Watch Ozzy Osbourne, Liam Gallagher Talk Rockfield Studios in Upcoming Doc

Ozzy Osbourne and Liam Gallagher discuss the legacy of Rockfield Studios in the upcoming documentary Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm, out next month.

Rockfield — originally a farm that was converted into a studio by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward — is known as the world’s first residential studio. Located in the Welsh countryside, it’s hosted Black Sabbath, Queen, Robert Plant, Oasis, Coldplay, Simple Minds, and more.

Directed by Hannah Berryman, the clip above shows Osbourne and Tony Iommi recalling how they rehearsed 1970’s Paranoid at Rockfield. “We didn’t realize what we were doing,” Osbourne says. “We didn’t go, ‘I know, let’s invent heavy metal! It just happened.’” The band would go on to record 1990’s Tyr and 1992’s Dehumanizer there.

Below, Gallagher and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs discuss turmoil within Oasis — unsurprisingly between Liam and his brother Noel — at the studio while they cut 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? “My argument would be, ‘What are you doing fucking taking 900 fucking takes to fucking do one guitar riff when you should be in the fucking pub with me?” he says.

The film features interviews with Robert Plant, Chris Martin, producer John Leckie, the Ward family, Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, and more. It arrives on May 14th via Abramorama and is currently available for preorder.

Berryman was inspired to make the film after watching Muscle Shoals, which tells the story of the famed Alabama studio. “[I] wondered what the really unusual British equivalent studio story might be,” she tells IndieLand. “I came across Rockfield — and called them up. I couldn’t believe the same farming family who started it 50 years earlier were still at the helm, the studio boss and his wife nearly 80; and the roster of musicians that had recorded there. I knew I had to get this film made.”

She was surprised when she visited the studio for the first time: “I couldn’t believe how scruffy it was,” she says. “It was still full of animals — cows, chickens, dogs, and the family lived there much as they would have done when it was a farm. But the studios were amazing, all built over time in a pretty homespun way. We weren’t ‘the big guys’ either and the film was cobbled together in a pretty homespun way, too — bit by bit, over five years. Hopefully, it reflects the spirit of Rockfield!”