The Valve and Wizard Recording Studio Cape Town South Africa

JIA

23 January 2009 UK Accoustic rock band JIA have completed their album at The Valve and Wizard Recording studio in Cape Town, South Africa. The studio was booked for a period of 5 months on a lockdown basis of 6 days a week.

The band consisting of Alexi Christopoulos, Owen Mockford and Jeremy Cooper leased a house in Glencairn for the period.

Local session musicians Denver Furness and Reggie Edwards (Omega Ltd) were hired to play drums and bass. Duncan Mackay (10CC, Cockney Rebel) made a guest appearance on the Hammond organ. The producer and engineer was Derek Olivier and the recordings were mixed down to tape and mastered to CD. The album 'Left At The Robot' is to be released in the UK in early 2009. Some of the tracks can be heard at www.myspace.com/jiamusic1

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16 February 2009 My names Alexi Christopoulos I’m the singer from the band JIA.

I have been writing music with fellow band members Owen Mockford and Jeremy Cooper since 2006.

In January of 2008 we were approached by business man Steven Joannides who gave us the opportunity of a life time after hearing our music ,in an investment for the band and a chance to travel to south Africa and record our first album!

we flew to Johannesburg on the 10th July not really knowing what to expect. We looked at several studios but found the majority to be over priced and very clinical which was not what we wanted.

After much deliberation we decided to try cape town where within an hour of arriving we met Derek Olivier (who we found off the internet) in Glencairn.

Within minutes of meeting him we were certain that he was the right man for the job his laid back attitude and vast knowledge of music instantly appealed to us and his studio ‘the valve and wizard’ was ideal.

As soon as we left that day we found a beautiful 3 bedroom house to ourselves overlooking the gorgeous valley of Glencairn a stones throw away from the 'valve and wizard' which Derek helped to organize.

We were in the studio 8 hours a day 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday, we were living and breathing music and we loved it.

The first week we spent working out what material we had ready to record and was time for Derek to sit back and soak up what we wanted to achieve. We were originally an acoustic trio but we really wanted to introduce drums and bass which Derek organized for us with local talent he knew.

Within weeks we worked together and created 8 new songs….Glencairn gave us inspiration and a mixture of Dereks producing, ideas and advice paved the way to completing a full album.

We thought at first it would be done in 9 weeks but because we were so inspired there we ended up staying 5 months we just kept on writing so only 4 of our original tracks stayed and 8 new were born!!!

When we finished recording and mixing we mastered the songs to quarter inch tape which boosted the sound and gave it a real old school feel which again was exactly what we wanted!

The hardest part of the whole process and possibly the best bit of advise I could give is to make sure you are well practiced with a metronome it will save you bundles of time! If you’re used to playing with a drummer you’ll be fine, we weren’t as we played freestyle with 3 guitars!! You live and learn.

Since returning home we are looking forward to touring and playing festivals this year and we may have one of our songs used in a new film by film producer David Scinto (sexy beast and gangster number 1) Now we’re playing with a full band and the sound we have is testament to Derek’s help and guidance.

Over all, the whole experience was extremely rewarding and we have grown as a band thanks to the time spent in the ‘valve and wizard’ we will definitely be requiring Derek’s help with the second album and one things for sure as a producer his ideas are fresh and as far as we’re concerned he’s next to none!