New release of the video of Jason Barnard’s interview with Trevor Horn, recorded in October 2022 on the release day of his book Adventures in Modern Recording. Horn speaks about some of the most influential productions of his career, from the Buggles to Frankie Goes to Hollywood and beyond.
Horn starts at the beginning: a father who played double bass in dance bands, the Beatles changing everything he thought he knew about music, and five months as house bassist at a Blackpool hotel before landing a year and a half at Hammersmith Palais learning every chart song that came through the door.
The conversation then turns to the records themselves. How ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was built to sound like machines while every note was played by hand. How ten hours programming a TR-808 drum machine shaped the foundation of ABC’s ‘Poison Arrow.’ How a late-night TV appearance by Frankie Goes to Hollywood caught his eye, but it was a John Peel session on the radio that made him realise what Relax could become.
He also covers working with Paul McCartney, introducing an orchestra to the Pet Shop Boys, finding folk underneath the surface of Simple Minds, and the Rod Stewart session where the key had to be raised a minor third after the entire orchestral backing track was already finished.
There are stories too about Hans Zimmer’s early days with the Buggles, Anne Dudley’s piano playing stopping him in his tracks at a nightclub gig, and why recording Belle and Sebastian meant setting aside everything he normally does.
