Catch 44 Studio, Godalming

Catch 44 Studio in Godalming was run by brothers, Gregg Vincent Skerman and younger brother Guy Adam Skerman, both founding members of Post War Nudes; in later years the studio was acquired and manned by Tim Pollard and Mike Burns.

Gregg was playing guitar and singing in a local band who recorded four tracks around ’77/’78 at Nigel Gray’s Surrey Sound Studios, Leatherhead with Chris Gray and got hooked on the recording process. Guy, meanwhile, briefly worked at this same studio, as a tape operator, and learned about mixing desk wiring. This led to Guy working on a couple of Roogalator sessions and Joan Armatrading demos; while Nigel Gray worked on The Police’s first album in the converted village hall’s auditorium.

In late ’78, early ’79, the brothers built Catch 44 Studios, one of the first 8 track demo studios at 44 Bridge St, Godalming; now The WEY Gallery, having bought the gear from a member of Cliff Richard’s band, because Godalming was cheaper than London. They lived above the studio and recorded an assortment of demos over the next three years for local bands, including Push Me Pull You, Three Words are Mine, The Pookah Makes 3, etc.

Pictures Like This recorded their favorite live tracks to demo cassette at Catch 44, including “Waste“, “A Night’s Vendetta“, “Home Comforts” and “I’m Special“. The demo session led to an immediate record deal from Bath based TW Records and the subsequent release of their first, and only single “A Night’s Vendetta” in ’82.

Regrettably, all the early Catch 44 archive tapes were stolen in a burglary…who else put down their vibe at the studio is lost. The brothers sold Catch 44 Studios to musicians from Dorking in ’83 and built a 16-track studio in a loft they shared with the photographer Ian Mckell, at 15 Westland Place, London – Currently, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant is on the ground floor.

Sometime in ’83, The new owners of Catch 44, Pollard and Burns played bass and drums respectively on two tracks recorded for Basingstoke based The Penguins, comprised of Tim Naylor of Controls (guitar, percussion, synth), Andi Harris (vocals), and Delta Del (guitar) over a weekend; an original track titled “Any Minute Now” and a cover of Jacky’s “White Horses” from ’68. Formerly known as The Recs, Cacophany Again recorded a demo tape in late ’83 that featured “Squares of the City”. Aldershot based R&B band, Boogie Chillen, recorded the ‘Hard Lines’ mini LP / maxi EP at the Godalming studio and released it in February ’84.

Through ’84, Kalibre rehearsed in the small studio space of Catch 44 and recall meeting Liza Goddard, the wife of Alvin Stardust who also used Catch 44 Studios facilities at the time. The band recorded an EP demo cassette of original material there, which did the rounds of local venues, securing a number of bookings. A copy was also sent to national press, and Melody Maker printed a review that included the line ‘masturbatory lyrics and guitar’. Draper/Lawther also laid down “Bring Back the Love in Your Eyes”, “Lonely Man”, “Why Don’t You tell Me (You Love Me)”, and “Shades of Chinnichap” there in early ’84 with Pollard and Burns covering the instruments the songwriters couldn’t.

In the Spring of ’85, This Breed of Heroes recorded there. That same year The Housemartins and Body Politic laid down “Flag Day” and “Imogen´s Party” respectively, for the Leatherhead’s Riverside Club compilation “Laughing All the Way to the Bank”. As The Housemartins were wrapping up, Industrial Function entered to record their cassette LP. Another band in Catch 44 that year were The Flying Tigers (MkII), who taped a demo. In May ’85, the Milky Bar Kids hit Catch 44 to record an EP cassette; after which they renamed as The 68 Floods. On 23 June ’85, with an updated line up Boogie Chillen returned to Catch 44 and recorded the self-released cassette EP ‘Sunglasses After Dark’ later that year.

Paying £8/hour, Kamaleon spent 11 hours in November ’86 in Catch 44 leaving with an Ampex mastering tape for an extra £1. Flow Motion recorded their first two demos there, Five O’Clock High their first ‘proper’ demo, and Just So Stories did the same. Another artist known to have ventured into Catch 44 is Michael “Little Mick” Taylor.

Outside and after Catch 44, Gregg recorded an LP demo for Birmingham’s Diamond Head and met Art Hammer, later called Towering Inferno, sometime in ’82. Later he was the engineer on recordings with Jah Foundation and Dub Judah; This Heat‘s, Charles Bullen and Art Hammer, working towards the first Towering Inferno Album, ‘Kaddish‘. He now lives and works in Zürich as a re-recording mixer for film; and I designed a Dolby Atmos Studio for the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK), taught sound for Fine Art and Sound for Film as well as writing film music and many art/music collaborations.

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