aaamusic | On 03, May 2015

A very exciting music project is due to start soon at The Chiltern Open Air Museum. Their plan is to recreate the famous Jackson Studios, originally used in the 50s by legendary DJ Jack Jackson for the BBC and ITV. From the 60s his two sons also managed it as one of the UK’s first independent recording studios. Iconic artists who recorded there included Elton John, Motorhead, Ian Dury, Dr Feelgood, Tom Robinson and Eddie and the Hotrods. Interviewer Anthony Weightman chatted to Museum Director Sue Shave and Campaign Officer Tom Pearce about the project.

Anthony Weightman: I believe that the museum’s general aim is to tell the history of the Chilterns through its buildings, landscapes and culture, so that present and future generations can learn, enjoy and be inspired.

Sue Shave: Yes, the museum was formed by a group of volunteers from the Chiltern Society a few years ago. They were really concerned with the loss of vernacular buildings from the landscape at a time when new buildings were springing up in the 70s and 80s. When formed, the aim was to save the buildings, bring them back, put them in a store and put them up again so future generations could enjoy the landscapes and the very unique buildings that come from The Chilterns. The museum today has 33 buildings up with another 14 still in store. We’re offered buildings quite a lot. Our role now is to interpret the many buildings we have re-erected, to show what the lives were like for the people who lived in them and the surrounding landscapes and what they would have looked like. We have animals here to demonstrate what farms would have looked like in the past. That’s the mission of the museum so that people can learn about their past and engage with it, particularly looking at the history of The Chilterns.

Anthony Weightman: Hopefully the buildings in storage are not decaying too fast. 

Sue Shave: Well, the Maple Cross building is a brick building. Many of them are flat packed in a very large World War I building. We’re using our traditional buildings as stores as well. But, it is an issue. Some buildings, particularly timber framed ones, don’t necessarily wear with time very well. We’re a charity. We have no money to put these buildings back up and that’s what our crowdfunding is all about. Getting the money to make sure these wonderful buildings are not lost and destroyed.

Anthony Weightman: I believe you have a very specific dream that a special pile of bricks is rescued, reassembled and bought back to life long term to become an important piece of architectural music history. 

Sue Shave: Yes, this is a very special building. It came from 5 minutes down the road from where we sit. The grand daughers of Jack Jackson are still alive and the sons live locally and work in the music industry. We have contact with that family and the history at our fingertips. This is such a unique project. We’re really keen to see that building go back up and for that international music history to be experienced by a new audience who haven’t perhaps thought they would be interested in a museum like this. You’re actually reaching out into people’s lives.

Tom Pearce: The Chilterns is such an eclectic area. On the one hand you have High Wycombe, but also small hamlets like Henton. The really interesting thing with Jackson Studios is it represents the music industry’s contribution to British heritage in The Chilterns, which is very under represented. You can go to Madame Tussauds and see the waxworks bands, but you can come here and see where it was made. These unsung heroes made amazing iconic sounds: Dr Feelgood, Tom Robinson and Ian Dury. All of these new wave sounds that were cutting edge stuff. The tail end of punk into the new wave stuff was really amazing. We’ve got that down our little lane and we want to build it for people to see.

Anthony Weightman: I understand that you began a 60 day crowdfunding campaign on 28th March, 2015 where people can sponsor a studio brick to help raise £7,000 for an initial heritage report and plan.

Tom Pearce: Crowdfunding is a really important part of this project. It’s a brilliant way to raise money and an even better way to get people on board. It’s about creating a buzz. It’s about collective memory. It’s about getting people down here to be part of the project. I’m happy to work here because it’s a real hub for the community. If we can attach communities together, it’ll be brilliant. Crowdfunding is about getting that excitement going.

Sue Shave: Putting up historic buildings, particularly one with such an important history, doesn’t happen overnight. This is part of a much bigger strategy of how this is going to take place over a number of years. To start with we need initial seed funding because there’s an awful lot of preparation to be done, from sorting out the materials you’re using to looking at costings in order to get much bigger amounts of money. We’re probably talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds in order to complete a project like this.

Anthony Weightman: I understand the total rebuild cost of the studio over the years could be up to £1 million.

Sue Shave: It could be. The problem is that until that process of doing the preparation work is done, we really don’t know exactly what it’s going to cost. We know, from past experience, that it’s going to be hundreds of thousands of pounds. This is why the crowdfunding is absolutely essential.

Anthony Weightman: I believe that this summer there’s a VIP Pimms Jackson Studios Revisited celebration where the more a person contributes, the bigger the part they play. 

Sue Shave: Yes, that’s right. It’s on the back of one of our other events, the Arts Fest, where a lot of community artists come along with hugely varied media. We thought that would be a good backdrop to have. You can imagine it in the evening. To understand what we’re trying to do and also the magic of this place.

Anthony Weightman: Am I right that the plan is a studio which will be of interest to music fans, children and groups of all ages so they can learn, rehearse, record and present live community concerts? 

Tom Pearce: It’s a definite possibility. That’s the real excitement for me personally. Getting the local talent in with the possibility of recreating the Jackson Studio sound. It was brilliant for a ‘dead sound’. It was heavily insulated and it created the sound that artists like Dr Feelgood liked. These old sounds which are becoming rather fashionable again. People are really interested in how music is made.

Sue Shave: It’s not only about recreating what it was like at the time, that unsung and unheard music. The principles of what they stood for at the time should now be relevant to people’s lives today. Everyone has creativity and that opportunity to explore and experiment with music. This is about technology and how it changes. We’ve collected some of the appropriate analogue recording equipment and we need more.

Anthony Weightman: The building dates back to 1745 when it was an agricultural building, so there’s a 270 year history. One conservation theory is that a building should reflect all the eras through which it has passed. In practice, if you try to do this, does it result in a lot of controversy about priorities? 

Sue Shave: That’s a really interested question and it’s one we’ve dealt with since we began putting buildings up. A lot of buildings have been altered since their original phase and quite a lot of material has been replaced. I think it’s very difficult to show a building going through all its phases of history. What is the USP of Jackson Studios? What is important is the 1960s onwards when all this incredible history was going on. That’s why people will come, from all over the world.

Anthony Weightman: I understand that Michael Winner directed the music film Climb Up The Wall made at the studios in 1960, featuring Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers. I noticed that Russ Conway playing ‘Lucky Five’ in the film is on YouTube. Does YouTube work well for the museum as a useful online source of information?

Sue Shave: I’d say it does. There’s some fantastic stuff on our YouTube channel. The videos about this project and also our volunteers, professionally produced. Talking about the essence and the magic of the museum. It’s a great way of reaching out. My son, who is 18, thinks we’re very cool because we have this channel.

Anthony Weightman: I thought the memory of Elton John recording with Bluesology in the 1960s was quite interesting because that was the first professional group he was member of. In a sense the studio is part of the beginning of his era. 

Tom Pearce: I completely agree. I think that Jackson Studios have constantly been the springboard for acts like this. Again, it’s a unique selling point. These unsung heroes need to be represented more.

Anthony Weightman: Down by the Jetty, the hugely influential debut album by Dr. Feelgood, was recorded at the studio. It was mainly composed by Wilko Johnson who’s recently had radical surgery to successfully fight pancreatic cancer and he’s now touring again. Considering his talent and survival, I suppose you could say that his personal story might be one of the most remarkable associated with the studio. 

Tom Pearce: Yes, I completely agree.

Sue Shave: We had a couple of fundraising concerts organised. Wilko was due to appear last year, but with things being as they were then, his publicist had to reluctantly cancel it. He had been so interested in what we were doing here, that he wanted to come. We heard, a few months later, that actually he was doing incredibly well. 

Anthony Weightman: Much of the charm of your museum lies in the fact that there’s an enormous variety to the existing 33 rescued buildings. They’re very different in size, shape, material and purpose. Some people in rural areas tend to worry about the reverse situation where modern buildings which look identical and lack individuality are constructed and put together in a group. They feel it just doesn’t look right. They’re concerned about what they see as suburbanisation of the countryside. Do you have a view on this?

Sue Shave: Well, we’re interested in historic buildings. That’s what we’re about. We don’t get involved in present day building creations or planning. It’s not something within our remit at all.

Anthony Weightman: I was amused by the Jackson brothers story about Dave Robinson from Stiff Records who had a reputation for being daring and flamboyant. He released a blank album entitled The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Regan and succeeded in selling 30,000 copies. Personally, I love quirky stories like this about the world of music. Do you think they’re important in making a visit memorable?

Tom Pearce: Definitely. That’s a complete prime example. Jack Jackson himself was one of these quirky characters. He worked as a trumpet player in big brass bands, orchestras, dance programmes and cruise ships, yet he still had this drive to find new music. What an eclectic man!

Anthony Weightman: How do people get in touch with Jackson Studios Revisited?

Tom Pearce: Please call (01494 871117).We’re also on Twitter @jackson_studios, Facebook at Jackson Recording Studios and on our website at http://www.coam.org.uk/jackson-studios/