First rehearsals for Wings

Studio:

Rude Studio, High Park Farm, Kintyre, Scotland, UK

Songs recorded

Staff

Musicians

Paul McCartney:

Performed by

Linda McCartney:

Performed by

Denny Laine:

Performed by

Denny Seiwell:

Performed by

About

In May / June 1971, Paul and Linda McCartney were at their farm in Scotland, and Paul started forming the idea of creating a new band.

Sometime in June 1971, Paul McCartney called Denny Seiwell and Hugh McCracken, the players who participated in the recording of the album “RAM“, and invited them and their wives for some holidays in Scotland. Denny accepted Paul’s offer to join his new band, but Hugh refused.

In mid-July, Paul contacted Denny Laine and asked him to come and join the band as well.

From July 20 to 22, Paul, Linda and the two Dennys spent three days rehearsing at Paul’s farm in Scotland, in a small barn equipped with a four-track machine and named Rude Studio.

Back in Scotland, I had a four-track recording studio installed at the farm, which we called Rude Studio, so I was able to demo and experiment and make bits and pieces of music. Eventually, when we started to put a band together, we could rehearse there.

Paul McCartney – From “Wingspan: Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run“, 2002

It’s just a barn. And then some days when the sun was shining, we’d go outside and rehearse in the open fields, with just the fields and the sea around us. I bought a Land Rover so that I could drive up to Paul’s farm, which is really hilly; you have to drive over boulders to get there.  My Land Rover is over at the farm nearby which Denny is renting and where I’ve been staying up there.

Denny Laine – From interview in 1971

At Rude, we played the kind of music we grew up on – Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, grooves that we knew. It was purely to see if we were going to lock in together. If Paul went off on a tangent, I would just follow him. It came together very organically. That’s what he wanted.

Denny Laine

He had some songs. And we made some up in the studio. I think Paul’s idea was to give the world the first completely new look at his first completely new band that wasn’t The Beatles.

Denny Laine

By that time, we had material to record. We’d been rehearsing a song like “Wild Life”, because I remember Paul teaching Linda the piano notes. She used to start it off with two fingers. We rehearsed “Bip Bop” and “I Am Your Singer”. I loved “Some People Never Know”, just a great song.

Denny Seiwell – Interview with Maccazine – Volume 47, Issue 1 – The birth of Wings

At the end of those rehearsals, Paul decided the band should go into a recording studio. On July 23, they took a private flight to London, and start the recording of their first album, “Wild Life“.

Last updated on May 1, 2022