7 minute read
INTERVIEW: MATT JAMES FROM GENE ON MAIDA VALE SALE
MAIDA VALE FOR SALE
Matt James from Gene recalls his time recording at the legendary BBC Maida Vale Studios as the building is on the market. Sean Hannam looks back to the 90’s...
The iconic BBC Maida Vale Studios, in West London, where legendary artists including The Beatles, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Beyoncé, Radiohead and Coldplay, have all performed, are up for sale for over £10.5 million.
But, arguably, it’s as the home of the Peel Sessions that the building will be best remembered – so many acts got their big break there.
Over 4,000 sessions were recorded for John Peel’s
Radio One show between 1967 and 2004 – most of them in Maida Vale’s Studio 4.
We speak to Matt James, former drummer and co-writer with ‘90s Britrockers Gene, who recorded several Peel Sessions at Maida Vale, and ask him to share his memories of playing there.
AMI: When did you record your first Peel Session at Maida Vale?
Matt James: Gene wasn’t the first session I did there. I was in a band called The Go Hole, with certain members of Sp!n , who went on to become Gene. In 1987 I did my first ever Maida Vale session.
I got into the habit of calling John Peel while he was on the air – one day he actually picked up the phone and I got through to him. He said, ‘Hang on, I’ve just got to do the link’, then he talked to me. I told him I’d sent him a single and he went through his stuff and found it. I did that two or three times when I was in The Go Hole.
Eventually, he offered us a session – we had Dale Griffin from Mott the Hoople producing us, but I can’t say it was a great experience because we knew absolutely nothing about what we were doing. He got quite testy and grumpy with us. That was my first experience of Maida Vale and we were way out of our depth. We got there too soon, but it was because I’d hassled John Peel. It gave me an aspiration to be better in the studio.
When I was in Gene, we did at least six Peel sessions at Maida Vale – we grew in confidence and by the end we would do alternative versions of songs. We learnt how to use the studio and be comfortable, and we got to know the producers, Miti Adhikari, and Simon Askew, quite well. We used to really enjoy our sessions there. John Peel himself turned up to one – there’s a picture of him wearing a Gene t-shirt.
AMI: Didn’t you play a gig at Maida Vale for John Peel’s birthday?
We did – that must’ve been where that photo was taken. We got used to playing at Studio 4, but I think we did record in two or three of the other studios.
AMI: What was Maida Vale like?
There was amazing history there – old instruments that had been hanging around at the BBC for many years. It was like a treasure trove.
AMI: How do you feel about it being sold off?
I feel quite sad – it’s lamentable. It’s a unique thing to be able to record a band in that way, like had been done successfully in the ‘60s and the ‘70s.
John Peel wasn’t a massive fan of Gene records, but he loved us as a live band and he loved us doing the sessions. I was very fond of John Peel – I met him loads of times and he was almost a hero of mine. I can remember listening to his radio show under my pillow as a young kid, hearing early punk bands and stuff like Nick Lowe.
AMI: Gene often used the Peel Sessions to preview new songs from your forthcoming albums, and you tried different ideas out, didn’t you?
Yes – we got used to doing that. We thought that alternative versions were really useful. Songs go through a process – when we worked with producer Chris Hughes [on 1997’s Drawn To The Deep End album], he changed a lot of our original versions, but it’s really good to capture your first ideas. It can also work the other way round – when you have a finished song for an album, but then try and do a different version, like an acoustic one.
We always took the Peel Sessions really seriously and rehearsed hard for them – I think that was because of the first time I did one and my memories of being so scared and completely out of my depth. I was determined to never let that happen again – any session at the BBC is a great opportunity and a real privilege and an honour.
We got used to eating in the café at Maida Vale – the itinerary of the day became second nature to us. We’d arrive and unpack our gear but nothing would actually happen because everyone had gone to lunch in the café. Eventually they’d come back some time in the afternoon…
We worked furiously for a few hours and then the producer would insist that we all went to the pub afterwards. It was like The Beatles, going off to have a pie and a pint – it was very BBC.
You’d walk down the corridor and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra would be in another room and you’d gawp through the door and see them working – there was a real sense of gravitas.
AMI: After Gene split, in 2004, you formed another band, Palace Fires, and then you left the music industry. But now you’re back, writing and recording and playing gigs – in 2022, you released your first solo album, Breaking The Fall, which was produced by Stephen Street. You recorded some of it at his studio, The Bunker, in Latimer Road, West London, which is in the same building as Damon Albarn’s Studio 13. How was it being there?
It’s not that big but it has a lovely control room where you can hang out.
Stephen’s on the ground floor, but I think Damon mostly works at the top of the building. It’s a great place. For me, having not been in the music industry for such a long time, it was nice to be in a professional environment – I was wandering about… When I was there, Blur were having a meeting, which was quite secretive – they were probably setting up their Wembley show. They looked surprised to see me.
Stormzy came in to use the same vocal booth as myself the day after.
Stephen doesn’t have a drum room, so we went somewhere else to do the drums – the Fish Factory, near Harlesden. It’s an amazing studio and it has a really good drum sound. I also did some drums in a studio in Tunbridge Wells, above The Forum – the roof has been turned into a recording space.
Images by Andy Willsher
AMI: How did you feel being in a studio again after such a long time away? Did it all naturally come back to you?
It was joyful, mainly. There were a couple of moments when I was slightly scared, when the record button was on – red light fever – and you’ve got the producer there and you have to sing or play guitar, but not as many as I thought there would be. I slipped back into it. It was such a release of creativity and emotion – thoroughly positive.
AMI: You don’t have a home studio, do you?
No. In my shed, I have my drum kit, guitars and microphones set up – it’s very like a studio, but I don’t have a recording desk. I use my phone which has GarageBand on it. We did actually use some of the bits I recorded on my phone for the album.
AMI: So, any plans to make a follow-up album?
I’ve got nine songs written that are definitely good enough for an album. I’ll try and put some new material out in the spring. I’m really excited about the new stuff I’ve done.
Breaking The Fall by Matt James is out now on Costermonger. musicmattjames.bandcamp.com
