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The Thing The Wedding Present’s David Gedge Likes Best: Maida Vale

Gedgelogo1Over the course of a quarter of a century, Wedding Present and Cinerama auteur David Gedge has consistently documented the intricacies of interpersonal communication, mostly of the romantic kind. While currently writing new tunes in his tradition of celebrating romantic bliss and bemoaning lost love, Gedge is also revisiting some old flames. His label, Scopitones, last week released Live 1988, a double album of concert recordings from—you guessed it—1988, the second in a series of LPs collecting live cassettes that were sold at gigs and through their fanzine in the late ’80s. The band is also playing Bizarro, arguably the best Wedding Present effort, in its entirety during a tour that kicked off April 1 in San Diego. Gedge will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him and our 2005 career overview of the Wedding Present.

MaidaSTudio

Gedge: Maida Vale is a part of London, but what I’m talking about here is the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios complex, an extensive recording facility in West London which the BBC use to record live music. The place feels like a second home to me because I’ve been there countless times to record sessions for the likes of John Peel. It’s a fascinating building because it brings artists from vastly different genres together. You can have a hardcore-punk band recording in a room next to the BBC Symphony Orchestra. It’s a huge rabbit warren of corridors and studios, and people often get lost. In fact, in our early days, we used to play hide and seek in there. I was most recently at Maida Vale last year to rehearse for a festival in which someone from the Royal Academy of Music re-arranged several of my songs to be performed by the BBC Big Band.

Video after the jump.

One reply on “The Thing The Wedding Present’s David Gedge Likes Best: Maida Vale”

Gedge: THANK YOU! Maida Vale is, to me, one of these semi-legendary places I only know of from recordings made there that I treasure (along with others like Electric Lady Studios and Headley Grange).To hear a bit about this place is genuinely interesting, thoughtful, well-chosen. You’re a prince.

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