For the past decade or more, rock ‘n’ roll preservationists have worried about the fate of the Record Plant, a historic recording studio on the Sausalito waterfront that has been shuttered since 2008.
They feared that it could be turned into an office complex or a condo project, an espresso bar or a trendy new restaurant. Worse yet, they imagined the horror of waking up one morning to the news that the iconic Marin landmark had burned down.
I’m happy to report that those anxious years are over. The legendary studio has been sold to an investment group with plans to preserve and restore it, bringing back a more modern version of its former glory. They envision a working recording facility that will also feature a music education program with a focus on young people, as well as exhibits celebrating its storied past and colorful role in the Northern California music industry.
“The No. 1 point of the purchase is to preserve the building and its unique history,” says Kevin Bartram, a Novato marketing consultant and a spokesperson for a team of investors with backgrounds in music, real estate, technology and other fields. “They all, to a person, got involved because they have a passion about the legacy of the building. The intentions are pure, and they have the wherewithal to make it happen.”
Since it opened in 1972 as the sister studio of Record Plants in New York and Los Angeles, many of rock’s greatest hits were recorded at its 2200 Bridgeway address, including Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” “Sports” by Huey Lewis and the News, Santana’s “Supernatural,” “Load” and “Reload” by Metallica, and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours.”
The investment group, Sausalito Technology Partners, bought this special piece of rock real estate in March for just shy of $3.6 million from Marin Mortgage Bank, which had foreclosed on the property in 2009.
‘Changed my life’
The campaign was spearheaded by record producer Ken Caillat and sports and entertainment marketer Frank Pollifrone. For Caillat, the Record Plant has a special resonance. In four months of intense recording in 1976, he co-produced the blockbuster album “Rumours” — a classic that sold 45 million copies worldwide, turning a struggling band called Fleetwood Mac into a supergroup and launching Caillat’s career.
“It changed my life forever,” he says. “In some ways, I can’t get away from it.”
He has a wealth of stories to tell about the famously tumultuous recording sessions he oversaw. He remembers lead singer Stevie Nicks breathlessly rushing into the control room one day with a new song she had just written. It was the monster hit “Dreams,” a No. 1 hit single that saturated the radio airwaves in 1977. (As fate would have it, the song recently returned to the top of the charts after it was used as the soundtrack of a TikTok video ad for cranberry juice.)
Caillat likes to tell a story about guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, in the throes of an emotional breakup with Nicks, angrily introducing the song “Go Your Own Way” for the other band members.
“He was beating on his acoustic guitar and his veins were sticking out on his neck,” he says. “I thought, what the heck have I gotten myself into? But, you never know when you’re going to be a part of history.”
Dream’s still alive
For Caillat, the drive to save the Record Plant began in 2015, at a book signing at the long-closed studio for his memoir, “Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album.”
His nostalgic return brought back memories of the magic he and the band had created there all those years before. At the same time, he was disheartened by the studio’s rundown condition and worried that it was in danger of becoming a fire trap.
“That’s when I said I’m going to do everything I can to save the place,” he says.
In 2017, he hooked up with Pollifrone, Bartram and others to form the Marin Music Project with the goal of buying and preserving the building. The group was actually “in contract” with the bank to take it over when the deal fell apart. A couple of earlier efforts by other people, including one involving Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood, had also been unsuccessful.
As time went on, hope that the Record Plant would be saved seemed to be fading as fast as its weathered redwood exterior. But Callait and Pollifrone were so committed to preserving its legacy that they rededicated themselves to the project, putting together the current successful team effort over the past three years.
“The place was in danger of melting away into nothingness, and people wouldn’t have been aware of its part of our music history,” Pollifrone says. “That was not going to happen. The dream is still alive.”
Livestreaming future
At a time when the digital revolution has enabled musicians to make high-quality recordings in their garages and living rooms, making many major commercial studios obsolete, the new owners see a market in studios devoted to livestreaming, particularly one with the cachet of the Record Plant and especially now during the coronavirus pandemic, when livestreams have pretty much replaced live concerts. The studio will also offer Dolby Atmos, a surround sound technology developed by San Francisco’s Dolby Laboratories.
Caillat, father of Grammy-winning singer songwriter Colbie Caillat, aims to discover and nurture young talent in a program similar to his Artist Max, an artist development academy he founded in Southern California for aspiring musicians to learn the fundamentals of recording and performing.
The building has its own oddball architecture that the new owners plan to keep intact as much as possible. The funhouse mirrors in the corridors and the yin-yang wooden invitations to the studio’s Halloween party opening are still there after 48 years. So is the hippie-era woodwork in studio A and the padded, paisley-patterned wall decorations in psychedelic colors in studio B.
In addition to its physical charms, the place has a rich rock lore and mythology. There are stories about the bad boy antics of Sly Stone, who had his own decadent lair nicknamed “the Pit,” and the notorious Rick James. Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie swore that studio A was haunted, and visitors have been known to sense the ghosts of rock ‘n’ roll past in the graffiti that countless bands have scrawled on the wall of the restroom.
Community outreach
The community outreach that was a hallmark of the Marin Music Project remains an important element this time around.
“We’re looking to make it an integral part of the community of Sausalito, of Marin and of the greater Bay Area,” says Bartram, who previously worked on the erstwhile Marin Rocks history project with business consultant Kim Kaselionis, now serving as the group’s chief financial officer. “We’re going to work with civic, business and community leaders and reach out to schools in the area.”
The pandemic has slowed and complicated plans for major restoration work, but cleanup has begun and talks are scheduled with Sausalito officials about permits and other issues involved in the project, the new owners say. For legal reasons, the facility will be operating for now as Bridgeway Studios at BridgewayStudios.net.
This is the first major rock preservation project in Marin, and there’s no shortage of enthusiasm among the investors and others involved in bringing this long-dormant piece of our rock past to life. There’s talk of a benefit concert in the near future.
“When I first walked in there, I could feel the history and the importance of the place,” says Jim Rees, a commercial real estate owner who’s one of the investors. “It was a magical experience. I was blown away.”
Contact Paul Liberatore at p.liberatore@comcast.net
