Squid

Near The Westway

At 5pm on Wednesday 7th April, Squid are set to take part in an exciting and extraordinary live to vinyl recording challenge. The Bristol experimental band will be recording two new songs onto a two track EP, live and direct to vinyl at Metropolis Studios -and BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq show is giving fans the chance to listen in on this unique live performance. Recording ‘live to vinyl’ is the original process that artists used to record music for public consumption. There’s no modern technology, it’s simply playing and recording the songs in one take. In today’s digital age, the art of capturing music live to vinyl has long been forgotten, but Metropolis have recreated the experience using their unique cutting lathes. Part of the magic of recording music live to vinyl in this way is that Squid must get it right first time. Throw in the added pressure of an audience listening live at home via BBC 6 Music, this is a recording moment unlike any other in recent history. This special event is taking place as part of this year’s Record Store Day launch celebrations. Once recorded, these live tracks are set to be fast tracked onto the presses by Sound Performance and fans will be able to get a copy on 12” vinyl exclusively from independent record stores on Saturday 17th July. Arthur from Squid, said ahead of the recordings “We’ve been busying ourselves away on some scores, arranging orchestral versions of two of our favourite tracks from Bright Green Field. The process is the same as ever, starting off with no clue of what we’re doing, stumbling along together, each inputting our ideas into the music until it starts to take shape. We're so excited and also quite terrified to release this little gem for Record Store Day 2021.” Not only does the live radio broadcast of this event make this an unparalleled moment in recording history, but the studio and band are also navigating extraordinary social distancing measures due to COVID-19. Gavin Newman, from Metropolis Studios said ““as you would expect, Metropolis has had to go above and beyond Covid protocols over the last 12 months in order to operate effectively and support our incredible roster of clients. Being able to provide that safe platform from which artists can create, perform and broadcast has been overwhelming. We sincerely hope that this live to vinyl experience with our friends at RSD, Warp Records, Sound Performance and BBC 6 Music will help kickstart the wider live community with a newfound confidence for the year ahead".