You’d hardly know it was there. Unprepossessing, you might call it. A converted workshop in a tiny alleyway in suburban Islington, Pathway Studios promises a ‘small and busy’ space for up to eight musicians. There’s a square room the size of a modest kitchenette. And, at six-and-a-half feet wide, a control booth that’s positively Lilliputian by comparison.
It’s late September 1976 and shoehorned inside are four young upstarts from London, a producer still in the midst of learning the ropes and a modest tangle of recording gear. Newly signed to Stiff Records – the pioneering indie label set up Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson – The Damned have just finished cutting their debut single, a startling shot of pure adrenalin called New Rose.
