A few years before he passed, Elliott Smith bought a recording studio in Van Nuys, California. He poured his heart and soul into the place - buying vintage analogue equipment and staying in there for weeks at a time to try and fix it. He called the studio New Monkey because, it is said, this big new commitment was like a monkey on his back.
In this special episode, we speak to the three guys who now run New Monkey Studio. Robert Cappadonna and Joel Graves - who bought the studio from Elliott's family in 2004 - and Greg Cortez, who has been working with the pair since 2009.
We begin with, what else, a discussion of Greg's favourite Elliott Smith song, before discussing some of the studio's history, the guests who've visited and how it's doing now with Robert and Joel.
They are doing a great job building on Elliott's legacy, so it was such a privilege to be able to speak to them. They were also kind enough to master this episode on Elliott's old console.
Things to look at/listen to:
New Monkey Studio website: http://newmonkeystudio.com
Everything Reminds Me of Her on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3nkdVXnH4xC6f3YZS0C8pC?si=26QKiCxpQCaUC0vSvuuF3g
New Monkey (the song) from New Moon: https://open.spotify.com/track/257KKUjp1uISAGG3000M8W?si=tRi7a_8vSsecfzXStDTZIA
A nice interview with Robert and Joel from 2006: http://articles.latimes.com/2006/feb/01/entertainment/et-monkey1
My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is produced by Rob Comba and Elizabeth Withstandley. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @MyFavESmithSong.
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