Good Times The Abbey Road Experience

Rob M
Jun 19
5 min read

On Sunday 21st April, members from the RT Family across the land came together to record a charity single for Round Table.

Ryan James, Chelmsford Round Table gives us the low down on the project and the Abbey Road Experience:

"The song, titled ‘Good Times’, was recorded in Studio 3 at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios - the same room where Pink Floyd recorded their ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album, and where other huge artists such as The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Nile Rodgers, Liam Gallagher and Stormzy have all recorded. We really fell head-first into musical history — but more on that in a minute. So, how did we end up at Abbey Road Studios?

"It started with one man’s vision — Sam Iddison from Chelmsford RT132. Bored of watching the endless winter rain from his window and wondering when he could plant his crops (he’s a farmer), Sam instinctively decided he wanted to become a recording artist.

"At its inception, Sam brought together a small committee, asking those with a musical background to step forward. What he got was a few people who said they’d help — and that they had a Spotify subscription. These qualifications would have to do.

"The proposal? To write, perform, produce, and sell a charity single with the intention of reaching number one in the charts. An easy task… when you’ve got 3,000 Tablers nationwide!

"We found a producer who was up for guiding us through this venture. With that in place, the first task was to pick a music genre and write the song.

Genre? Easy!

"We wanted pop rock — something like We Will Rock You.

Next up: write a song. But how do you write a song? We had no idea.

It was really amusing at first. No one had the faintest clue how to even start. A few months passed, and the music producer put together a backing track for us to write lyrics to. It was good — we liked how it sounded — and that inspired us to get something down on paper.

"I had a go and soon realised that it was really hard — I mean, brain-blank hard. We had ideas, but what’s a good way to just get started — something set out correctly and looking like a proper song?

"We could ask the music producer (and risk losing emotional ownership of the song), search high and low within the Table membership… or try AI. No one stepped forward, so we chose ChatGPT.

"Sam and I had a go at feeding in some prompts so the song would follow our collective ideas. It spat out our first draft. It wasn’t exactly what we wanted — but it gave us a great framework and structure to build on, thank God. Good Times was coming together.

"The next step: put it out to members and see what they thought. The feedback was positive — quite a few people said it got stuck in their heads and they were singing it the next day. After a few tweaks, it was finished.

So now, back to Abbey Road Studios.

"Booking this studio is virtually impossible as a member of the public — or so we were told. Sessions are only available in three-day blocks. But Sam was insistent: it had to be a special experience.

It turned out that in five weeks’ time, there were two bookings with a one-day gap in between — and it happened to be a Sunday. Perfect! But… was five weeks enough?

"This is where the Table-wide campaign began. We wanted to find a lead singer from the membership and 100 people to join in on the chorus. We received several great demo videos and tapes for the lead role, and plenty of people signed up to sing the chorus. We reached the minimum numbers we needed, so the stage was set!

"Walking from St John’s Wood tube station to the studio, you cross the iconic zebra crossing to get to the building. As we walked through the gate, a friendly member of staff told us the studios weren’t open to the public. We smiled and told him, “We’ve got passes.” It felt very exclusive.

"On entering the building, we were instantly met with tonnes of memorabilia and photos — Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Elton John… wow! We were briefed on the studio’s strict no-phones policy (no phones out of pockets in the corridors — or you're out!). We got our wristbands and were then free to head to Studio 3 (first door on the left)

"The chorus was recorded in one-hour sessions throughout the day, with dedicated slots for the Ladies Circle, 41 Club and Tangent members. In fact, 41 Club went missing at the start of their time slot — they’d left the studio and were eventually found down the road in the gift shop!

"The studio was full of cables, sliders, and buttons — and also an old piano, which had us wondering whose fingers had danced across its keys in the past. Lined up around an array of mics in groups of three or four, we got the quickest singing lesson in history from the from the song’s director.

“Sing ‘somthin’, not ‘something’. Say ‘gonna’, not ‘going to’.”He tapped a note on the piano, said something about the key, and we were off.

"I can’t speak for other groups, but we sang our hearts out. We went through the song several times. Some were out of key and asked to sit down. Others were singing too high and were also asked to sit. These were then recorded in smaller groups so the music techs could work their magic. It was hilarious watching the director lean into each group to find the offenders.

“It’s you — sit down!”

"The hour flew by. The producer, behind the glass, looked pleasantly surprised. Then it was time for the next group. We passed them in the corridor as we left, absolutely buzzing. Everyone expressed how much fun they’d had.

"And just like that, we all crossed back over that zebra crossing.

"It really was an unforgettable experience."

Good Times will be released on 20th June, with all proceeds going to Anthony Nolan and Air Ambulance UK.

To get into the Top 40 Charts, we only need to sell 2,500 MP3 downloads — which is more than achievable with our fantastic network.

If you’d like a physical memento of this little piece of Round Table history, we’re also selling CDs and vinyl records — complete with RONDELS, of course.

👉 Find out how to purchase at: www.rtgoodtimes.co.uk

Lastly, a big thank you from everyone involved to Sam Iddison for his vision and perseverance!

Chelmsford Round Table would like to credit the following people for their help and expertise throughout the project:

Good Times Audio

Production and arrangements by Ross Simpson

Music & lyrics by Ross Simpson & Joe Hazell

Leads vocals by Joe Hazell

Additional vocals by Chelmsford Round Table

Keys & programmed instruments by Ross Simpson

Bass by Daisy Pepper

Guitars by Joe Hazell

Drums & percussion by Graham Instrall