“It's painfully sad to hear of Paul 'Machiavelli' Roberts' death. I spent a large percentage of my formative years at Drone and knew Paul, his wife Pam and their son Joe well.
Drone was originally an 8 Track. From what I can recall, Magazine used it as a rehearsal room and the money from that went towards setting up the studio.
I recorded a demo there with my band when I was 15 years old. "We make you sound like Pop Star" was Paul's pseudo-Mexican strapline. Along with 'Rick Paraffin' there was also the West County's very own 'professional pervert'. Seymour Scrotum.
As for bands that recorded there, the list is slighly more impressive that the tags would reveal.
Smack's 'Edward Fox' (a John Peel favourite) was recorded there.
The Boy with the Thorn in his Side was recorded at Drone. Lisa Stansfield got her record deal with demos recorded there. Simply Red, 52nd Street, Marcel King, Swing Out Sister all recorded at Drone (in fact I think some of that list got deals off the back of the demos).
Drone upgraded to 16 track in December 1984. I only know this as I was the first person to record a demo with the new setup!
After I went off to University Paul and I lost touch, although I did see him in about 1989 with a view to doing some more recording there. I also saw him shortly afterwards in the Royal Oak looking the worse for wear.
I'd be grateful if anyone is able to throw any light on what happened after that...
Drone was a VERY important studio for Manchester music, make no mistake.”
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I saw the Spurtz play Festival '80 at the Squat on Devas Street, with the Hoax (featuring a very young Mike Joyce) headlining.
Happy days.”