Jim Vallance, known to some as Bryan Adams writing partner, others as the founder of Armoury Studios and others as the subject and main author of Jimvallance.com. But I want to zero in on that Armoury Studios notch on his belt. In 1983 he built the studio, which was then purchased from him by Bruce Fairbairn for an undisclosed amount of money. And however much it was, it was not enough for the calibre of client that would later come through.

I mean, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Loverboy, Bon Jovi, and who can forget Gorky Park. What’s that you say? You’ve never heard of Gorky Park? They’re a hard rock band out of Russia in the late 80’s. Now I’m not saying that the musical power of rock n’ roll was an integral force in dropping the Berlin wall, but I’m also not not saying that.

Anywho, back on topic, Fairbairn was the guy who made that happen. These aren’t even close to all the bands he worked for, in and out of Armoury, I mean he’s beyond accomplished.

But what about the room where the magic happened? Picture a mixing room in your head. That’s what it looks like at Armoury. Hey no need to reinvent the wheel right? I mean it’s just got the look. But what I found cool was the room where musicians play. Its wide open, like a church almost. Which makes sense, churches do have good acoustics. But at the church of Rock n’ Roll, there are no scriptures, only records. And the main lobby is lined with them. There are frames upon frames of albums from musicians who recorded there.

Speaking of those artists, if you have the chance, scroll through the testimonials page, its just legend after legend after legend. There’s the obvious of Jim Vallance, the guy who built the place, down to smaller recording artists, listed just as recording artists, to writers, producers, players, singers, everyone loves Armoury. And of course they do! They’ve been dedicated to their craft for 40 years, if you do something for 40 straight years and you’re still lousy at it, you might want to consider a career change.

Even just poking around the online history here, you get the feeling that this is a very grand place, with a rich history. If you have some time, and an appreciation for music history, take a look at the website, poke around, see what secrets lie within, and if you find something really cool I didn’t? Keep it to yourself, please don’t hurt my feelings.