In The Studio….

Lisbee Stainton

21/04/2013

L-R; House engineer Liam Ross, Lisbee Stainton, producer Mikko Gordon, percussionist Cormac, bassist Pete.

Now on her 4^th album, yet aged only 25, folk darling (and all round lovely lady) Lisbee Stainton came in armed with a host of talented young men and woman (singlular) to record. We had percussion king, Cormac Byrne; Seth Lakemen popped in and co-writer Eleanor McEvoy came down too. Lisbee has supported Joan Armatrading, Seth Lakemen, Gretchen Peters and Paul Carrack. Her fourth album, Word Games, will be out this autumn, with a tour to follow in November.

Lisbee made special use of our acoustic live room, to record some lovely floor stamps and claps. The marimba also sounded a treat!

Buy Lisbee’s last three albums and find all her info here;

http://www.lisbeestainton.com/

MADE IN MONNOW

#TBT

Sitcom Soldiers and Rocksound TV – ‘10 Bands in 2 Days’

Funeral For Friend in our live room

Back in 2011 Monnow hosted Romesh Dodangoda and 10 bands, the whole thing was caught on camera by Sitcom Soldiers, and all featured on Rock Sound TV. Aside from how lovely our studio looks and sounds, you can watch some of Wales and the UK’s best rock talent.
It was also our current engineer Liam’s first day. Baptism of rock and fire 

Have a look behind the scenes here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbTPixOuWKs

Have a look at a selection of the 10 bands below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADqbgotkeSU

Funeral For A Friend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivsu-F359ws

Flood Of Red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ci-e_01JNA

Verses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYCCWQXbCB0

Octane OK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRMS4tVKCjM

Devil Sold His Soul 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJOuhbvivJk

Casino

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYCCWQXbCB0

The Crave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXxhCW0qPms

Lost Boys

 

In the studio….

Written In Kings

09/04/2013

Written In Kings, folk-rock boys from Bridgend, came to record their upcoming charity single for Action Overseas. We look forward to seeing them back to record the rest of their anticipated EP with us in the coming months.

@writteninkings

 

MADE IN MONNOW

The Pigeon Detectives Emergency (2008)

#tbt

 

A very shiny disc to commemorate sales over 100,000 copies. It has pride of place in our snooker room.

We like to be involved with helping make music that charts, and the Pigeon Detectives did that, with their album recorded here, hitting no.5 in the UK album charts. Emergency released in 2008 was recorded here with producer Stephen Street. The Detectives began tracking immediately after new year, the album was finished by early Feb – the joy of a residential recording meant they simply “decamped” (their words not ours) and got it wrapped up in a short space of time.

Tracklisting

“This Is an Emergency” (Matt Bowman, Oliver Main) – 3:11
“I’m Not Gonna Take This” (Bowman, Main) – 2:44
“Keep on Your Dress” (Dave Best, Bowman, Main) – 4:52
“Don’t You Wanna Find Out” (Main) – 2:44
“I’ll Be Waiting” (Bowman, Main) – 3:19
“She’s Gone” (Main) – 2:07
“Nothing to Do with You” (Main) – 1:50
“I’m a Liar” (Bowman, Main) – 3:16
“You Don’t Need It” (Main) – 2:45
“Say It Like You Mean It” (Main) – 2:43
“Love You for a Day (Hate You for a Week)” (Main) – 3:22
“Making Up Numbers” (Main) – 3:27
“Everybody Wants Me” (Bowman, Main) – 3:42
“Draw the Curtain” (Hidden track) – 1:28

The single – aptly titled “This Is An Emergency” reached number 12 in the charts.Watch it here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFQyx8rlDQk

Find them here; http://thepigeondetectives.com

 

In The Studio with….
Henry’s Funeral Shoe

14/04/2013

We pride ourselves on recording some of the best Welsh musicians at Monnow, and Henry’s Funeral Shoe, drum and guitar playing duo brothers Aled and Brennig.

Whilst currently billed alongside the cream of the crop on the Welsh scene, they’re making waves the other side of the pond. Their track Dog Scratched Ear was featured on the Fiat car advert with none other than bad boy Charlie Sheen, and last October the boys were invited to play alongside KISS and other notables in LA.

Watch the Mr. Sheen drive a car to their signature sound…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61BRRdxRkJ0

The boys recorded an incredible 6 tracks in two days here with us for their album ‘Mongrel’, a re-record/amalgamation of their first two albums and new tracks.

Henry’s Funeral Shoes were very kind about us, calling us “very welcoming”, saying that we have “top class facilities” and that we’re “really helpful”, especially our Scottish-ly delightful sound engineer Liam. We’re not disagreeing with them either….

Find them on twitter here  – @hfsofficial

Made In Monnow

#tbt

Iggy Azelea – ‘Work

Let’s jump right into the charts NOW and see who’s putting out music made with us….

Name: Iggy Azelea
Track/Album Title: ‘Work’ (taken from The New Classic)
Label: Grand Hustle
Release Date: 2013
UK Chart Position: 17

Whilst we’re know for hosting bands such as Black Sabbath and the like, we do love a bit of rap/R&B or just good old fashioned pop. We had the stunning Miss Azelea in just before Christmas ‘working on her sheeeet’ with The Invisible Men – and we’re happy to announce that her debut single ‘Work’, has received over 6 million Youtube plays and charted at number 17 in the UK Charts. 

Check her weeerking it below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zR6ROjoOX0

Buy her Work here…

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/work-single/id610190700

Hello All!

Welcome to the Monnow Valley blog!

Each we’ll be letting you know who’s been in with us recently making music, and every Thursday (#throwbackthursday) we’ll be launching our Made In Monnow series, looking back at 40 years of amazing music that’s been made here, complete with interviews, exclusive pictures and the odd drunken tale no doubt.

See you on Thursday!

https://www.facebook.com/MonnowValleyStudio

https://twitter.com/monnowvstudio

 

 

 

Charlie Simpson - formerly of Busted and Fightstar - is coming to Monnow Valley to record his new solo album!