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Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
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Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
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Now I want to introduce you to director and producer
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John McDermott, and he is the man behind the documentary
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which you can now see in theaters Electric Lady Studios,
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a Jimmy Hendricks Vision. Welcome John and Geez. I so
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enjoyed your movie. The footage, I mean, just anything you
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see of Jimmy Hendrix is just it's precious to us.
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It's just precious. Tell us the background, the backstory to
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how this all came about.
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Well, I had written a book with Eddie Kramer many
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years ago called Hendrick Setting the Record Straight, and that
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was my first introduction to this small but amazing group
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of people who gather together to build this recording studio.
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And I always knew like that was one of the
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you know, the story was just amazing. Was one of
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those things that you know, if it wasn't true, you
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wouldn't believe it. So, you know, when when the Hendrick's
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family purchased John Veltrie's photo photography, he had been the
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one person who had from an architectural standpoint, it covered
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the entire construction of the studio. So when in the film,
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when you know some of these stories are told, when
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Shamal and Ron says, you know, here I am coming
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from a great studio walking into a dump, it was
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really true, you know. And and so I think having
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the visual material to go along with these great stories
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really helped. I think the audience get a sense of
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just the enormity of the achievement of taking this thing
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from rubble to actually being a successful commercial recording studio originally.
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Now, this is a studio that, you know, it was
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the first one that was conceived and planned by an artist.
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This is not your typical music studio. This was to
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be a place where you could hang, where you could
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be comfortable, where the acoustics were just tremendous. There was
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Studio one and Studio two by the way, for those listening,
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because we are you know, New York's classic rock station.
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Electric Lady Studios is a studio that is still in use.
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And you got to get your picture taken outside. It's
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at fifty two West eighth Street in the village. I
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didn't even know the exact address. So that's I'm mentioning
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that again it's fifty two West eighth Street. Now, originally
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this was planned to be a club slash studio, so
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tell us about that.
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Well, Jimmy used to love to jam at a club
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which was really fifty four West eighth Street, right next
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door downstairs, and it was the Generation Club. Now, the
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Generation was a cool place, didn't have a liquor license,
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but it booked acts like Junior Well's Buddy Guy Slide
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in the Family Stone. So Jimmy was there a lot
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to see the music and to sit in with the artists.
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But when they went bankrupt, his manager Michael Jeffrey, Jimmy
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Hendricks's manager, Michael Jeffrey, he owned a night clubs in
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mayorka Spain. He had had a club, a successful club
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at Newcastle, so he understood that business. And so the
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initial idea was like, okay, well, we'll have a cool
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place to hang. It'll be your club. And Jimmy was like,
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we could put a little recording unit in the back,
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so we if we're jamming and there's some cool ideas,
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we can record it. So you know, ultimately they ask
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jim Maron, who's the head of the Scene club, would
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they love to hang. That was a club in the forties.
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And so what happened was was that, you know, Marin said, well,
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let me bring in, you know, a couple of people
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to see about the studio aspect of this idea, and
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unbeknownst to Jimmy, he brought aut Eddy Kramer, who is
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Jimmy's engineer, and he said, you're crazy, like, this is
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a why don't we just build Jimmy a recording studio.
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He's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in nineteen sixty
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eight money making his music. Why don't we, you know,
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combine all of what he wants in a club be
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in a first class recording studio. So what was a
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club idea in February sixty nine, by by April sixty
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nine had been you know, completely was turned around into
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a full fledged recording studio. The idea was studio it
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would be for Jimmy and studio B would be for
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clients and that would help pay for it.
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And among the artists who have recorded at Electric Lady Studios,
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John Lennon, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyonce,
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it's it Isn't it still like the epitome of an
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artist's recording studio, Like artists who see it as this
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is one of the best places to record.
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Well, it is.
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But you know what else is interesting too is that
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you know, Jimmy wasn't a guy who sought fame, wasn't
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a guy who chased celebrity, who lived large. You know,
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this is a guy who lived in a two bedroom
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apartment in the village but owned a recording studio. So
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for him, you know, it was it was really an
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amazing place. But at the end of the day, I
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think that mystery still is imbued an electric lady. It's
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downstairs the you know, for years it obviously had the
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original rounded front entrance, and you know, you can't see
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what's going on. They don't give tours.
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It isn't like.
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Abbey Road Studios or a facility like that. So like Hendrix,
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there's this cool mystery, like, hey man, led Zeppelin was there,
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Taylor Swift was there. You know what's going on down there?
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You can't see it. So I do think that from
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a from a public perspective, that you know, people see
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it as a magical place.
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I think from an.
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Artist perspective, all that hard work that went into making
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that place sound unique. It still resonates today. You know,
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you get the vibe of it being Jimmy's place, but
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then you're also at the cutting edge still of technology
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because of the way that it was built and the
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way that it has stayed ahead of the of the
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changes that have happened in the fifty five years since
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it opened.
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Explain how it's different from your normal recording studio, especially
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since we the public can't go there.
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Well, you know, obviously if you think about this from
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a from from a contextual point of view, you know,
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when Bob Dilla went in to record at Columbia Studios
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in New York, you know that.
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Was a union shop. He couldn't touch the board.
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So this is a guy, you know, creating his home
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music being told to do when the Beatles went into
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Abbey Road. Originally he had guys in lab coats. You know,
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you did that, we do this. It was very much
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that mindset.
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I think. You know what's interesting about.
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Electric Lady is that Jimmy had recorded at the Record Plant,
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which is really the first kind of artist friendly facility,
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which opened up in New York in sixty eight. They
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later obviously opened up ones in Northern California and LA.
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But that idea that the artist wasn't the enemy was
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was kind of the that that had started a break
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down with the record plant. But I think the thing
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about the I think I think about Electric Lady was
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that this was an artist's house built to serve artists.
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So it wasn't like this was built in the thirties
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for big bands and now we're retrofitting it for you
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long haired troublemakers.
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So you know what I mean. So I think I
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think that the.
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Idea that you could have a place that had all
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of the technical options available to you and at the
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same time was a welcoming place to create, create art,
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great music.
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I mean, you know what was the downside of that?
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It seems now silly, but back at that time it
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was obviously a much different environment and artists didn't own studios,
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labels did Columbia Capital Atlantic stacks. They had their own studios.
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You just went there, Hey, you want to make a record, Okay,
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go down and see Joe down at the studio. This
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was totally different. Now the artist could say, well, you
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know what I want to record where Jimmy Hendrix recorded,
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and that of course changed the business.
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I'm speaking with John McDermott. He's the director slash producer
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of Electric Lady Studios at Jimmy Hendrix's vision, and it's
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in theaters now and it's really the story not only
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of Jimmy Hendrix, but the studio that he created for artists,
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which still exists and is still a working studio at
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fifty two West eighth Street. Don't you think, I mean,
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why is Electric Lady not open for tours? You know
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that would make it even more money.
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Yeah, but you know what that's really again, think about
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how it was done. Originally, when Jimmy was at the
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Record Plan, it was really hard to get work done
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because the Record Plant, anyone could walk in, anybody, people
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that knew Jimmy from before he was famous, to people.
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That had kind of meet along the way, and.
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You know, it became hard to you know, kind of
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control the creative atmosphere to get work done. So with
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Electric Lady, what they did is they put in a camera,
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so there was a camera in the window and you
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had to get buzzed in and that privacy I think
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served the artist far more than you know, whatever money
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is you could make from having a tour or doing
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things like that, because again, this was a creative sanctuary,
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not just for Jimmy Hendrix, but for Stevie Wonder, for
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led Zeppelin, for everybody else that came in there. Even today,
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I'm sure for somebody like Taylor Swift, who's you know,
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her fans want to know everything and where she is
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and doing all these things. The ability to go to
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a place like how to create your music without interruption,
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you know, free of all the normal distractions you have
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in your life. I think that's one of the things
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that continues to drive people to Electric Lady. You know
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your music will sound good there, but that's a single,
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unique atmosphere to create music. And I think that, you know,
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it was that way for Jimmy Hendrix, and I believe
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it is still presently that thinking for the current owners.
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Of course, his death came as such a shock to fans,
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but particularly to those who had been working with him
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and that crew. I mean that that became such a
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challenge for them right after his death because they had
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to keep Electric Lady alive while they were mourning. So
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describe that whole process and how difficult that was for
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those who loved him and worked with him and created
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this amazing, magical place.
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Exactly right.
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I mean, I think when Jimmy the idea was put
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forward to create the studio, Jimmy was the highest grossing
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touring act in the world. The experience where you know,
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at the top of their game, playing Madison, Square Guard
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and La four them, all these these places. You know,
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Jimmy had two albums in the top ten, you know,
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so at the same time simultaneously, so he was really
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on fire. Well, a couple months later, Noel leaves the band.
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Then there's many construction problems. Is the water that they
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encountered that was under a tributary of the river was
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under the studio and that flooded and they had to
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restart it and all of those things. So, you know,
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I think it's I think those challenges really, you know,
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toughened up that very small crew. They were committed to
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this process. Then when Jimmy passes, you know, again he
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had taken out a half million dollar loan and had
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already made the first fifty thousand dollars payment in August
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of that year of nineteen seventy, so he was he
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had put everything that he had into this thing, and
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they all felt that they knew it. They also knew that,
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you know, this dream, they had a real stake in it,
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so you know, to their credit, you know, just getting
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it started really with Carly Simon and then you know,
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ultimately Stevie Wonder was the act that I think in
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many ways saved the studio because he booked, you know,
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he cut you know, multiple albums there and really kind
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of replaced Jimmy in the sense of being the studio
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a client while Studio B was was was rented out
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to shorter term clients. So you know, led Zeppelin and
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others were early adopters of Electric Lady and were in
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there frequently. And I think, as as Linda Charlotte says
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in the film, you know, once the word got out
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that this was still a thriving place, it had that
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thing of you know, this cool thing of like, yeah, man,
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we cut that at Jimmy's studio, you know.
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So I do think that.
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That once artists of that caliber bought into what Jimmy
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had had had been trying to create, I think it
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resonated throughout the industry and with other artists, and I
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think still drives it today. People want that, they want
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that experience. Pardon the pun of being able to say, yeah,
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you know, we recorded down there Electric Lady.
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He was amazing.
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We only have a couple of minutes left. John McDermott,
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the director and producer of Electric Lady Studios at Jimmy
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Hendrix's vision. What was it like for you were there,
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what did you feel?
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Well? I really, I must say.
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We had a screening Thursday night and many of the
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people featured in the film were there and it was
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a really emotional thing for them, and I, you know,
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I was really touched by the fact that fifty plus
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years later, this is it's almost as if they went
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to war together. This is an indelible thing they share.
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And that really was wonderful to see, you know. I mean, yes,
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it's still used by artists today, and you know, it's
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still an ongoing business. But you can't help but look
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around and think two things. God, what this would have
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been had Jimmy lived. And I'm really proud of the
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fact that I stuck it out and helped this thing
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on two solid feed and walk forward. You see that.
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I think you sense it in the film when you
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hear the passion in which the participants all you know,
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all share no matter what their original role was in
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the studio, whether they were an assistant engineer, the studio manager,
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whatever that passion is, it's really equal throughout all of them.
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And I find I've always found that to be really compelling.
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Do you feel his spirit?
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Well?
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I think so.
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I mean, I think you do. But I think it's
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in some ways. I think it's it's the achievement that
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strikes me.
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You know.
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It's like when you think about Electric Lady Studios, you
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think about Jimi Hendrix. You for four years he built
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an incredible career in reputation, but just prior to that
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four year window, this is a guy that couldn't record
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his own music. People wouldn't give him a chance. It
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just he was just seen as, yeah, you just do that,
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go over there. He was one of those kind of guys,
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an extra an extra part, a tool to be used.
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I think here what's amazing is is that he, you know,
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despite his world reputation, and people know him as this
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you know, global icon. You know, that's a valid idea
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that's still working for other people today.
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Just like the way he approached the guitar inspires.
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People he never met, or you know, whose lives he
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never would have ever encountered. It's just fascinating that it
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also is there. It's more than just the music in
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a way, it was the it's the entirety of the
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vision that Hey, I see a way of doing something
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better and I want to pursue that, and today people
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are still doing that. That's a pretty amazing thing. I
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know it's a point of pride for the Hendricks family
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because they look at that as a as a lasting
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legacy of a different sort. It's just not like, yeah,
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that's the greatest guitar solo or that's the biggest crowd
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he ever played to. But yet, you know what, that
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idea that he had, it's still working and it's still
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inspiring people.
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It's pretty cool.
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Thank you so much, John McDermott, and again, Electric Lady
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Studios of Jimmy Hendrix's Vision is in theaters now and
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Electric Lady Studios still a working studio at fifty two
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West eighth Street in the village.
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You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
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of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
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three
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Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
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Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
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Now I want to introduce you to director and producer
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John McDermott, and he is the man behind the documentary
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which you can now see in theaters Electric Lady Studios,
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a Jimmy Hendricks Vision. Welcome John and Geez. I so
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enjoyed your movie. The footage, I mean, just anything you
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see of Jimmy Hendrix is just it's precious to us.
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It's just precious. Tell us the background, the backstory to
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how this all came about.
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Well, I had written a book with Eddie Kramer many
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years ago called Hendrick Setting the Record Straight, and that
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was my first introduction to this small but amazing group
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of people who gather together to build this recording studio.
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And I always knew like that was one of the
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you know, the story was just amazing. Was one of
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those things that you know, if it wasn't true, you
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wouldn't believe it. So, you know, when when the Hendrick's
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family purchased John Veltrie's photo photography, he had been the
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one person who had from an architectural standpoint, it covered
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the entire construction of the studio. So when in the film,
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when you know some of these stories are told, when
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Shamal and Ron says, you know, here I am coming
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from a great studio walking into a dump, it was
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really true, you know. And and so I think having
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the visual material to go along with these great stories
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really helped. I think the audience get a sense of
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just the enormity of the achievement of taking this thing
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from rubble to actually being a successful commercial recording studio originally.
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Now, this is a studio that, you know, it was
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the first one that was conceived and planned by an artist.
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This is not your typical music studio. This was to
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be a place where you could hang, where you could
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be comfortable, where the acoustics were just tremendous. There was
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Studio one and Studio two by the way, for those listening,
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because we are you know, New York's classic rock station.
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Electric Lady Studios is a studio that is still in use.
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And you got to get your picture taken outside. It's
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at fifty two West eighth Street in the village. I
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didn't even know the exact address. So that's I'm mentioning
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that again it's fifty two West eighth Street. Now, originally
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this was planned to be a club slash studio, so
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tell us about that.
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Well, Jimmy used to love to jam at a club
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which was really fifty four West eighth Street, right next
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door downstairs, and it was the Generation Club. Now, the
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Generation was a cool place, didn't have a liquor license,
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but it booked acts like Junior Well's Buddy Guy Slide
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in the Family Stone. So Jimmy was there a lot
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to see the music and to sit in with the artists.
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But when they went bankrupt, his manager Michael Jeffrey, Jimmy
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Hendricks's manager, Michael Jeffrey, he owned a night clubs in
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mayorka Spain. He had had a club, a successful club
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at Newcastle, so he understood that business. And so the
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initial idea was like, okay, well, we'll have a cool
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place to hang. It'll be your club. And Jimmy was like,
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we could put a little recording unit in the back,
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so we if we're jamming and there's some cool ideas,
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we can record it. So you know, ultimately they ask
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jim Maron, who's the head of the Scene club, would
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they love to hang. That was a club in the forties.
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And so what happened was was that, you know, Marin said, well,
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let me bring in, you know, a couple of people
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to see about the studio aspect of this idea, and
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unbeknownst to Jimmy, he brought aut Eddy Kramer, who is
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Jimmy's engineer, and he said, you're crazy, like, this is
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a why don't we just build Jimmy a recording studio.
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He's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in nineteen sixty
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eight money making his music. Why don't we, you know,
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combine all of what he wants in a club be
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in a first class recording studio. So what was a
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club idea in February sixty nine, by by April sixty
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nine had been you know, completely was turned around into
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a full fledged recording studio. The idea was studio it
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would be for Jimmy and studio B would be for
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clients and that would help pay for it.
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And among the artists who have recorded at Electric Lady Studios,
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John Lennon, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyonce,
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it's it Isn't it still like the epitome of an
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artist's recording studio, Like artists who see it as this
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is one of the best places to record.
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Well, it is.
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But you know what else is interesting too is that
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you know, Jimmy wasn't a guy who sought fame, wasn't
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a guy who chased celebrity, who lived large. You know,
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this is a guy who lived in a two bedroom
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apartment in the village but owned a recording studio. So
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for him, you know, it was it was really an
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amazing place. But at the end of the day, I
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think that mystery still is imbued an electric lady. It's
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downstairs the you know, for years it obviously had the
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original rounded front entrance, and you know, you can't see
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what's going on. They don't give tours.
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It isn't like.
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Abbey Road Studios or a facility like that. So like Hendrix,
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there's this cool mystery, like, hey man, led Zeppelin was there,
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Taylor Swift was there. You know what's going on down there?
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You can't see it. So I do think that from
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a from a public perspective, that you know, people see
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it as a magical place.
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I think from an.
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Artist perspective, all that hard work that went into making
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that place sound unique. It still resonates today. You know,
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you get the vibe of it being Jimmy's place, but
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then you're also at the cutting edge still of technology
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because of the way that it was built and the
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way that it has stayed ahead of the of the
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changes that have happened in the fifty five years since
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it opened.
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Explain how it's different from your normal recording studio, especially
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since we the public can't go there.
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Well, you know, obviously if you think about this from
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a from from a contextual point of view, you know,
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when Bob Dilla went in to record at Columbia Studios
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in New York, you know that.
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Was a union shop. He couldn't touch the board.
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So this is a guy, you know, creating his home
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music being told to do when the Beatles went into
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Abbey Road. Originally he had guys in lab coats. You know,
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you did that, we do this. It was very much
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that mindset.
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I think. You know what's interesting about.
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Electric Lady is that Jimmy had recorded at the Record Plant,
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which is really the first kind of artist friendly facility,
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which opened up in New York in sixty eight. They
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later obviously opened up ones in Northern California and LA.
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But that idea that the artist wasn't the enemy was
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was kind of the that that had started a break
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down with the record plant. But I think the thing
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about the I think I think about Electric Lady was
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that this was an artist's house built to serve artists.
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So it wasn't like this was built in the thirties
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for big bands and now we're retrofitting it for you
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long haired troublemakers.
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So you know what I mean. So I think I
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think that the.
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Idea that you could have a place that had all
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of the technical options available to you and at the
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same time was a welcoming place to create, create art,
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great music.
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I mean, you know what was the downside of that?
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It seems now silly, but back at that time it
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was obviously a much different environment and artists didn't own studios,
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labels did Columbia Capital Atlantic stacks. They had their own studios.
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You just went there, Hey, you want to make a record, Okay,
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go down and see Joe down at the studio. This
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was totally different. Now the artist could say, well, you
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know what I want to record where Jimmy Hendrix recorded,
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and that of course changed the business.
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I'm speaking with John McDermott. He's the director slash producer
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of Electric Lady Studios at Jimmy Hendrix's vision, and it's
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in theaters now and it's really the story not only
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of Jimmy Hendrix, but the studio that he created for artists,
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which still exists and is still a working studio at
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fifty two West eighth Street. Don't you think, I mean,
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why is Electric Lady not open for tours? You know
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that would make it even more money.
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Yeah, but you know what that's really again, think about
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how it was done. Originally, when Jimmy was at the
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Record Plan, it was really hard to get work done
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because the Record Plant, anyone could walk in, anybody, people
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that knew Jimmy from before he was famous, to people.
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That had kind of meet along the way, and.
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You know, it became hard to you know, kind of
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control the creative atmosphere to get work done. So with
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Electric Lady, what they did is they put in a camera,
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so there was a camera in the window and you
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had to get buzzed in and that privacy I think
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served the artist far more than you know, whatever money
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is you could make from having a tour or doing
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things like that, because again, this was a creative sanctuary,
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not just for Jimmy Hendrix, but for Stevie Wonder, for
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led Zeppelin, for everybody else that came in there. Even today,
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I'm sure for somebody like Taylor Swift, who's you know,
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her fans want to know everything and where she is
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and doing all these things. The ability to go to
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a place like how to create your music without interruption,
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you know, free of all the normal distractions you have
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in your life. I think that's one of the things
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that continues to drive people to Electric Lady. You know
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your music will sound good there, but that's a single,
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unique atmosphere to create music. And I think that, you know,
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it was that way for Jimmy Hendrix, and I believe
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it is still presently that thinking for the current owners.
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Of course, his death came as such a shock to fans,
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but particularly to those who had been working with him
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and that crew. I mean that that became such a
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challenge for them right after his death because they had
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to keep Electric Lady alive while they were mourning. So
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describe that whole process and how difficult that was for
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those who loved him and worked with him and created
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this amazing, magical place.
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Exactly right.
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I mean, I think when Jimmy the idea was put
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forward to create the studio, Jimmy was the highest grossing
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touring act in the world. The experience where you know,
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at the top of their game, playing Madison, Square Guard
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and La four them, all these these places. You know,
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Jimmy had two albums in the top ten, you know,
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so at the same time simultaneously, so he was really
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on fire. Well, a couple months later, Noel leaves the band.
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Then there's many construction problems. Is the water that they
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encountered that was under a tributary of the river was
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under the studio and that flooded and they had to
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restart it and all of those things. So, you know,
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I think it's I think those challenges really, you know,
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toughened up that very small crew. They were committed to
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this process. Then when Jimmy passes, you know, again he
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had taken out a half million dollar loan and had
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already made the first fifty thousand dollars payment in August
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of that year of nineteen seventy, so he was he
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had put everything that he had into this thing, and
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they all felt that they knew it. They also knew that,
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you know, this dream, they had a real stake in it,
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so you know, to their credit, you know, just getting
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it started really with Carly Simon and then you know,
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ultimately Stevie Wonder was the act that I think in
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many ways saved the studio because he booked, you know,
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he cut you know, multiple albums there and really kind
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of replaced Jimmy in the sense of being the studio
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a client while Studio B was was was rented out
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to shorter term clients. So you know, led Zeppelin and
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others were early adopters of Electric Lady and were in
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there frequently. And I think, as as Linda Charlotte says
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in the film, you know, once the word got out
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that this was still a thriving place, it had that
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thing of you know, this cool thing of like, yeah, man,
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we cut that at Jimmy's studio, you know.
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So I do think that.
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That once artists of that caliber bought into what Jimmy
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had had had been trying to create, I think it
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resonated throughout the industry and with other artists, and I
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think still drives it today. People want that, they want
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that experience. Pardon the pun of being able to say, yeah,
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you know, we recorded down there Electric Lady.
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He was amazing.
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We only have a couple of minutes left. John McDermott,
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the director and producer of Electric Lady Studios at Jimmy
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Hendrix's vision. What was it like for you were there,
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what did you feel?
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Well? I really, I must say.
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We had a screening Thursday night and many of the
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people featured in the film were there and it was
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a really emotional thing for them, and I, you know,
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I was really touched by the fact that fifty plus
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years later, this is it's almost as if they went
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to war together. This is an indelible thing they share.
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And that really was wonderful to see, you know. I mean, yes,
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it's still used by artists today, and you know, it's
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still an ongoing business. But you can't help but look
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around and think two things. God, what this would have
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been had Jimmy lived. And I'm really proud of the
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fact that I stuck it out and helped this thing
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on two solid feed and walk forward. You see that.
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I think you sense it in the film when you
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hear the passion in which the participants all you know,
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all share no matter what their original role was in
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the studio, whether they were an assistant engineer, the studio manager,
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whatever that passion is, it's really equal throughout all of them.
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And I find I've always found that to be really compelling.
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Do you feel his spirit?
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Well?
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I think so.
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I mean, I think you do. But I think it's
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in some ways. I think it's it's the achievement that
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strikes me.
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You know.
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It's like when you think about Electric Lady Studios, you
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think about Jimi Hendrix. You for four years he built
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an incredible career in reputation, but just prior to that
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four year window, this is a guy that couldn't record
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his own music. People wouldn't give him a chance. It
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just he was just seen as, yeah, you just do that,
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go over there. He was one of those kind of guys,
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an extra an extra part, a tool to be used.
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I think here what's amazing is is that he, you know,
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despite his world reputation, and people know him as this
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you know, global icon. You know, that's a valid idea
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that's still working for other people today.
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Just like the way he approached the guitar inspires.
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People he never met, or you know, whose lives he
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never would have ever encountered. It's just fascinating that it
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also is there. It's more than just the music in
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a way, it was the it's the entirety of the
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vision that Hey, I see a way of doing something
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better and I want to pursue that, and today people
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are still doing that. That's a pretty amazing thing. I
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know it's a point of pride for the Hendricks family
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because they look at that as a as a lasting
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legacy of a different sort. It's just not like, yeah,
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that's the greatest guitar solo or that's the biggest crowd
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he ever played to. But yet, you know what, that
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idea that he had, it's still working and it's still
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inspiring people.
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It's pretty cool.
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Thank you so much, John McDermott, and again, Electric Lady
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Studios of Jimmy Hendrix's Vision is in theaters now and
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Electric Lady Studios still a working studio at fifty two
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West eighth Street in the village.
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You've been listening to Sunsteen sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
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of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
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three
