While the Lamborghini Gallardo was launched in 2003, causing a stir with its guttural new V10 engine and comprising a second super sports model line for Automobili Lamborghini, in London’s East End recording engineer Liam Watson and American rock duo The White Stripes were also loudly making history.
As music enthusiasts around the world prepare to celebrate Record Store Day on 20 April 2024, this Lamborghini video captures the spirit of Hackney, its edgy music scene and a hotbed of creativity. In this industrial landscape that was witnessing the start of construction in preparation for the 2012 Olympics, British producer Liam had set up Toe Rag Studios in 1991 where, instead of harnessing the latest digital technology, he adopted analogue four-track tape machines and pre-60s recording gear. The emotive, tangible feel of analogue recording also appealed to The White Stripes, aka Jack and Meg White, who Liam met while performing gigs at London’s iconic The 100 Club.
“Jack called me up and said, can I come in and record a song, tonight,” recalls Liam. “We had to work hard with mixing, the faders, to get the sound right. It wasn’t how you recorded records! But it was so emotional, so hands on, such a physical sense of sound. And Jack decided he would like to record most of the ‘Elephant’ album that way: I think it was the last mainstream album to be recorded analogue.”
Including the hit single ‘Seven Nation Army’ and its indomitable riff that still rings out in football stadiums and media worldwide, The White Stripes’ fourth album ‘Elephant’ received a five-star rating from Rolling Stone magazine and confirmed the talent of the Indie rock and garage duo worldwide.
“As the album came out in 2003, there was the Gallardo arriving on roads,” says Liam. “The Gallardo reminds me of my son: he loves cars. The Gallardo was full on, not shy! And 20 years later when ‘Elephant’ was re-released in 2023, there’s the V10 Huracán Tecnica. That is an impressive car.”
The evolution of the Lamborghini V10 model range started with the Gallardo, the predecessor of the highly-developed Huracán range. Today the Tecnica incorporates highly developed digital and electronic technology to deliver a remarkable fun-to-drive super sports car on both road and track, with every connectivity and HMI feature.
As Liam Watson says: “In 2003 my studio embraced the emotive analogue and in 2023 with digital audio the possibilities are endless. The same with Lamborghini’s V10: I’ve experienced the Gallardo and the Huracán Tecnica and appreciate both. After all, like with ‘Seven Nation Army’, what always comes through is a good song!”
Photographer David James Swanson who captured The White Stripes while recording ‘Elephant’ contributes to sharing the past and documenting this new story, more than 20 years later, with a behind-the-scenes interview and a photoshoot. His images of Liam Watson at Toe Rag Studios and of the Lamborghini Gallardo and Huracán Tecnica around the streets of Hackney are, of course, shot both in analogue and digital.
Record Store Day is a global celebration of record store culture, first celebrated in 2007 by a group of independent shop owners in the USA, with the inaugural international event in April 2008. Today it is celebrated by thousands of stores globally, honoring their role in local communities and the people involved, including staff, customers, artists and labels.
