Chuck Ainlay interview

[koobaa]

Here is a very recent Chuck Ainlay interview with a few interesting MK stories on recording and producing OES and solo albums.



The MK bit starts at around 18:50.

[quizzaciously]

Lol all these MK stories never fail to put a huge smile on my face. Chuck is the GOAT (the greatest of all time). His recordings of Mark's music sound great on anything from an iron or a smart fridge to the highest-end equipment imaginable. Truly a master of producing an incredibly sounding record.

[the visitor]

Good interview,  listened to the first bit on OES so far.  Very interesting that Chuck mentions that the first thing he did was 'to have the drummer that was on the last tour " lay tracks during the first week. But he had to say this wasn't working and after the weekend the drummer had been fired by the band.  He's not named, but could this be Terry?  I've never heard him named before in relation to OES but this would make a lot of sense as to why he then doesn't feature on the tour.

[schmonka]

Kind of makes you wonder why "Terry" and the OES album didn't gel?  Actual Terry smashed a number of albums and tours and on paper/live seemed a good fit...?

[hunter]

Amazing interview. Thank you.

[dustyvalentino]

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[Jules]

Good interview,  listened to the first bit on OES so far.  Very interesting that Chuck mentions that the first thing he did was 'to have the drummer that was on the last tour " lay tracks during the first week. But he had to say this wasn't working and after the weekend the drummer had been fired by the band.  He's not named, but could this be Terry?  I've never heard him named before in relation to OES but this would make a lot of sense as to why he then doesn't feature on the tour.

Maybe he was talking about the BIA recordings for any reason? Terry never got to record a thing for OES, as far as I know, he told once he knew DS were back by the press...

EDIT: Yeah, Chuck really says he spent a week recording the drummer that did the last tour, how strange... Because I also understand that he says Bill Schnee recorded Jeff Porcaro before he got to the recording sessions so, why someone would call Terry Williams when you had Jeff Porcaro playing drums before? We know that they called Manu Katché for a couple of tracks after Jeff.

[hunter]

Love the anecdote about Mark and Chuck returning to AIR Studios from the pub, only to find the studio assistants playing on Mark's guitars. "You've got to deal with this", and then Mark left 

[Jules]

Someone asked Guy:

Q:Dear Doc: I got to watch a long interview with Chuck Ainlay. Seems like a great guy and it is a very amusing chat with him. Great stories and kind words for Your Docness. He says that the very first thing he had to do with Dire Straits was to record some OES tracks in London with the drummer ‘who was with them in their last tour (I’m assuming that was BIA tour and he was talking about Terry). He says that it didn’t work out and so the drummer had to be dismissed. First time that anybody ever heard about TW involvement in OES whatsoever. Is this accurate? Thanks a lot

A:Yes. That was when we pulled in Jeff Porcaro.


I'm actually surprised for this, I always heard and for as far as I recall, that Terry never got to be involved in OES.

I'm also surprised that Terry wasn't considered for the tour. They knew from the BIA recordings that Terry wasn't the best for studio work but a beast for live playing. I guess when they hired Terry it wasn't in good terms and that's why they didn't asked Terry to go back for the tour.

[dustyvalentino]

Someone asked Guy:

Q:Dear Doc: I got to watch a long interview with Chuck Ainlay. Seems like a great guy and it is a very amusing chat with him. Great stories and kind words for Your Docness. He says that the very first thing he had to do with Dire Straits was to record some OES tracks in London with the drummer ‘who was with them in their last tour (I’m assuming that was BIA tour and he was talking about Terry). He says that it didn’t work out and so the drummer had to be dismissed. First time that anybody ever heard about TW involvement in OES whatsoever. Is this accurate? Thanks a lot

A:Yes. That was when we pulled in Jeff Porcaro.


I'm actually surprised for this, I always heard and for as far as I recall, that Terry never got to be involved in OES.

I'm also surprised that Terry wasn't considered for the tour. They knew from the BIA recordings that Terry wasn't the best for studio work but a beast for live playing. I guess when they hired Terry it wasn't in good terms and that's why they didn't asked Terry to go back for the tour.

Must have been humiliating for Terry to be fired AGAIN, for the second successive DS album. Even if they asked him to play the tour who could blame him if he told them to get stuffed.

Terry's not some sort of chump in the studio, he's played on lots of great records.

[hunter]

I'm surprised they even considered Terry. The songs on OES require a lot of finesse and subtlety, of which Terry, as it appears, is not the master of. Plus, if he was semi-retired at that point and hadn't played much since the Mandela show, then the whole thing is even stranger.

[Dutchessy]

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Was there an issue with the forum?

[dustyvalentino]

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Was there an issue with the forum?

Kooba reported the thread being locked, not sure what happened but all seems to be working now.

Thanks to Kooba for sharing, this was excellent.

[Kris-b]

Just looked in the DS information letters, Terry had to go because „things didn‘t work out musically“

[Rolo]

After this Terry new information people will say:
Wow! Chris Witten is a hell of a drummer!

PS: I like Chris playng drums for DS