Concert to celebrate 'seminal' recording studios

"I keep having to pinch myself that we've managed to make it work," says the organiser of an outdoor concert taking place this summer to celebrate a town's legendary recording studios.

Dozens of bands began their careers at Cargo Studios in Rochdale, and when Karen Boardman from Rochdale Development Agency emailed some of them "suggesting they could play where it all began", she was thrilled when "they said yes".

The concert is being headlined by electronic pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, supported by Peter Hook and A Certain Ratio.

Boardman said: "Cargo Studios was absolutely seminal back in the 1970s and 80s because the bands that recorded there were all part of a new music scene."

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark recorded their first single Electricity at Cargo Studios in Rochdale in 1979 and the band has since sold more than 40 million records.

Factory Records boss Tony Wilson brought Joy Division to the studios, where they recorded the single Atmosphere, with bass guitarist Peter Hook.

The show is part of Rochdale Music Stories, which is a campaign to shine a spotlight on the town's longstanding influence on British music.

The concert will take place 300 yards away from the Cargo Studios building, in the newly created pedestrianised square, next to Rochdale Town Hall, on 7 August.

Cargo was a 16-track studio, which was opened by the former Granada TV cameraman John Brierley, in a converted warehouse on Kenion Street in 1978.

The studio is synonymous with the UK post-punk music scene, with bands including the Fall, the Teardrop Explodes and The Chameleons all recording there.

Part of the philosophy behind the facility was to make it financially available to bands who were just starting out, which meant it struggled to make enough money to upgrade to 24-track recording, and the studios became Suite 16 in 1985.

In the years that followed, bands such as The Happy Mondays, The Charlatans, The Inspiral Carpets and The Stone Roses all recorded there.

The building was derelict for many years but the wall on the outside has a mural of the Joy Division front man Ian Curtis and a blue plaque was placed there in 2009.

The recording facility reopened in 2013, under the name Voltalab Sound Studios, with floating floors and acoustic panels which rotate to change the sound of the room.

Jamie Alsop, a recording engineer and producer at Voltalab Sound Studios, said they wanted to keep the building's music heritage alive.

He said: "We were initially based inside an old mill in Rochdale and we came to Kenion Street for the blue plaque unveiling and that's when we had the idea that reopening the studio would be really special."

"We've had bands from the South of France and New York come to record here because they've heard about the space and they want to make their own music in a place which has created so much history before",the 39 year-old added.

Since the studios reopened, the facility has been used by a wide genre of artists including rock bands, grime rappers, folk musicians and string quartets.

Laura Howkins, studio manager, said: "We have a lot of bands from across the UK and the world who come to record here because I think we create a comfortable environment, as well as having world-class equipment."

The 39 year-old added: "Its really important that artists don't have to leave Rochdale and travel to London to have this world-class experience, with excellent engineers and producers coming through the door."

Local bands to have recorded at the Voltalab Sound Studios in recent years include The Guest List from Altrincham, The Donaghys from Littleborough and Sleep Walking Animals from Manchester.