Toe Rag Sudios, Hackney, London
10th - 12th March 2006
Hackney is refreshing because it’s one of those areas of London which is blissfully untainted by tourism and, unlike Central London, you can also experience real London accents and get a taste of the Smoke’s famous old-fashioned down-to-earth charm. So it’s only appropriate, I suppose, that Toe Rag is situated in these parts because it too is down-to-earth and wonderfully unencumbered by any concession to superficial notions of ‘style’ or fickle ‘sophistication’. If Toe Rag could talk it would slap you on the back like a long-lost mate and greet you in wholesome cockney. It would lead you to the nearest pub and buy you a pint.
Mind you, the downside of all this is that it’s pretty tricky to find.
Stew, Ayres and me took a good hour after arriving in Hackney to actually get within half-a-mile of the place and then, due to some un-mapped (and unexplained!) barrier across the street, we had to make a detour which added another half-an-hour to the journey. Even after that, however, wey were two hours early so we went to the local Tesco’s and got sandwiches.
Click thumbnails to enlarge pictures..
You walk down an alley…ring the bell….then you wait. Eventually you hear footsteps and then the door rattles like something out of an old-fashioned horror movie. Ed’s there, the studio’s engineer. He shakes our hands and obligingly helps us in with our gear. The corridor is long and has great reverb. It’s lined with bizarre bits of equipment. We step inside the black and white tiled live room and it’s like stepping back in time. You just know that this is going to be great.
See, some studios look like something out of Holby City…all surgical flashing lights and unnerving cleanliness…all of it hemmed in by sub-Ikea sofa’s. Toe Rag isn’t like that. There’s a wonderfully unpretentious and lovely ‘tattiness’ about it and the ‘sofa area’ is like something out of a student bedsit…I suppose this kind of thing would put some people off but the Soda Men loved it from the off…reminds them of home I guess…
‘I just love that drum-kit’. That’s Ed the engineer. He likes Stew’s kit because it’s a Dadaist kit…stripped down…no toms…just a snare, some cymbals…and a bass drum. We mike it all up and then Ayres and Mike and Tomo plug in and off they go…’one…two…three…’ Sounds pretty tight. From behind the glass Ed speaks through the crackly speakers…’wanna come in for a listen?’ Mmm…bit worrying this…what on earth would they sound like? Those big Toe Rag monitors don’t lie or flatter. Needn’t have worried though. Sounds like a monster. ‘Shall we put one down gentlemen?’ Not half…
So much of being in a recording studio seems to involve endless hanging around whilst an engineer fiddles with mikes to get ‘that perfect snare sound’. What’s nice here is that the engineer doesn’t fuss and the band just gets on with it…the whole thing sounds great straight away anyway so the most important thing is that the essence of the performance is right. Because of this great ambience (and…ahem…due to rehearsal and constant gigging!) the boys succeed in nailing virtually all the songs in either one or two takes today. I think they’d realistically talked of doing five or six. In the end they manage ten. After a long day they ask Ed if he can recommend a good pub. Yes he can….
‘The Eclipse’. Hoegaarden on draught. Cosy tables. Arty clientele. Cash machine. Olives. Peanuts for Tomo.
Too many Hoegaardens for Ayres….
…resulting in a hangover. Silly boy. Especially when today’s the day the vocals are being put down! Still…smiling through the pain he’s put through his paces by Stew ‘Come in strong!’ Christ…’Brat Camp’ wouldn’t be this tough!
Phil Curran arrived mid-afternoon and the Toe Rag Hammond and Leslie speaker were wheeled out…a fully-recovered Ayres was desperate to hear what the ancient Farfisa upstairs sounded like but…alas…there wasn’t enough time. Phil had a gig that night and had to shoot off. His contribution was immense.
Drove down to Stratford and had a rather nice curry.
Mixing day. Fiddling with switches…listening to the bass…wondering whether the vocals were too quiet…is ‘Magpieman’ in tune?? Yup…reckon so…once the first one is down the others follow quickly. Ayres and Mike in the corridor…Stew and Tomo in the control room with Ed. Sounding good. An inescapable feeling that this recording sounds better than anything the guys have been involved in before. Good feeling that…
Final handshakes. E-mail addresses swapped. Ed helps us again with our gear (diamond geezer) and we’re off…straight into London traffic. Three hours later (why is the Smoke so busy on a Sunday night??) Ayres, Stew and me hit the M4.
Two hours after that…just before Bristol….we’re overtaken by Tomo and Mike…
