Hi Tension Back in the 1970s I used to visit Island Records HQ at St Peters Square in Hammersmith at least once a week. It was one of my regular music business haunts. Island Records offered artists a place where they could meet and chill. On one of my visits I noticed a young group of youths in the lounge. I recognised some of them from a band called Hot Wax that Id seen one Carnival under the flyover in Ladbroke Grove mashing up the place with some bad funk. I was well impressed because they were evidently quite young. I would meet these youths again when I began using Acklam Hall (subsequently Subterranea) with my band. They would frequently come around to take in my rehearsals. They were quite impressed with the amount of musical equipment that I had at my disposal and between breaks ask me if they could try out the gear which Id let them do.. I never failed to be impressed by how musically talented they were. I began contemplating introducing them to Simon Draper then CEO at Virgin Records which I was signed to. Alas it didnt happen. When I saw them at Island that day I went over to them and hailed them up. I asked them what they were doing to which they replied that they were working on a demo for a single. Subsequently we went downstairs into the Studio which Dick Cuthell called The Fallout Shelter where I met studio technician Godwin Logie and Kofi Ayivor of Osibisa. Kofi was sitting in overseeing the production. On hearing the song I thought it had hit written all over it. I was well impressed and expressed to them that I think they had a hit on their hands. They were chuffed! As time passed by I wondered how I hadnt heard it anywhere. It was baffling. On another subsequent visit to Island I met Chris Blackwell in the lounge who as he was wont to do asked me what was happening. I responded by making him aware that there was a hot song Id heard some weeks before by a young band in the studio that sounded like a surefire hit record. He asked me who had produced it and I told him Godwin Logie. We went upstairs to his office and he asked me to get a tape operator to locate the tape of the song. After listening to it he immediately gave the order to have it put on a priority release schedule. On release it shot straight into the UK Top 20 Pop Charts. Here is Hi Tension on Top of The Pops! https://youtube/watch?v=48kbF4jc84w
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 14:35:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015