venues, zines et al), demo targeting and various musical services. Tell us something about the business side of your activities and to what extent it is still in play today, especially considering the dramatic change in media and communications in the last two decades.

MB: They were some great times! My kids were well used to people in bands from a young age. Zit could operate the studio recording equipment by the time she was 10 years old, but sensibly never took it up for a career. Being involved in this lifestyle from a young age she was always part of the scene at the studio. I still run a variety of musical services from the studio, but no longer do the A&R (& other musical services) lists. These were very good seller, but completely wiped out by 2005 by the internet! My lists were pirated, re-named and posted for free….. fuck it. I still do demo targeting, but bear in mind how the industry has changed over the past 2 decades, your chances are virtually zero. Has your band got 3 professionally recorded commercial  tracks, a high quality broadcast standard video, an album fully demoed and able to pull 250 a night? Otherwise don’t waste your time dreaming. My advice is get out & play live, enjoy yourselves and take what comes. The studio (Brain Dead) is still available for booking, full details on request. 24 track live digital recording (Mackie 24/96…. Custom rebuilt to modern standards by a Mackie engineer!), PreSonus mixdown (wipes the floor with the equivalent Pro-Tools), with full analogue/hardware if needed. Mastering to most formats from Red Book CD to MP3 to Flac Audio. Whether you want a week’s recording package or an hour’s mastering…. Get in touch!

MM: After several months of ultimately successful treatment, Lulu was able to come back to finish the job. Over the blisteringly hot weekend of 19th-21st May in ’95, she gave her heart and soul in that studio and produced some very fine work, nobly aided by your patience and production skills. I recall being told to fuck off and make tea at one point when we were struggling with the close of “Love Let Thy Name Be Darkness". I came back with three mugs 10 minutes later to hear the most wonderful multi-tracked chorale. Yup, it’s not all down to the songwriter, eh? And, save for a dash back some weeks later to re-record the vocals on “Starship Psychotron”, that was a wrap, it was party time. I remember we had a nice little album completion party in your studio, Chris Dors was there with his wife and aspiring young pop star, Johnny Was, a great night, especially getting everybody to sing along to the “gimme sex and drugs and rock and roll” hook in the middle of “Rock & Roll Lifestyle”, and sneakily leaving the tape running while Johnny and I dueted on his first single, “Summer Lovers”! For once, you actually chilled and enjoyed the party, what are your memories of that night and whatever became of young Johnny?

MB: Sorry about that…. Sometimes when I know an artist can produce some magic, I can be pretty brutal to capture that special moment. Rock & Roll isn’t about endless hours of technical crap & studio perfection. Music like that is soulless & devoid of emotion. The party was fun…. ultimately finishing the gap in ‘Rock & Roll Lifestyle”! Johnny Was and everyone was up for it….. yep I left the tape running & recorded it all in secret! Johnny went on to sell a few thousand CD’s, work for a label, then I lost track of him.

The release of "Creavolution" was not going to go smoothly, The Rt. Hon. Dr. M. Magic QC ('Magic Of The Bailey') prepares for courtroom drama...

MM: The Fall ’95 issue of The M&E News gave the release date of “Creavolution” as 25th October 1995 (already a year late); “Little round silver discs are being pressed in the factory at this very moment… nothing can stop it now… can it?” Famous last words, as we both know. We’d given the album to a CD manufacturer that would turn out to be a really bad choice and things were not going to go smoothly. I remember 1996 as my ‘Year Of Hell’, being consumed with a long and bitter legal battle that started right after my father died of lung cancer. Ultimately, we won, but in spite of getting a full refund and damages, it never felt like a victory and I bore the scars of the experience for quite some years after.

MB: Fuck that jerk threatened to kill me! I had to sign a Police 4A form to beat that bastard. Didn’t we have a beer over it finally and then they let him out of jail after only a year….. no justice. I felt sorry for you.

MM: Me too! Hate to disappoint you on the justice thing, but the guy who was jailed on bootlegging charges was merely his namesake, no connection at all. Our protagonist’s biggest crime was probably nothing worse than being an awkward stubborn bastard. And, if I’m honest, I could probably have handled the situation a lot better myself. We live and learn. So let’s just say I really appreciated your support throughout that and move on to your next project; the TMR dance mixes, in collaboration with none other than Mike Westergaard, of cult band, The Blessing. So how did you come to meet Mike, how did the project come about and develop from there, and just how pissed off were you when I wrote the only good review I have ever given you for the resulting album?

MB: 1996 was the year things really took off here,. All those 18 hour days had done the work & made the contacts. I’d met Mike many years before, but it wasn’t until ‘Too Old To Rock?’ He actually became involved with our work. At the time me & Mike were interested in the up & coming ‘Dark-Beat’ sound (guitars/rock meets dance) and decided to collaborate using some of the original Rollers material as a