Progress #3
An update following a very turbulent six months.
It’s all about identity
Over the past few weeks, we have been working with ace designers TURMA Creative on the identity for our new band, VIBRATIONISTS, and the reimagined Supertone Studio, now known as the Supertone Sonic Lab.
TURMA. are based in our nearest City, Caldas da Rainha which is packed with artists, musicians and designers. It hosts one of the best Universities of Art & Design in Portugal and has UNESCO Creative City status.
Starlite and I—plus our band member Dave Boyd on the VIBRATIONISTS element—created mood boards for both projects, and I started to delve into what turned me on from a design perspective, which inevitably brought me to the Haçienda, Factory Records and New Order.
Madchester
It was the late 80s, and I was in the thick of the “Madchester” scene and specifically all things Factory Records—from the bands to the legendary Haçienda nightclub—I was part of the team from WIGWAM Acoustics that designed and installed the final sound system.
Mad, mad times. Madchester indeed!
I know many of our subscribers are lovers of music history, so it’s worth delving into this legendary scene.
The Haçienda
The Haçienda was conceived by Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton of Factory Records, along with members of the band New Order. Their vision was to create a cultural hub that went beyond a typical nightclub, encompassing music, art, and fashion.
Ben Kelly's interior design was distinctive and influential. It featured industrial aesthetics with bold stripes, hazard tape, and construction bollards, reflecting Manchester's post-industrial landscape.
The Haçienda played a pivotal role in popularising electronic dance music, acid house, and rave culture in the UK.
It was a platform for international DJs plus emerging local bands like The Stone Roses, The Smiths, Oasis, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Inspiral Carpets, Pet Shop Boys, The Fall, The Prodigy, New Order, and many more. Even Madonna performed at the venue, recording her first-ever live UK TV appearance of Holiday for Channel 4’s ‘The Tube’.
My band at the time—The Cutting Edge—also played at the Haçienda. It was a great experience and one that I will never forget. We shot a video there which I need to dig out but sadly, there are no photos. I do have the ticket as a memento from the night, framed alongside other memorable gig tickets hanging on the wall in the Engine Room of the new Supertone Sonic Lab.
The Haç, as it was known locally, was a hugely influential venue that not only shaped the Manchester music scene but also had a lasting impact on club culture globally.
Despite its cultural significance, the club was never a financial success and eventually closed due to various factors, including drug gangs, guns, people’s safety, plus financial difficulties.
Even though the physical club is gone (the site is now apartments), the Haçienda remains an iconic symbol of a vibrant era in music history — its name and spirit are kept alive through occasional revival events and merchandise.
Play at Home | New Order (1984).
Released on 19th October 1984 by Channel 4 Television and RPM Media, Play at Home is a fascinating documentary about Factory Records.
The members of New Order interview founders Tony Wilson and ace producer Martin Hannett—oh god, those toms on Atmosphere—who speak on the philosophical and cultural purpose of their label and their associates, who mostly appear frustrated or confused.
Rob Gretton, Factory founder and manager of New Order, interviews himself. The video also includes three live performances of New Order at the Haçienda.
FAC off.
The FAC numbering system was the brainchild of Tony Wilson, one of the co-founders of the Factory record label. He was known for his avant-garde and often unconventional approach to the music industry. He treated Factory Records more like an art project than a traditional business.
It wasn't just for records but used to catalog everything associated with Factory Records, including posters, events, and even the Haçienda—FAC 51. This gave a sense of artistic and historical significance to all aspects of the Factory "factory."
While Tony Wilson conceived the idea, graphic designer Peter Saville played a crucial role in the visual presentation of these catalogue numbers on record sleeves and other Factory designs, contributing to the label's iconic aesthetic.
I love the bands, concept, artwork and design. Classic shit. Great memories.
Moving on.
One of the wonderful things in life is that you never know what will happen next, and this couldn’t be any truer since our last update in January.
Happy New Year!
In the Western world, the 31st of December is often seen as a time of celebration and a chance to turn the ideological page - to write the next chapter of our life story in which we are the protagonist—the central character—in our movie.
The issues with the owners of the house we rent still rumble on, but we are getting somewhere. It’s a war of attrition, but one thing you don’t do is fuck around with Starlite and I—dramatic developments are afoot…
Silver and gold
We now live on the coast in a special place called Foz do Arelho, 96km north of Lisbon and just over an hour’s drive from the airport.
Foz has a very specific microclimate and is located in an area known as the ‘Silver Coast’ or locally as Costa de Prata, which derives its name from the shimmering, silvery reflection of the sun diffused through wispy clouds onto the Atlantic Ocean as it meets the coastline.
The region is known for its extensive shoreline, beautiful beaches, and clear blue sea, making this ‘Silver’ effect quite prominent.
It’s a fantastic location for our new studio, but more of that later…
Rain, rain, rain
It’s been raining here since February with a few wonderful sunny respites, but now the warmth and the sunshine have arrived, giving us that dreamy holiday feel reminiscent of the four years we spent in Valencia, Spain.
We are used to it and manage to work effectively which for us is six days a week.
The reservoirs in Portugal are full, but the people have been empty, waiting for the summer to begin in earnest.
One thing we have learned is to ignore the weather forecasts, as the maritime climate is unpredictable and fast-moving.
Forecasts of cloud all day usually mean cover in the mornings and broken cloud in the afternoons with sun. Any percentage of rain can mean downpours or a brief spurt sometime during the day or night.
During the week, it’s great to pop down to the beach, which is only a two-minute drive from the studio and hang out in the sunshine with our girls—aka the squoofers two squeakers and two woofers—right next to the Atlantic Ocean - a real tonic for the soul. Weekends are bonkers, so we don’t venture down there and prefer to work.
Apparently, July and August are crazy busy and will report back when we have first hand experience.
Listen to the waves…
The tour is dead. Long live the tour.
As you will recall from our 2023 tour diary, touring is pretty fucked. Costs have gone sky high whilst fees have remained static or lower, and to top it off, audiences are declining.
So, what do we do?
We have formed a new band, VIBRATIONISTS, to experiment, write, record, live-stream, and tour with.
Madness, but that’s what we do.
More on all things that vibrate in the next article…
New material.
After many months focusing on other tasks, we've finally started mixing our next single release.
Hello was born ten years ago, but due to its progressive nature and considerable length of around 17 minutes, it has previously not fit onto any of our albums, making it a perfect standalone single. It's great to be working on it; the studio has never felt better.
We have an album’s worth of new material, which we are introducing into our VIBRATIONISTS live set over the coming months. Some is challenging to say the least, and we are beyond excited to start the recording process and share it with you!
We also planning a sister album which will feature roaring guitars and a lot of very, very cool stuff.
Keep an eye out for news, here and on most social media, except X.
Family.
At the end of May, we were thrilled to host our youngest son, Joe, his supercool German wife, Christina, and our two grandkids, Emma (5) and little Finn (4 months). Our home has been bursting with joy!
We don’t share much private family stuff, but here are some pictures, firstly of Joe and I. The genes are strong in this family—I am sure he was standing on a rock to look taller!
The Supertone Sonic Lab.
In the climate of large analogue studios closing worldwide and the declining income from touring and record sales, we are reopening our recording studio, offering remote and onsite recording with a fabulous live room—aka Ocean Deck— overlooking the Òbidos lagoon and Oceano Atlântico. It’s a unique space.
My main place of work, however, is the Engine Room, which hosts our 48-channel CADAC console, outboard gear and synthesisers, plus a dedicated photo/video shoot and green screen area.
Remantling.
Remantling—surely this is the opposite of dismantling, and if not, it should be—the studio has taken longer than anticipated.
We have worked on getting everything just right, and it shows. Starlite and I have never really settled anywhere before, and consequently, everything was a temporary move—until now.
Starlite has done a magnificent job in transforming the dreary basement into a vibrant creative space. I fucking love that woman.
Soldering is a massive, time consuming pain in the arse, but an analogue setup requires real connectors plugged into real gear. This time, we have pushed ourselves to the limit, making custom cables for everything.
We have acoustically balanced the Engine Room using our mountain of acoustic panels which we had made years ago in Spain, plus some additional ones from GAK Acoustics. It’s sounding great.
Supertone own two sets of monitors: a pair of beautiful modern ATC SMC25As and a pair of vintage Tannoy speakers, which we purchased a few years ago from a guy in Slovenia who reliably informed us they were from the A&R office of a record label based in the capital, Ljubljana. We only bought the HPD 315A drivers and had custom cabinets constructed by our designer, Jorge Mata Falcón, owner of the most excellent Sottovoce, in Valencia.
We have tuned them to the room to match the ATCs using our Meyer Sound CP-10 parametric equaliser and a reference microphone loaned from Dave Boyd (a fellow member of our new band VIBRATIONISTS).
It sounds complex, but with the right tools, relatively straightforward.
And that’s it, located in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the studio is now ready for client’s—a fabulous and inspirational life experience.
Drop us an email if you want to know more.
Until next time.
Much love
S&S xxx
Sometimes I regret not staying in Manchester when I finished university instead of heading back south. I feel I missed quite a lot that went on in the 80's.
Mind you, the music scene was pretty good down south and I had a blast playing the pubs and clubs in the Sourh East between '84 and '87.