Hear the name Abbey Road and you think of The Beatles – but a Glasgow band could soon also spring to mind as being among the last groups to record in the legendary studio.
Sonny Marvello, who all grew up in the same Castlemilk street, have released a limited edition red vinyl record featuring the double a-sides Easy Boys and We’re All Cruel, which was made using the same recording machines that gave albums such as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band their distinctive sound.
EMI, the label which owns Abbey Road, recently announced plans to “revitalize” it, sparking fears the building could end up a museum.
Stephen Farrell, the band’s lead singer said: “It’s a cool thing to have done. We thought why not get the best?
“It’s a childhood dream to see our name on a record, so it was great to see that, but also amazing to see the words Abbey Road on it. Considering the amount Abbey Road’s been in the news recently, it was fantastic timing.”
He added: “We’re all huge fans of The Beatles and we discovered you could send your tracks to Abbey Road studios to get mastered. So thanks to technology, our songs that were written and rehearsed in Castlemilk and recorded in Glasgow somehow made it to Abbey Road.”
They launched the record – which the band are so pleased with they claimed it would make a “great ornament” – at Stereo last Saturday.
The night was one of the only normal ones the band – Farrell, Mike Walker on keyboards, Craig Douglas on bass, Michael Bryans on drums and Mick Caldwell on guitar – have ever staged.
Previous gigs have been so secret that fans were blindfolded and led to a secret location, where men in masks and capes danced around the room. At the end of the nights, which were called Shhhh!, fans were blindfolded again and bussed off back to reality.
Farrell said: “We put an ad in the Evening Times and asked if people wanted to come to George Square, put a blindfold on and be led off to a secret location. Loads of people turned up.”
They played the same trick on the owner of Glasgow label Metropolicana Records, who agreed to put out their music after seeing the secret show.
The label then paid to fly the band over to New York, where they took part in city-wide competition, Meany Fest.
But Farrell said: “We had nowhere to stay. So we landed in New York, had a crisis meeting in a pub, got talking to a barmaid and ended up staying on their floor. We won Best International Band and then paraded around New York like kings.”
They put their success down to early encouragement from Castlemilk Youth Centre, which was the first place they plugged their electric guitars into amplifiers and realised what they wanted to do.
“We still use the Youth Centre for rehearsals,” added Farrell. “There has been a lot of press about kids not having places to go or things to do, so they turn to drink and drugs. But most areas have youth groups or sports facilities.”
It was at the centre that they decided to use the name Sonny Marvello, a famous illusionist who sent a Paris audience into a trance then robbed them of all their money.
Glasgow’s Sonny Marvello don’t want to rob you – but do want you to buy their shiny red single.
- For more details, visit www.myspace.com/sonnymarvello
