Fort Apache Studio

Fort Apache Studios is a New England recording studio focusing on alternative rock sessions produced there since 1986.

The studio was first located at 169 Norfolk Avenue, a warehouse in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Fort Apache relocated its facilities above the Rounder Records warehouse and offices on Camp Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1988. In 1995, a larger studio was built a block away, on Edmunds Street in Cambridge, MA. In 2002, the company moved the studio from Massachusetts into space leased in an old hotel called The Windham, in Bellows Falls, Vermont. In 2007 operations in Bellows Falls were suspended and Smith moved the studio and management offices to his farm nearby in New Hampshire.

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 briefly 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.

"Fort Apache" as a business name

Smith used "Fort Apache" as the name of a multi-faceted company that operated the studio business, a concert promotion business, and a business managing artists such as Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly and Natalie Merchant. From 2002-2006, Fort Apache additionally operated a music venue in the lobby of The Windham Hotel, where it recorded and broadcast nearly 200 live concerts. The concert venue was originally the brainchild of Smith and Charlie Hunter, owner of the Bellows Falls booking agency Flying Under Radar. In 2007 operations in Bellows Falls were suspended and Smith moved the studio and management offices to his farm nearby in New Hampshire.

Artists

Among the many major groups and artists who have recorded there over the years are the Pixies, Radiohead, Rubyhorse, Superdrag, 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, Dirt Merchants, Toys Went Berserk, The Shods, Spore, Blameless, and many more. Check out "The Bridge - A Tribute To Neil Young" for Fort recordings of The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr..

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