Typography & design by
Richard Wolfströme

Exhibition and installation
by Standard 8

Website
Words William Shaw
Design Richard Wolfströme
Photography Kenny Laurenson

Publishing consultant Adrian Driscoll

An Unmadeup Production

He remembers the first time he saw this recording studio, three years ago

Opposite The Pond pub, in Gloucester Street

In two weeks Mark will be a father. That changes things.

Maybe he’ll get a full time job now, something ethical... perhaps become a teacher. Or he could stay at home and be dad.

He puts his key in, opens the door, crosses the brown carpet to turn off the alarm. Wires trail from a mixing desk. A guitar case propped against the wall.

He remembers the first time he saw this recording studio three years ago, full of ambitions for the place.

In his 20s Mark had done well. He and some friends had set up a telecoms company, made good money. But when the
industry moved on, music started to draw him back in. He’d played keyboards in bands since he was 16. He still plays in five or six bands. (That will have to change too.)

Brighton seemed full of unrealised talent – musicians too edgy for the mainstream, too good to overlook.

Now he walks down into the basement. A drum kit. A synth. On the walls, the logos they all painted so enthusiastically – Round The Corner – the name of the studio and label that would showcase his talented friends. (The absence of piano amuses him. In his enthusiasm it hadn’t struck him that you can’t even get a live piano down here. )

What does he have to show for three years? On the plus side, he has learned a lot – mostly that he doesn’t want to run a commercial studio. He has no interest in recording people he doesn’t think are good. And he has the two albums he recorded here that he played on – one by a group called Mab, the other by The Big Hairy Band. They wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t bought this place. He has released the Mab CD himself. He hopes one day people will understand how good it is.

If he’d thought through he wouldn’t have bought this place, but thinking that way doesn’t do you any good. He’s had a couple of valuations done. He’s talking to the agents about putting it back on the market soon.