e-mails to and Stories about Cargo
ME109
Hi John
I found your site by accident. My band ME109 recorded there on a few occasions between 1980 and 1982. In fact we recorded our single (we were signed to Beggars Banquet Records) 'Mr 1984' (cat no BEG 57) there in 1980.
I have very fond memories of your studio. You always encouraged us greatly which for a young band means alot.
I was a great admirer of Marc Bolan and I remember once when I was struggling with my vocals (as I always did) you telling me that Marc Bolan had stood in the same vocal booth that I was in and recorded. I was thrilled and it helped me, only later finding out that this was a little white lie to encourage performance!!
I have enjoyed viewing the site very much and hope the book on the studio is released at some point.
Many thanks
Tim Crowley
Bob Robinson from Mysterious Footsteps/Negatives
Dear John,
I was really pleased to find that there is a tribute page to Cargo Studios and as stated it was definitely the hottest independent studio in the North of England and the place to go.
I had originally played in a punk band called The Negatives (Bradford) between 1978 and 1980. We were quite big on our own patch and attracted 1000 people to our headline gig at Bradford university in Jan 1980 which rarely happens to an unsigned band. Little was I to know then that it would be our last gig as the singer David Wilcox (RIP) quit that night after a trivial argument with our guitarist Pete. Our legacy was a vinyl single called Stakeout/Love is Not Real which ended up in John Peel's special box of 140 records and has sold for up to £350 a copy. We have also had 8 tracks released on the compilation series 'Bored Tenagers'.
Down to a three piece called the Mysterious Footsteps, we had spent weeks rehearsing singers when I stepped up to the plate to take the job on. We still did pretty well around York/Lancs which did involve signing autographs and interest from girls (mainly in Halifax for some reason)!! Ultimately we decided it was time to record again which brought us to our day at Cargo. I remember you as being very supportive, relaxed and helpful. Before we even started you played us 'Love will tear us apart' by Joy Division which you had recorded the previous day. I thought it was a good sound but kind of OK as a song but Tino our drummer was quick to see that the songwas special. To look back and see what that song has become (and I did grow to love it), it was a real privilege to be one of the first to hear it. {Song of the millenium in the Channel 4 chart}
As we entered the studios there was a young Michael Jackson 'soundalike' cutting a song called 'Diane' which sounded pretty good to me!! "Diane, I'm gonna get your love, gonna get your love Diane". Amazing that I have never heard the song since but it did stick in my mind! I was a little bit like a kid in a toy shop - I remember the rows of master tapes 'Echo and the Buneymen' etc and I said they will never make it with a name like that. We cut three tracks, Like they do in the movies, White dread and Tomorrow's world, before heading to the Last Orders pub. There was only Me, Pete (guitar) and Tino (Drums) together with our manager (George) and Bill Oddie's mum in the pub. We had a nice conversation with her and she was clearly very proud of her son. Then we headed back post lunch to record 'World war 3' and 'Requiem for Youth'.
The tracks Like they do in the movies/White dread were subsequently released as a single with 2000 copies being pressed. It did OK but not as well as we hoped so there was no repress but even this single has since sold for £25 a copy. We only missed out by a week or so to being included on the compilation album 'Hicks from the sticks' which was a shame but White dread was released with the a book about Bradford Music 'Noise from the Valleys' published in 2009.
Another 12 months went by and despite some interest from Pete Townshends eel-pie after recording a 5 song video for them, we eventually disbanded. Another 30 years was to pass before Pete, Tino and myself did a comeback gig in London in Oct 2009 (after 1 afternoons rehearsal) followed by a hometown gig in May 2010. Both gigs went down really really well and it was definitely a buzz to play again and be appreciated by an audience. Sadly we are geographically cast to the winds, I live in Fulham, London, Pete in the Norfolk/Suffolk borders and Tino sticking loyally to Bradford.
One last piece of info, several years back, I was asked by a football club in which I was a shareholder to accompany Mr & Mrs John Peel to a football match in Bradford. As such I got to spend a lovely day with both. I hadn't briefed my Czech wife and there was a nice moment when she asked John "What do you do for a living". Unfazed he said "I am a DJ" and then proceeded to explain his job. We talked about Dandelion, Cargo, John Brierley and Bill Oddie, The Fall, Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones not to mention Marc Bolan, Medicine Head and many others. Apart from playing live in concerts, that is probably my two music highlights in a nutshell - our day at Cargo studios and a day with John Peel - both very precious memories.
Thank you for being there!!!!!
Kind Regards
Bob Robinson - Mysterious Footsteps/Negatives
Ian Butterworth from Tunnelvision and Vee V V
Hi John,
My name is Ian Butterworth and I visited Cargo Studios twice....Once as the
bassist in Tunnelvision and the other time as the guitarist in Vee V V.
To be brutally honest, I think that I was 'spoilt' by my visit with Tunnelvision
when we recorded our second set of songs! The intention was that two of the
four songs would hopefully become our next Factory release.....The production
was quite outstanding! We brought along pan-pipes, a xylophone and for a bunch
of teenagers with 'precocious' ideas, they were all somehow added into the songs
with your expertise! At the time I just thought that that was what all 'professional'
studios did.......! How wrong was I !!! Tunnelvision sadly broke up after typical
'teenage-boys-in-bands' ructions.....And therefore no next single.....(The first
'Watching The Hydroplanes', also recorded at Cargo, sold very well indeed!)
A year or so later, myself and the singer Chris Anderton had formed another
band, and so we headed to good old Cargo to record our new demo.....Two songs
were recorded 'Love Canal' and 'Keepbeat' and once again the recording added
so much more to the songs with the engineers help....! I can remember wanting
a guitar tone approaching The Scars debut single, Adultery/Horrorshow........When
I got to the studio, I saw the single cover on the studio wall and realised
that it had been recorded in that very room!!!!! Eeeek !
Thanks for your all your help John and I hope you know that your contribution
to everything that happened around that time is so appreciated !!!
Ta
Ian Butterworth
(You can see a photo of VEE V V in the studios with
Colin engineering on the photo page)
Nort from “the Surface Mutants”
Hello John, came across your site and it brought back
some good memories...I was in a band from Sheffield, The Surface Mutants in
1980 and we came to Rochdale to record our first self financed single...Our
singer Pete was a big Ian Curtis fan and I remember him insisting he stood in
the exact spot where Ian had also stood to do his vocals...It was eerie as Pete
had a deep dark voice very similar to Ian’s and the three songs we eventually
recorded had a real bleak spacious sound that we loved...The band went onwards
with later tracks produced by Cabaret Voltaire whom I went on to work with before
joining the band Hula in 1983 and therefore enjoying 3 years of touring, recording
and releasing on red rhino records, 3 John Peel sessions, supporting Depeche
Mode on their Black Celebration tour and working with Daniel Miller from Mute
records...I set up my own studio in Sheffield in 1987 and still run it today...i
still have an old 16 channel soundcraft series 2 desks ,which from your pics
looks like you had the 24 channel version...The eq on this desk is awesome...I
think Colin Richardson was our engineer for the session and it was my first
experience of a serious recording studio so thank you for what you did for us
and all the other great music you produced...
Sadly we never came back to Cargo as a few studios in Sheffield had started
to spring up and it was easier to get a bus to the studio..never the less you
always remember your first time...glad it was at yours...cheers Nort.x.
Stuart Hill from Section 25
Switzerland were a band who recorded at Cargo, two of whose members are now in Section 25, me on bass and Steve Stringer on guitar. We recorded a track called ‘Remembrance’ in January 1983. The track was only ever a demo until recently, the song appears now on the new Section 25 album, reworked but essentially the same. It’s only taken 27 years since it was written to being released.
Cargo was the first professional studio we went in. What happened to that wind organ that used to be there?
John replies: I like the ‘professional’ bit we’ll keep that in. As for the harmonium I think Hooky may have an answer to that, it was still there when I closed Cargo and Pete took over.
Tony Fox
Hi John,
The site brought back a lot of memories for me. Cargo was the very first studio
I ever recorded in. The band was The Negativz. Our then manager Maurice Kendal
(formerly of The Silver Screen Girls) insisted we record there and put up the
money for us (this would have been around 1983). The intention was to release
a single but that never transpired. Arguments about money killed off our relationship
with Kendall (though I remained friends for a long time after) and the promised
single failed to appear.
We initially recorded 7 tracks and then narrowed that down to 3 tracks which
we re - recorded, again at Cargo with yergodself at the controls again. We were
young and lacked any experience or manners of any kind, and you tolerated our
arsing about seemingly happily. I hope we didn't piss you off too much.
I stayed with The Negativz until we broke up around 1984. It was an off the
cuff decision at a rehearsal. I had noted how bands often became legends once
they split. So we did. We sort of became local legends around Leeds and Bradford
but that was our lot.
It would be nice to have our name amongst all the other great bands who recorded
at Cargo, one last little claim to fame, a tenuous connection with some of the
most memorable names in punk/post punk.
All the best
Tony Fox (Foxy, The Negativz Drummer) May 09
(See photos of the Negativz on the photo page)
Marc Lewis
Hi John,
I have been a massive fan of Joy division ever since moving up to Manchester 6 years ago when the band quickly began to soundtrack my life the way great bands do. Just recently I stumbled into the Chameleons when they were played on the ever brilliant BBC radio 6 music. The track was Second Skin and I was immediately blown away by the sound of the production so I went off and purchased a vinyl copy of 'Script of the Bridge'...
The album has grown on me massively as has the production. I'm a freelance live sound engineer by trade working on all the major festivals in the UK and also running a small studio (more in a bit...). As people like me tend to do nowadays I started to trawl the Internet for info on the band and came across their excellent website. Whilst reading through the info and anecdotes I came across Cargo studios and being a recording buff myself thought I'd Google it...
Imaging my surprise then when up popped your great website full of quality pics, articles and to my (sad, nerdy) delight, a section on the gear used. What can I say, great job man. To find a site like this giving an incite into the recordings and bands showing a period in time frozen that relates to so many great bands, albums and recordings is a joy to me and I thank you for it.
The site is of particular interest to me as I ran a small, budget studio (all analog) in the midlands before I moved to Manchester. Earlier this year I started looking for a venue in my beloved Manchester area in which to build my dream studio where I can hopefully extend some of my work on the road by recording some great local talent.
I eventually found a fantastic mill space in Rochdale with all the right features and at a price that will allow me to offer a service similar to what you offered in the Cargo days... an affordable (NOT cheap!) studio built around solid gear (in my case all vintage analog and recording to a variety of analog, tape based multitrack machines) where talent can come and record creatively without the pressures of budgets eating at their mind.
As you probably well know, this is more important than ever as studios find it increasingly difficult to turn a profit as home recording becomes more common. What I would like to see is a studio that can follow proudly in the footsteps of studios back in the day such as the great Cargo and hopefully one that could eventually and in many years to come spawn a retrospective website such as yours... before music temples such as the Cargo building vanish forever!
I have no idea how well the studio will do, whether ANYONE will come to record nowadays or if I'll EVER turn a profit and to be honest I couldn't care less. I have a dream, the gear and a room and I intend to spend the next 6 months hand building what will become my studio. Inspired by your story and the magnificent bands you recorded and produced and the legend of Cargo studios I go forth... Wish me luck.
Marc Lewis (Jan 09)
Rob Blair
Hi John, great web site.
Although not previleged to be part of the music scene
at the time, I loved many of the unique bands that appeared in the late 70's
early 80's, mainly by way of John Peel's shows. Still got many of the cassettes
I used to record the shows on to. What an inventive time this was - guess that
mid life crisis is looming.
Thanks to ebay I can now get the vinyl I missed out on at the time. Just got
hold of a mint copy of Diagram Brothers 'A Marvel of Modern Science' - I've
always loved the simple irony of their music.
I currently live in Bangkok but returned to visit family and friends over christmas, and your site prompted me to visit the old studios - 30 years too late I know. It seems someone has started to develop the place as there are new windows and shutters fitted. I did knock but no joy. I've attached some pictures.
One question if I may - I notice there is some white graffiti high up on the end wall. Does this have any significance to Cargo?
Anyway, enough of my ramblings and I shall be a regular visitor to the site.
best regards
Rob Blair
(See the photos section for Rob’s pictures of the studio)
Stephen Boyce-Buckley
Hi John
Stumbled across this site and was pleasantly surprised! I thought that CARGO had been forgotten - along with many other studios of that era.
I remember recording many sessions there throughout the late 70s with my musical partner-in-crime Tony 'Lemonade' Leigh. Along with Pennine, it was one of the few affordable studios in the area for budding 'stars'! I learned a lot in that hallowed building, so much so that I became an engineer and session musician - and continue to work as such 30+ years on!
Good to see that a studio owner has taken time out to put this on the net, as local musical history always gets lost!
Dragonslayer at Cargo
Hello John
My name is Phil Odins. I played in a band called Dragonslayer formerly Heavy Thunder. Do you remember us? I hope so!
We recorded quite a few songs at Cargo Studios, 15 of those songs are to be released on an album in the USA. Better late than never (26 yrs). Eight of the songs were engineered by Colin Richardson and the other seven were eng. by Phil Alt when the studio became Suite 16.
We would like to add yourself, Colin and Cargo Studios to the credits if that would be OK ? It was great to find all that info on Cargo, it brings back some nice memories.
Thank you
Phil.
Micheal Stuart from the band Protest
Our band 'Protest' enjoyed Colin's company twice during the 80's
Fortunately two or three of the takes were included
on compilation albums and the second visit produced our first...and only! EP
on a independent label from Hull.
Those were the days.
Oh well back to some real work..
Dave Layton from the band Prowler
hi john,
just seen the cargo website, brought back so many memories.
I was in the same band as colin richardson that came in to the studios in 1978,
i remember him asking if there were any vacancies. the band was called prowler
we did about 4 tracks and me and the singer al walker were very nervous! I remember
you altering his voice to play a joke on him and his face was a picture! He
was horrified, he really thought he’d messed it up until you told him
and put him out of his misery!
I distinctly remember us going home on the bus home to denton very excited about
hearing the cassette we’d done.
The members of the band were; dave layton drums col richardson bass alex maluk
guitar and al walker vocals (the one you played the trick on)
Rob Thorsby Fort Worth, Texas (ex Madchesterite)
Hi John,
I’m an ex pat now residing in Texas and revisited my old haunt, Rochdale
over Christmas.
On the way to the Cask and Feather (another of my old haunts) I showed my wife the old Cargo studios and told her of the bands that recorded there over the years. Being a yank and into that 70’s/80’s British scene she was all over it.
It brought a tear to me eye seeing it in the condition it’s in now and I just stood there in the piss pouring rain reminiscing about all the classic bands that recorded there.
I bet you had a tremendous time working with bands that really did change the face of music then and are responsible for the sound that many bands adopt today.
One day I would love to invest in that place, open it up as a cool wine bar with old recording equipment and memorabilia of all the bands that frequented the once great Cargo studios. That place deserves to continue standing.
Keep flying the flag buddy. Great website.
Bob Giddens from the band Surplus Stock
Hi john
This is Bob Giddens from Germany, how are you?? After hearing about Tony Wilsons
death i was surfing around, thinking about the old days, and i stumbled on your
site. It’s a great informative site and a real piece of musical heritage.
You did a lot of good work and can be proud of yourself. Somehow we never really
made any money out of it all, but that’s rocknroll i guess. I had a band
after surplus stock that made some money for a while, but now I make bicycles
and stuff. Now my kids are making music-mike(the one who cried on the surplus
stock record, if you remember) is in berlin and has a cool band called the virgin
tongues- http://www.myspace.com/thevirgintongues
- I wish there was a cargo for them around somewhere.
i will send you some artwork from the records we made in Rochdale and some pictures
that i still have. I’m sure the one of you with your head in your hands
was at one of our sessions(probably as i was singing!).
my myspace is here if you are interested: http://www.myspace.com/bobtijuana
ok,that’s it for now,take care
Malik
my name is malik . . .
i live in salford . . .
i aquired a Cadey 16 track recorder in 2001and after some recent research i
have many good reasons to believe it is the same machine that you had at Cargo.
im about to start recording on it with my band . . . im a great believer in
analogue technology . . . especially if it glows in the dark!
please get in touch so we can swap stories!
by the way - iv managed to get it fully functional except for track 16!!!!
John Replies:
Hi malik,
Thanks for the info. It could
be the same machine as there weren’t too many made. I sold mine to a guy
in Milton Keynes in 1985 and then lost track of it.
Steve Foley at Smile studios in Chorlton, which was around the same time as
Cargo, also had a Cadey. We bought them cos they were cheap and as it turned
out also produced an amazing sound cos of the valve record side. This meant
you could hammer the tape and get a really powerful sound without distortion
as you would with IC’s or digital. It also added some certain very pleasing
harmonics. On the down side it was a sod to line –up with only having
two heads, and also had a lethal fast forward/rewind, and at the end of a session
the control panel was red hot with some serious voltages hanging around in side,
but it served us well for the 6 years the studio was open. I don’t know
how old you are but you may remember a single called “Black is Black”
a million seller by a group called Los Bravos, that song was written by Steve
Wadey who made the Cadey machines. Some useless trivia there. Part of the problem,
these days is the cost of tape as I think there is only one manufacturer left.
The machines didn’t have serial Nos so I’ve been trying to think
of anything that would identify it but as yet I haven’t thought of anything
I’ll let you know if I do.
I wish you all the best with your
recordings, and with your band, keep in touch.
Chris Connelly
dear John,
saw the site and loved it, have been working with Mark Burgess (Chameleons and
the Sun and the Moon) on his autobiography which mentions Cargo and Suite 16
a bit
Will send you a copy when it’s out, the myth busting bit is great, I visited
a few times during the early Chameleons sessions and also with The Reegs in
1997, will have a look for any photos.
Once again great site.
Alistair Price, Brittany
I was very interested to read the true story of Cargo. I actually recorded there, as a pupil at Oulder hill school we did a recording of a musical we wrote ourselves in 1980. So you probably did the earliest recordings of Lisa Stansfield! I’ve still got the cassette. As a kid with a much older brother I was already aware of all the bands who were recording at Cargo even age 14, and I still show off to French friends about it.
Haydn Rydings of the band Two Tone Pinks
Hello John
All of us remember the studio with affection it was great to be a small part
of the regions musical history. I'll send you another copy of the logo for your
links page but it wont be until the end of the week as I'm working away from
tonight until Thursday.
Still singing up until 3 years ago when the covers band I had formed in 1985
sacked me by email after 20 years ! Strangely I don't miss it that much, my
youngest son is at music college so he keeping the tradition alive.
Anyway John good to hear from you and when I get a bit of time I'll dig out
what Cargo memorabilia I have scan it and send it on. Fast Cars have a website
with loads of bits and pieces on it there may some Cargo stuff on there you
could nick.
Lates Two tone Pinks update, A chap in America has ripped off our logo and making
T shirts, coffee mugs, bags, posters, car stickers with it on. We are please
at the publicity but not the fact that firstly has has no permission to do this
and secondly someone else is making money out of our efforts ! AAAAh don't you
just love the music industry.
Vin Cassidy the drummer with Section 25:
When we first went to Cargo in ’79, Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton came along to produce the tracks, anyhow about 4pm Ian had to nip out to the local butchers for a pound of mince for his and Deborah’s tea.
Such a lovely memory that cuts through a lot of the
myth bullshit surrounding Ian.
John Robb of the Membranes:
Cargo was the first studio I ever went to and we did a night session to record a track called 'Ice Age' for a compilation EP of Blackpool bands that we put out. It was an all night session and I remember some of the band having difficulty staying up all night, me and the drummer went for a walk round Rochdale as the dawn broke, it actually looked quite pleasant round the town hall! From the start we fell in love with the studio and used it for nearly everything we did, and when we went really noisy it was perfect, John brierley was a brilliant producer, we wanted a wall of sound for 'Spike Milligans Tape recorder' which we had half got in section 25's rehearsal room in blackpool which was a huge echoey room, we took the rehearsal cassette to John and said we want that but louder and bigger- a punk rock spector wall of sound that sounds like avalanche of noise- he got us that, perfectly, the record sounds astonishing to this day...the shrill beginning of the treble guitar then the million decibel volume jump when the bass comes in- it caught everyone out!
We used John for our next record the 'Death To trad Rock EP" which was completely over the top, perhaps the nosiest most deranged record ever recorded! (Check it out- I'm not bluffing!) it destroyed John's ears and he had to retire from studio work!
The whole sound of that live room was amazing and when you opened the back door you could put a mic on the roof for serious ambient weirdness- that was what was great about that place- you could do what the fuck you liked- just look at all the groups who went through there - the most important single studio in post punk...
I also remember the san remo cafe down the road and must have been going in there for twenty odd years as I would use Suite 16 for producing bands - the staff like the sandwiches never changed! the two Italian brothers and the school girl who worked behind the counter who gradually became a grown up - it was like some weird time lapse experience...the club across the road where all the drunken hordes would come crashing out in the morning when you went out to get a breather - Xanadus I think it was called...
(Go to the photos page to see photos of the San Remo Cafe, the Galleon Pub, Tractor Music Shop, and the place where the Roma cafe used to be. I'm afraid Xanadus was demolished a few years ago now)