Fort Apache Studios is a New England recording studio internationally renowned for alternative rock sessions produced there since 1986. The studio was first located at 169 Norfolk Street, a warehouse in a rough Roxbury, Massachusetts, neighborhood outside Boston. Fort Apache relocated its facilities above the Rounder Records warehouse and offices on Camp Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1988. An early business card of the studio showing its name as "Fort Apache Studios" is displayed on Joe Harvard's Boston Rock Storybook: Fort Apache South webpage, although the studio is often referred to as simply "Fort Apache."

Among the many major groups and artists who have recorded there over the years are the Pixies, Radiohead, Come, Juliana Hatfield, Throwing Muses, Belly, Tanya Donelly, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, The Lemonheads, Volcano Suns, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Elliott Smith, Eleventh Dream Day, The Connells, The Specials, Blake Babies, Weezer, Yo La Tengo, Warren Zevon, and many more.

The studio was initially built by a collective begun in 1985 by musician/producer Joe Harvard and members of a band called the Sex Execs: engineers Paul Q. Kolderie, Sean Slade, and Jim Fitting. Harvard soon became sole owner, and the studio became very active recording Boston-area indie-rock groups in 1986. The studio soon upgraded its early 8-track Roxbury facilities to 16-track equipment .

Producers affiliated with the studio in the 1980s and 1990s included Lou Giordano, studio manager Gary Smith, Kolderie, Slade, and Tim O'Heir. Smith brought the Pixies to Fort Apache to record their legendary 1987 demos later known as The Purple Tape and also produced several of Throwing Muses' 1980s albums there. Smith became a co-owner when the studio was moved to its 24-track Cambridge facilities in 1988. Eventually, in the 1990s, Harvard sold his ownership interests in the studio to Smith and Billy Bragg and departed. Fort Apache also hosted a recording label in partnership with MCA Records in the mid-1990s.

In the early 2000s, owner Gary Smith moved the studio from Massachusetts to Bellows Falls, Vermont, where it currently resides. He developed Fort Apache into a multi-faceted company that, in addition to carrying on its legendary alternative music studio business, also manages artists like Tanya Donelly and Natalie Merchant. Fort Apache also helps operate the Bellows Falls new music venue called The Windham, where it sometimes also records live concerts. The venue, located in the renovated lobby of an old hotel, was the brainchild of Smith and Charlie Hunter's Flying Under Radar concert production company.

References

• Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Pixies Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2005.
• Fort Apache Selected Discography. Fort Apache Studios website. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Harvard, Joe (1998). Fort Apache South: Getting Started. Boston Rock Storybook webpages. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Harvard, Joe (1998). Part 2, Fort Apache South: the Golden Years. Boston Rock Storybook webpages. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Harvard, Joe (1998). Part 3, Fort Apache North: the New Digs. Boston Rock Storybook webpages. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Harvard, Joe (November 2002). Part 4, Fort Apache North: Music Business Blues. Boston Rock Storybook webpages. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Harvard, Joe (December 10, 2002). Joe Harvard: Bits and Pieces. Boston Rock Storybook webpages. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.
• Schoemer, Karen (October 1994). Fort Apache. Liner notes to This is Fort Apache CD.
• Smith, Gary (1997). Pixies Biography. Hip Online. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2005.
• The Windham Opens in Bellows Falls, Vermont. (March 31 2004). Press Release at The Windham's website. Retrieved Apr. 18, 2005.

External links

• Fort Apache official site
• The Windham