Fact #115014
When:
Short story:
Hotlegs release their debut single, Neanderthal Man, in the UK. The song will hit No2 in the UK, but the group will find much greater success when re-launched as 10cc.
Full article:
Eric Stewart (Hotlegs / 10cc) : During the early to mid-'60s, the studio was where the musicians were and the control room was always hallowed ground. You were never allowed in there. 'No, no, no, boys. We'll let you come and hear the mix when it's finished.' I'd go in and thrill to the sound - and I thought to myself, 'I've got to get my hands on one of these.' It was a dream, but I knew I'd get a place eventually.
We got the local bank to loan us some money to rent the premises and buy the gear (for the band's own studio, Strawberry Studios). The Ampex was installed and the first thing we recorded will be on my bloody gravestone. It was an instrumental called Neanderthal Man.
Basically, I was experimenting to see how many drum tracks we could squeeze onto the Ampex's four tracks, and I was in there doing it with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Not a group really, nothing at that point in time; just a bunch of musicians messing around. Well, to keep Kevin in time on the drums, Lol just sat near him on a stool, off mic, and sang 'I'm a Neanderthal man, you're a Neanderthal girl, let's make Neanderthal love in this Neanderthal world.'
When we got four tracks of this thing down, Lol's little vocal in the background of each drum track began to sound like a distant chant, and there was something very hypnotic about it. Dick Leahy came into our studio, just after our experiment, to do a demo with Mary Hopkin. He used to be one of the A&R guys at Phonogram when I was with the Mindbenders and I knew him quite well so, when he asked, 'What have you guys been doing recently?' I said, 'No songs yet, but have a listen to this. It's an instrumental.'
And I played him Neanderthal Man. Well, he nearly fell off his chair and said 'Jesus Christ, that is a smash! I'll buy it now. I will do you a deal right this minute.' So, he offered us a very good deal and we got a number two record out of it.
We added a Moog solo and a few more percussive things, but it was still just a studio experiment that ended up giving us some more, much-needed money with which we could buy our first 'professional' piano-styled Helios desk, designed by Dick Swettenham, as well as upgrading to an eight-track, one-inch Scully tape machine.
(Source : https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-10cc-not-love)
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We got the local bank to loan us some money to rent the premises and buy the gear (for the band's own studio, Strawberry Studios). The Ampex was installed and the first thing we recorded will be on my bloody gravestone. It was an instrumental called Neanderthal Man.
Basically, I was experimenting to see how many drum tracks we could squeeze onto the Ampex's four tracks, and I was in there doing it with Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Not a group really, nothing at that point in time; just a bunch of musicians messing around. Well, to keep Kevin in time on the drums, Lol just sat near him on a stool, off mic, and sang 'I'm a Neanderthal man, you're a Neanderthal girl, let's make Neanderthal love in this Neanderthal world.'
When we got four tracks of this thing down, Lol's little vocal in the background of each drum track began to sound like a distant chant, and there was something very hypnotic about it. Dick Leahy came into our studio, just after our experiment, to do a demo with Mary Hopkin. He used to be one of the A&R guys at Phonogram when I was with the Mindbenders and I knew him quite well so, when he asked, 'What have you guys been doing recently?' I said, 'No songs yet, but have a listen to this. It's an instrumental.'
And I played him Neanderthal Man. Well, he nearly fell off his chair and said 'Jesus Christ, that is a smash! I'll buy it now. I will do you a deal right this minute.' So, he offered us a very good deal and we got a number two record out of it.
We added a Moog solo and a few more percussive things, but it was still just a studio experiment that ended up giving us some more, much-needed money with which we could buy our first 'professional' piano-styled Helios desk, designed by Dick Swettenham, as well as upgrading to an eight-track, one-inch Scully tape machine.
(Source : https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-10cc-not-love)