Field of rock’n’roll dreams: the studio where Britain’s stars made their mark
Rockfield: The Studio On The Farm Saturday, BBC Four, 9.15pm ★★★★✩
NO DOUBT BBC Four has its reasons for broadcasting Hannah Berryman’s film about Rockfield Studios on a Saturday, when it feels like a documentary designed to be viewed in that channel’s Friday night slot. Why Friday? Because Fridays on Four are about music from the golden age, and nostalgia, and comfort, and fond-hearted reminiscence from eras with different trousers and actionable hair. And here, at the start of the story of the Welsh studio where Queen and Black Sabbath and The Stone Roses did their thing, is Liam Gallagher reminiscing. “I can’t remember a fooking thing, to be fair,” he says.
To be fair, he does remember some things, like the night he and former Oasis guitarist Bonehead stole a combine harvester and drove it to the studio to drop in on the Roses, who had taken up permanent residence on the farm as they toiled for centuries on their second album The Second Coming, a project which effectively rubbished the concept of delayed gratification.
Bonehead, driver of the vehicle, also recalls interrupting the efforts of Liam’s less playful brother Noel, as he recorded the guitar part for Wonderwall outside the studio, perched, pixie-like, atop an actual wall. Bonehead had a remotecontrolled toy car, and sent it in the direction of the Mancunian melodic genius, causing hilarity all round. (Perhaps you had to be there.)
Anyway, it’s a lovely film. It’s possible, maybe even probable, that Liam and Bonehead are aware of their role in the story, because they are happy to deliver tales of rock’n’roll nonsense. “We weren’t like Bros,” says Liam, discussing his specialist subject, sibling rivalry with Noel. “Or Jedward.”
Surprisingly, Liam manages to upstage Ozzy Osbourne, who accidentally invented heavy metal with Black
Sabbath at Rockfield. “We’d never been in a studio,” says Ozzy. “We’d never been on a farm. We’d never seen a cow.”
Queen played with a frisbee on the farm, while Freddie Mercury composed Bohemian Rhapsody in the feed store.
Robert Plant discovered his post-Led Zeppelin identity, composing Big Log. Big what? “It was a jazz cigarette,” says Plant. “An African Woodbine.”
The best Rockfield story belongs to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. The Glaswegian pomp futurists were toiling in the smaller studios at Rockfield, trying to invent the song Promised You a Miracle. Meanwhile, in the big studio, Iggy Pop was working on his album Soldier. Iggy was on the wagon, trying to fall off. One day, the door of the Minds’ studio opened and in came Iggy with David Bowie. “He had this huge bit of cheese in his hand,” says Kerr of Bowie, “and a can of Heineken.”