The BBC’s residence at the legendary Maida Vale Studios has come to an end, being played out to the celebrated sound of Fontaines D.C. for one last live session. Tucked away in a leafy North London suburb, the former Edwardian roller skating palace has sat on the UK’s ‘Mount Rushmore’ of pre-eminent studios, so hosting the highly regarded Irish band is a fitting curtain call.
The Dublin band were playing their first public set since the passing of their much-loved manager Trevor Dietz, a man who, in the band’s own words, “cared passionately for us and for what was fair and right in the wider world”. Reflecting the raw emotion of the band’s recent experiences, their set ebbed along with a more restrained sound compared to the vast soundscapes of their latest album ‘Romance’. They opened with the popular tune ‘Favourite’ before fading into ‘It’s Amazing to Be Young’, a twinkling tune penned on the prospect of a brighter future. The post-punk sound we’ve come to love from Fontaines was dialled in for ‘Big Shot’, but only for a moment as they dug back into their past to perform ‘Roy’s Tune’. This was perhaps the standout track of the session, partly due to its glaring omission from any recent Fontaines set, but also because of its beauty. Juxtaposing a rounded, warm tone with mellow, downtrodden lyrics, returning to their debut album was a touching note that filled the cavernous Maida Vale studio.
And these studios need that scale. Having housed the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1934, Maida Vale Studios have hosted everything from punk to radio dramas in pursuit of entertaining the British public. The relatively unassuming building has been a home for boundary-pushing musical production techniques, providing a place for the production of the original Doctor Who theme tune in the 1960s and propelling musicians ever since.
Perhaps most famed for the ‘Peel Sessions’ spanning from 1967 to 2004, Maida Vale welcomed some of the biggest names in the music world. Until 1990, radio broadcasting was penned in by ‘stylus-on-vinyl’ time, which led to innovation when John Peel invited a whole host of acts to perform live sets to fill a radio show. What followed birthed the stuff of legend, with the 'Peel Sessions' seeing Nirvana, The Damned, Pink Floyd, Motörhead and David Bowie all perform within the Maida Vale Studios. Part of the magic laced within the walls lies in the sheer number of recording studios, meaning that there has been a constant stream of legendary musicians sharing ideas in the narrow corridors.
Celebrated radio host Steve Lamacq described the “tingle of excitement” he gets when wandering the halls of such a prestigious location, which has played host to both the recording of much of The Beatles’ album ‘Live at the BBC’ and the last known recording of Bing Crosby. The output we have enjoyed from Maida Vale has consistently drawn adulation. In his time there, Taylor Hawkins described the studios as “lively and fun”, partly in relation to the live session he played with the Foo Fighters, partly due to the exploration of what the studios invoke within an artist’s sound and approach.
Whilst being steeped in history adds to the desire of up-and-coming bands to one day play a Maida Vale session, the building was declared “wholly unsuitable for the 21st century” by the BBC back in 2007. Plans for a move to a state-of-the-art facility in the former Olympic Park have been underway for some time, with the BBC vacating for their new home, which we hope will permit them to continue curating a range of much-loved programming, including Radio 1 Live Lounge sessions and Radio 3 concerts.
Instead, Maida Vale Studios will house a new project being undertaken by giants of the music industry: Hans Zimmer, Steve Jofsky, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Placing a symmetry between Maida Vale’s symphonic history and the future of film scores, the new owners look set to add to the jaw-dropping list of artists who have produced some of their best work in a building never intended to enable such art. Keep an ear out for upcoming film scores as Working Title Films get underway in the next chapter of Maida Vale Studios.
Joseph Madden
Image: 'Romance' Official Album Cover