The Recording Years

Around about 1980 a mate of mine who used to be a singer in one of the bands I had played in came round to my place, He had given up singing to make stuffed toys with his wife!!, Jeez, Thing is they had made loads of money out of it, He told me he had bought a large shop and had plenty of cash and wanted to know if I wanted to be a partner in a recording studio, He would supply the building and the cash if I would build it and run it, Thing is in them days recording was a dear do and you really had to have a recording deal to afford it, I just could not resist the thought of being part owner of a recording studio, Apart from being mega cool I would have keys to the place and could record my own songs at night, And so was born>

Around about 1980 a mate of mine who used to be a singer in one of the bands I had played in came round to my place, He had given up singing to make stuffed toys with his wife!!, Jeez, Thing is they had made loads of money out of it, He told me he had bought a large shop and had plenty of cash and wanted to know if I wanted to be a partner in a recording studio, He would supply the building and the cash if I would build it and run it, Thing is in them days recording was a dear do and you really had to have a recording deal to afford it, I just could not resist the thought of being part owner of a recording studio, Apart from being mega cool I would have keys to the place and could record my own songs at night, And so was born>

		All in all it took about a year full on to build Bootleg, I more or less did all the work on my todd as my mate Roger was busy stuffing his Teddy's out the back, Studios eat money as I found out time and time again, The wood for the studio actually came from Granada TV, It was the old set from Elsie Tanners "Western Front" boutique, (Coronation Street)!! Nearly all the recording equipment was bought from a friend of mine Andy Mac who ran "Revolution Studios" This turned out to be a good move as Andy Mac was upgrading to 24 track after going in partnership with Sad Cafe, As he was one of the only 8 track studio's around Manchester at that time we ended up taking on all his demo stuff when we finally opened for business in early 1981, I will never forget my first session, It was with a band called The Rocking 1% and the track was a cover called Twenty Flight Rock, I don't know how I got through it as I did not have a fucking clue what I was doing!!, Ahhh the art of bluff is a wonderful talent when all else fails what!

All in all it took about a year full on to build Bootleg, I more or less did all the work on my todd as my mate Roger was busy stuffing his Teddy's out the back, Studios eat money as I found out time and time again, The wood for the studio actually came from Granada TV, It was the old set from Elsie Tanners "Western Front" boutique, (Coronation Street)!!

Nearly all the recording equipment was bought from a friend of mine Andy Mac who ran "Revolution Studios" This turned out to be a good move as Andy Mac was upgrading to 24 track after going in partnership with Sad Cafe, As he was one of the only 8 track studio's around Manchester at that time we ended up taking on all his demo stuff when we finally opened for business in early 1981, I will never forget my first session, It was with a band called The Rocking 1% and the track was a cover called Twenty Flight Rock, I don't know how I got through it as I did not have a fucking clue what I was doing!!, Ahhh the art of bluff is a wonderful talent when all else fails what!

The studio was allocated two rooms in Rogers shop, The playing area was on street level and the control room was upstairs, However the only way up there was via a metal ladder and was known as: "The Conning Tower" A hole cut through the ceiling and the 2 ft of soundproofing (Great for when we had girl bands in!), You can get the idea from the piccy of me on the right, I actually think that this added to the street cred of the place. Apart from the fact that I was doing all the work and Roger was keeping most of the cash for himself these were good times, You must remember that punk was at it's Zenith then and as a result the studio was booked almost 24/7, Apart from the 8 track sessions that were sent over from Revolution we also got tons of demo work from the late Tony Wilson's "Factory Records", All told Bootleg was open about two years, During this time we had all different types of bands and artistes through the doors, In fact I was so busy and in demand I ended up giving up my flat and living in the studio! I just used to sleep under the mixing console in a sleeping bag, It never bothered me though because by the time I went to sleep I was more or less comatose anyway, There is no doubt in my mind that Bootleg played a big part in the early 80's Manchester music scene, It helped a lot of people on the way to their first recording deal, Richard Derbyshire from "Living In A Box" being one, As well as demo's we also ended up with our own record label and produced many singles and albums.

The studio was allocated two rooms in Rogers shop, The playing area was on street level and the control room was upstairs, However the only way up there was via a metal ladder and was known as: "The Conning Tower" A hole cut through the ceiling and the 2 ft of soundproofing (Great for when we had girl bands in!), You can get the idea from the piccy of me on the right, I actually think that this added to the street cred of the place.

Apart from the fact that I was doing all the work and Roger was keeping most of the cash for himself these were good times, You must remember that punk was at it's Zenith then and as a result the studio was booked almost 24/7, Apart from the 8 track sessions that were sent over from Revolution we also got tons of demo work from the late Tony Wilson's "Factory Records", All told Bootleg was open about two years, During this time we had all different types of bands and artistes through the doors, In fact I was so busy and in demand I ended up giving up my flat and living in the studio! I just used to sleep under the mixing console in a sleeping bag, It never bothered me though because by the time I went to sleep I was more or less comatose anyway, There is no doubt in my mind that Bootleg played a big part in the early 80's Manchester music scene, It helped a lot of people on the way to their first recording deal, Richard Derbyshire from "Living In A Box" being one, As well as demo's we also ended up with our own record label and produced many singles and albums.

	Take a good look at the banner on the left, The idea for the name and logo was mine, I wanted it to project a kind of non corporate street cred image, (I think you may agree I succeeded) Yep, no CAD in them days folks, just some felt tip pens and a ruler, My idea was a Beano style kinda thing, I liked the way the snow scene blended into the background, (Until I realized it was crumpled paper!),

Cutting

Collisions At Teen Junction The Poem from Bootleg advert

If your listening late at night, and your bands tapes give you a fright Before you commit suicide, to Bottleg Studio's take a Ride, Inch tape rolling through the night, Boolegs really outah site, Otari, Amec, DBX, recordings here's as good as sex!!!

Says it all really!!!

Bootleg recorded loads of demo's and records over the 3 years it was open including, The Alberto's, V2, The Ride, Norman Beaker, Richard Derbyshire, Bet Lynches' Legs, The Smirks, Capt. Mogs and Private Sigh, Victim, Karl Denver, Kid And The Karamojo's, Spider Mike King, John Dowie, Direct Hits, Enigma, Rocking 1%, and loads of other great stuff from that era, We also recorded what I consider to be a candidate for "The Worst Record In The World".

It has to be remembered that in 1979 there was not a recording studio in every laundrette and bedroom, punk was emergingand we were just snowed under with work from the word go really, most of the time it was block booked solid, All in all a lot of fun and good memories

Phil n Billy testing Roland GR500 first ever guitar synth

"THE RECORD OF LOVE"

Here it is folks, prob. the worst record in the world, not just the concept and the artwork but even the playing on it, I wasnt that the musicians were bad, in fact they were all from the BBC radio orchestra, the MD was a great trumpet player called Andy Wardour who had toured the USA with Maynard Furguson and Stan Kenton, the whole session was a shambles, everyone just decided it was best just to get drunk! and it's all on this Bootleg gem, (The drunken key change is a musical classic).

Just look at the label off this record below, Imagine giving this to your wife or girl/boyfriend as a token of your love, OMG it says "To.." and "From.." (see the B side) WHY?, The whole thing would seem to suggest that your girlfriend is an old boot who you suspect is seeing someone else!!! (If she wasnt she soon would be if you gave her one of these for her birthday!!! haaaaa

PS: This record is so bad a guy once tried to buy this only surviving copy off me for £30!! wish I had saved the other 7,999 from the skip now.

This was prob the worst project I ever worked on, this record was so dire it was funny, It was the brainchild of my business partner Roger, The idea was to give the record to you true love, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, I only worked on the engineering side of it, READ THIS IT STILL MAKES ME LAUGH EVEN NOW.

Once recorded Roger took care of sending it off to London to be pressed up(8000 copies), I went with him to pick them up from Stockport station, on the way there I said to Roger, "What label did you put it on Rog", He replied, "Well the "Bootleg Label" of course, I burst into hysterics and through my tears said, "Your f*****g kidding me arent you" He had not told em at the pressing plant so they would have just used the standard "Famous Bootleg Label", You have to remember I had designed this label for the type of bands I normally recorded, It was 3 hairy legs in a circle (Isle of Man style), in Beano style letters with a big old black boot on the end of each one!!! OMG!! he'd ordered and payed for 8000 records with full colour covers!!,

Needless to say Debenhams didnt want them, Imagine giving one to your girlfriend, "Here you are darling, This is a record of my love for you!! you'd end up wearing the f****r. Hah, I will try find one to add for your amusement.

This tacky record was actually signed up by EMI after this fiasco who later released by Peters and Lee, (Lennie Peters)
PP