radio broadcast also on BBC radio 6.

Woman Spinnin’ Into The Future…

The psychedelic-hip hop ‘B’ side to the original promo was used as backing to BBC Manchester United Ball Skills DVD ‘Play Like Champions’ which was distributed worldwide, and this time around, the ‘B’ side ‘Where Stars Are Born’ (click here to watch) is equally as heavy.

I handed a copy of the first mixes to ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ some years back and this week, friends ‘Roy Roast Beef’ and ‘Rick’, of Birmingham DJ night ‘Funk Box’, handed a copy to ‘Maceo’ from De La Soul… so this mash-up really has done the rounds over the years and I wonder where it will travel next? or where it’s already been? maybe another dimension!?!

‘Woman’ is now available on 45 vinyl (best quality) and also digital download via Juno Records (only)… (On Youtube), it is now also available on a Universal Records chillout compilation ‘Ram Cafe 4′, along side the likes of Belleruche, Mayer Hawthorne, Nitin Sawhney, Amy Winehouse and Jose Feliciano.