Here, ravaged by a hurricane, volcanic ash and years of decay, lie the ruins of AIR Montserrat studio, one of the most epochal recording studios in music history.
It was founded in 1979 by the famous English record producer, composer, conductor, and musician George Martin who fell in love with the Montserrat island and decided to build a superior, get-away-from-it-all recording studio here. And so he did, together with his business partners.
For more than a decade, the studio hosted the biggest names in the world of music. More than 70 albums were recorded there by the most prominent musicians of the time: Dire Straits (Brothers In Arms), The Police (Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity), Elton John (Too Low for Zero), The Rolling Stones (Steel Wheels), Jimmy Buffett (Volcano), Duran Duran (Rio), Ultravox, Lou Reed, Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and many others.
If the studio walls could talk, they would tell us a lot of stories. Here is one of them. Sting used to come to Montserrat island to go windsurfing. One evening he turned up at the studio. Dire Straits were there, working on “Money for Nothing”. Do you know that the songwriting credits for it are shared between Mark Knopfler and Sting? Well, yes they are. And it was there and then, at Montserrat studio, that Sting sang the famous line "I want my MTV". Whose idea it was remains unclear (the story varies depending on who is telling it), but the fact remains - the song features a guest appearance by Sting singing background vocals, providing both the signature falsetto introduction and backing chorus of "I want my MTV."
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo came and destroyed 90% of the island. The studio building and its equipment were badly damaged. George Martin decided not to repair, closed AIR Montserrat, found an empty church in Hampstead, north London, and created AIR Studios Lyndhurst. His love for the island never faded though. When a devastating volcanic eruption hit the island and destroyed whatever was left after the hurricane, George Martin’s fundraising efforts went a long way to put the island back on its feet.
Sadly, the abandoned studio buildings have been neglected and fallen into dereliction. In 2011, an American archaeology team surveyed the ruins. “The contrast between the vibrant video recordings of musicians previously working and playing in these spaces and the current state of silence and utter dereliction was shocking”, they wrote. “The door to the recording studio hanging off its hinges and engulfed in tropical overgrowth, many rooms partially flooded, roofs and floors sagging and rotting, the pool full of sludge, and volcanic ash blowing everywhere.”
As of 2021, the walls were still standing, but the roofs and floors were failing. The facility was closed to the public for safety reasons.
There is a documentary about the legendary studio, called “Under the Volcano”, made by Australian filmmaker Gracie Otto (
https://youtu.be/e2WEQuEfc9Q)
