Apostolic Studios

State-of-the-art recording studio that was founded by John Townley (2) on Tenth Street, New York City, in the Fall of 1966. It was a loft building in The Village, near Broadway, with a hand-operated freight elevator as its primary access.

With the skills of technician Lou Lindauer, Townley's concept moved from the 8-track system he'd left behind at Columbia and on to 12-track Scully. Hence the then 'brand-new' concept of '12' being rather spiritual and 'Apostolic' - giving birth to the company title. This equipment also hooked into the engineering skills of Tony Bongiovi, nephew of (later-famous) Jon Bon Jovi.

By the time the business launched in '67 the studio was fully booked, despite negative waves from the industry. Bands as diverse as Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Fugs%2C+The]The Fugs[/url] and [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Grateful+Dead%2C+The]Grateful Dead[/url] took up the 12-track opportunity. Most especially Frank Zappa, who almost made it his 'recording home' for a long period, with the likes of Dick Kunc, John Kilgore and members of [url=http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mothers%2C+The?anv=Mothers+Of+Invention%2C+The]The Mothers[/url].

The concept of Apostolic Studios, together with its 'free and easy' ambience, was a powerful influence on other leading engineers of the time. Some 6 months after opening, in downtown New York, the studio had competition from Gary Kellgren who created Record Plant - followed by the construction of Electric Lady Studios by Jimi Hendrix just a few blocks away.

Townley's wife, Gilma "Gilly" Townley, aka Gilly Townley became part of the vocal proceedings on 35641 and 47701, as did other occupants of Apostolic.