AIR STUDIOS
Under The Volcano revisits the rise and fall of Sir George Martin’s AIR Studios.
It was Sir George Martin’s elite-level studio in a Caribbean paradise, where albums that defined the ’80s were created. So why is it now overgrown and deserted? A star-packed new film tells the tale.
“Some of the artists I showed footage to cried.” GRACIE OTTO, DIRECTOR
AS RECORDING studios go, Sir George Martin’s AIR Studios was among the more glamorous. Sited on the tiny, emerald Caribbean island of Montserrat, south-west of Antigua, AIR thrived as an idyllic getaway between 1979 and 1989, and the albums recorded there defined the ’80s. Yet, nestling picturesquely under the epic shadow of the Soufrière Hills volcano, this eden was snuffed out by a devastating hurricane and, a few years later, an apocalyptic eruption.
New documentary Under The Volcano – not named after Malcolm Lowry’s 1947 novel of booze and death, says Australian director Gracie Otto – brings AIR back to luxurious life. With previously unseen home movie footage shot by Paul McCartney, Stewart Copeland and studio staff, interviewees include Mark Knopfler, Nick Rhodes, The Police, Midge Ure, Martin’s son Giles and, via vintage clips, Sir George himself. They recall the studio with misty-eyed fondness and also candour, reflecting on the personal struggles that remain even when sun, sea and a personal chef are to hand. Under The Volcano serves as an extended snapshot of a music industry, before the advent of digital recording, living large for the last time.
After launching the AIR London “hit factory” in 1970, Martin read about Montserrat – a British selfgoverning territory – in a magazine article, and imagined a haven for artists to escape to. “It was the perfect time for the idea like this,” Otto says of those years of expanding recording budgets. “Mark Knopfler told us Dire Straits made Brothers In Arms in three days but stayed for a month.” Other platinum sellers were The Police’s
Ghost In The Machine and Synchronicity, Duran Duran’s Seven And The Ragged Tiger, three Elton John albums and – just before Hurricane Hugo blew in – The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels. There was more involved than mere recording, of course. McCartney found refuge in Montserrat after John Lennon’s murder; for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the relaxed atmosphere melted away years of tension; Stevie Wonder demanded he entertain the locals at a bar. Stewart Copeland recalls, “[The Police] went there for the isolation, but soon found we only had each other to drive each other bananas.” Yet they got Every Breath You Take, and more, from the experience.
Under The Volcano was producer Cody Greenwood’s idea; she’d visited AIR in its heyday, as her mother lived on Montserrat. “It was emotional for her, because AIR is rotting away now,” says Otto. “For me, it was nostalgic, almost like missing a great party. But it was sad and eerie too. Some of the artists I showed footage to cried.”
Tragically, 1989’s hurricane ruined not just AIR but 90 per cent of the island’s buildings. Then, dormant for three centuries, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted in 1995, poleaxing any hope of recovery. In any case, says chief engineer Malcolm Atkin, “the kind of [recording] budgets people had were long gone. It wasn’t the era we built [AIR] for.” A philosophical Martin concluded, “It’s like everything in life… you bring something out of nothing, and it always goes back to nothing again.”
Under The Volcano is out now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD