Drew Arnott Explains How Strange Advances, World’s Away, Came to Be

Recording our first album for Capitol Records was an amazing experience. Starting from Little Mt. Sound, Vancouver’s premiere recording studio, which in addition to excellent gear and great sounding rooms, had a kitchen with a cook! We were living like kings.

It was a legendary recording session. First, Bruce Fairbairn producing. He had already made a name for himself having produced records for Prism and Loverboy. He came complete with star engineer (soon to be an equally great producer) Bob Rock ( Metallica, Motley Crue etc) with Mike Fraser assisting, who also went on to become a great producer/mixer ( AC/DC, Franz Ferdinand etc). We were one of the first bands to tie their two 24 track machines together (Sister Radio was a very big song!)

When Little Mt. wasn’t available, we went to another legendary Vancouver studio, Mushroom Studios, where Heart recorded ‘Dreamboat Annie’ with the help of my Mellotron which I rented them. We worked with Dave Ogilvie there (Skinny Puppy, Marilyn Manson etc) in the most comfortable studio ever.

Paul Dean from Loverboy came in to add a guitar solo, Bryan Adams popped in to add some backing vocals and Jim McCullough (Sweeney Todd, Nick Gilder) added some guitar parts. It was a wonderful opportunity for a young guy to learn at the feet of the masters! A favourite memory is the sound of my drums being recorded in the loading bay of Little Mt.. Big sound!

It was the best possible introduction to the world of making records. Fortunately, people liked the record and we were allowed to continue recording. Thanks to all the fans who went along with us on this trip. Couldn’t have done it without you!

Drew Arnott, Strange Advance