Bryan Adams: a very significant story
Bryan Adams: a very, very significant story…
Most people who know my history, and know the history of the Little Angels, will know about our involvement with the wonderful Bryan Adams, who was a big champion of the band.
We met him in 1989 when we were making the first Little Angels record, Don’t Pray for Me. He showed interest in the band, and I stayed in touch with him throughout the rest of the band’s career. We often spoke on the phone. He would ring me up to give advice, and of course, we toured with him in the UK and again with ZZ Top at stadium level back in 1991 and the Waking Up The Neighbours stadium dates. Then of course he played an important part on the JAM record, singing vocals on Too Much Too Young. So, we were good friends and… one of the things that you probably won’t know is that when I was making my debut solo record, Ignorance Is Bliss, is that I was absolutely skint.
Little Angels had come to a close, we were no longer part of it, we didn’t have a business together: so I was cobbling money together, trying to make things happen. I was right at the tail end of making this album. I can remember sitting up in the studio; we’d done all the recording, and I was going through things, checking all the files.
Out of the blue, Bryan rang me and said, “How are things going?” I explained the situation, that I’d made this record myself.
I think he immediately assumed I had a record label, but at the time I didn’t. Well, I did have a small independent label that was going to put it out, Cottage Industry, but I think he assumed I was still working with Sony or Polydor — which of course I wasn’t. When I told him I was making it entirely independently, he was quite shocked. He said, “Where are you in the process?”
I said, “Well, I don’t know how I’m going to get the record mixed.” He immediately said, “Look, if you can find your way to Vancouver, I’ll give you the use of my studio.” What I didn’t realise then — but know now — was that it was one of the greatest mix studios in the world: Warehouse Studios.
Now, there are two Warehouse Studios. There’s the one in downtown Vancouver, in the Gastown area, but the one I went to was actually Bryan Adams’ personal studio. He had this huge mix suite with an SSL G Series mixing desk and gear which was state of the art. I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for at all, but I was absolutely blown away. He said, “Look, you can use the studio for free. I’ll talk to my personal assistant and my manager, and you can go and do that — as a mate. No problem at all.”
Believe me, that lifeline Bryan gave me is something that lives with me every day. I often think about it — especially when I’m making music — how generous Bryan was to me, and how much that meant. I never really got the chance to properly thank him, because it was one of the last times I had proper contact with him.
But I went to Vancouver, and Steve Harris mixed the album in the greatest mix studio in the world. It gave the record an enormous lift, because the processing power of all the equipment there took the record from, say, a 5 out of 10 to a 9 out of 10 in terms of the sonics and overall sound.
That’s entirely down to Bryan Adams’ generosity. I’ve got nothing but gratitude for him, it made all the difference.
Tx
