8. OSIBISA

 

Confessions of a Studio Rat

One mans journey through a world of recording studios and musicians in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – without a net!



LONDON (1980)

One of my favorite bands to work with was Osibisa, an acclaimed Afro Rock band based in London. We spent many happy hours together; this band knew how to enjoy themselves while Throwing Down some awesome grooves in the studio. We’d get everyone set up in the studio as if they were playing on stage and they would just wail. Somehow, many of the details of our sessions have been lost in the clouds of time, but I remember one or two stories that I’ll share.

We were in Studio 2 at Marcus Music in Kensington: my home base studio at that time. Suddenly through the monitors comes the sound of the London Fire Brigade radios, and the door burst open to admit several firefighters, fully dressed in the Personal Protective Equipment and breathing apparatus. It seems that somehow, all the cigarettes in the small control room had triggered the fire alarm.  (Maybe there was a fault with the air conditioning, I don’t know). This should not have come as a surprize as you could barely see across the room. In the end the fire guys left, satisfied there was no real emergency and we got back to business.

Later that day, we had another visitor. The door opened in in walked what looked like an elderly woman, pulling one of those vinyl shopping carts with the wheels. Along with the woman came her daughter, in school uniform, plainly just having been picked up after school. My mind went “WTF” but the guys in the band knew her and were glad to see her. Our guest went to the front of the room, opened her shopper and proceeded to bring out some parcels: mail for the band from the office, no doubt. Once all the parcels were distributed her pager (remember those?) started beeping and she and her now apparently adult daughter were off to meet a Mr Smith at Platform One at Paddington Station.  Imaging having your mail personally delivered like that? Ahh, the perks of stardom…..


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