The Warren: New studio searching for unsigned talent
Owned under a previous guise by the infamous Fat White Family, The Warren is a recording studio in Attercliffe that functions as headquarters for production duo Jack Howorth and Stephen Harrison. We spoke to Jack to find out why the facility is fast becoming the go-to place for new talent in South Yorkshire.
Tell us a bit about The Warren.
I set up The Warren around February 2019. I pretty quickly realised that in order to run it properly I couldn't do it alone and asked around town for the best producers, and Stephen Harrison was suggested. When we first met we realised we had wildly different production styles which caused some initial conflict, but nearly a year in and we are a fully functioning production duo.
We take pride in taking every decision seriously when we're producing records
The idea behind The Warren is to allow anyone to get a truly professional production experience. We're hearing a lot of recordings with the same drum samples and people just pressing record and calling themselves producers. At The Warren we're constantly striving for creativity to be the focus. We take pride in taking every decision seriously when we're producing records. We try to leave no stone unturned. Under some of those stones is ugliness and arguments, under others there is gold.
How did you get your hands on the Fat Whites' old studio?
I was one of the engineers on Serfs Up, the new Fat White Family record. When I initially started working with them the idea was that I continued running ChampZone (as it was called then) when they left town. Me and Nathan from the Fat Whites continued running ChampZone as a business for nearly a year after we finished recording Serfs Up but unfortunately it just couldn't continue like that forever.
I decided to keep it on under my own name. Essentially it's the same studio with me still at the helm as I was before, but it's no longer under Fat White Family management. They're still friends of mine, and Saul and Nathan are coming to work at The Warren on a couple of different projects in 2020.
Tell us about some of the artists you're working with.
My favourites are No Teeth from Newcastle and The Richard Carlson Band from Manchester. For Stephen it's Sheffield's Cora Pearl and The Rooves from Chesterfield.
We just want unique ideas from interesting people
We're looking for unique artists and bands of any genre who are interested in development and have a creative spark. No Teeth are really noisy, Richard Carlson are dark and brooding. We have made low-key electronica with guitar-based Cora Pearl and what The Rooves have been working on is such an eclectic pop record it would take a long time to list all of the genres it touches on.
We just want unique ideas from interesting people. Whether its pop, experimental, jazz or rock, we're looking for new ideas and open minds.
What's the future of the studio?
In 2019 we recorded a lot but not much of that has been released yet. Bands are slow, labels are even slower. All the behind the scenes work we've been doing in 2019 should start to show in 2020. We have several EPs and albums which are nearly ready to release. We are looking for you to come and make our 2020 as rewarding as 2019 was for us!
Sam Gregory
Contact The Warren studio at: thewarrenstudios@gmail.com
