STUDIO CATS
KEN SHARP: Can you talk about how the band changed so much from
Decca to Immediate? Did you guys enjoy the innovation and experimentation
that more studio time allowed?
IAN MCLAGAN: Well, as Ronnie Lane said in that Kent Benjamin
piece, "...we could have as much studio as you wanted,"
as if studio were something you could hand around "...here's
some studio...." But we were given a free reign with Andrew.
He at least, I mean he stole from us, but he let us get our head
in the studio. Arden was like, in and out, fuck it -- we were
given like three days to finish an album.
KEN SHARP: Did you guys prefer being in a studio to playing live?
IAN MCLAGAN: No, but it opened -- it was another side of us that
we hadn't been able to explore, so now we could check it out a
bit, and that was alot of fun. But of course, see Arden had pushed
us and pushed us and pushed us like a good old fashioned manager.
Whereas Oldham was more, here was a guy wearing a caftan and smoking
a joint, you know, he though he was one of the Mamas and Papas
in San Francisco which didn't interest me in the slightest. But
it was cool in that way that he gave us room. But he didn't force
us out on the road so we played less and became less of a band,
and became more of a studio band which was a shame, you know?
KEN SHARP: What did Andrew provide as a producer?
IAN MCLAGAN: Dope. That's about it. We never allowed him in the
studio. None of 'em, fuck no, it was the four of us. It was total
bullshit; he had nothin' to do with it! The Andrew Oldham Orchestra,
did you ever hear of that? He was there with a caftan and a joint.
He didn't provide no arrangement, he wouldn't know how to produce
a fucking paper bag.
STEVE MARRIOTT: I liked Andrew's flair -- we all did, thought
it was great. He had a lot of style. They wanted us involved with
all their artists -- wanted us to produce for artists, write for
artists, the whole thing, you know. So, like at least we were
involved with it (Immediate). We came in very handy, but I can't
slag Andrew. He was a very nice man, really. He had his moments,
we all did. I think Tony Calder ran that company, him and the
massed bands of Tasmanian accountants. Too many accountants. And
Tony Calder was basically running it -- I don't think Andrew knew
what was going on, he knew up to a point, but only up to a point.
Don't think he really wanted to know. Sort of hid from it. Then
everybody did a runner -- zoom! Men overboard.
Immediate folded. Andrew told me about it about a month before,
which was nice of him. He said, "Get out now. It's going
to go down. I release you of your contract." I didn't believe
it at the time, but it folded about a month later. Andrew was
sick of it all. Once all the accountants had move in his idea
of running a little bastard record company, as he liked to call
it, disintegrated. It was getting to be quite a major. Then it
was out of his hands. All of a sudden it was a company, and he
hadn't got the strength to run one like Chris Blackwell had.
