The Rolling Stones Mobile is described as a hidden gem tucked away in the King Eddy and it’s part of the National Music Centre’s (NMC) living collection, meaning the analog equipment is all in working order and the mobile is still used to record albums today. Ben Waters, pianist from the U.K. used the truck recently to re-record a few tracks of an album called ‘Boogie 4 Stu: A Tribute to Ian Stewart, who was the co-founder of the Rolling Stones. “We came here and recorded a live gig,” he said. “We’ve got the original tracks with the Stones members, a tune called Roll ‘Em Pete that was recorded here on it and we’ve done a new track with George Thorogood and the Destroyers and a new track with Keith Richards and Dave Kelly.” Jason Tawkin, NMC studio and electronics engineer, says the mobile was built in 1968 and spent most of its early years in Europe, expanding to Greece and even Russia. The idea behind it was to have the convenience of a state of the art recording studio where every the music was happening. After three decades of use, it was brought to the United States. “It was basically sold at auction to an American who bought it and brought it over to the America,” he said. “It did sessions all over New York, New Jersey, as far as Georgia and Texas, all over the Midwest until the time came to pay the bills and there was no money left, that’s when Lenny Kravitz let our CEO know that a piece of rock and roll history is available.” Waters has deep connections with Ian Stewart learning how to play the piano by listening to his recordings. His similar style had him introduced to Rolling Stones members where he played with them on a number of occasions and he credits Stewart with getting to where he is today in the music industry. “I tried to be like him and it just almost feels like all these things came to fruition and I just played on the Stones new album (Foreign Tongues - track 1) because they wanted something that sounded like Ian Stewart you know,” he said. Waters remembers an earlier trip to Calgary with his son when they were driving on Ninth Avenue S.E. “We were really late for something and we almost skidded to a halt outside, my son said, ‘Look, there’s the Rolling Stones Mobile,’” said Waters. “I’m over the moon about it because I think all these things wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Ian Stewart, I mean Brian Jones put the ad in the paper and Stewart answered it and they formed the Rolling Stone so there might not be any Rolling Stones if it wasn’t for him.” Albums line the walls surrounding the mobile, albums that were produced in it. Tawkin says some artists still want to record in the analogue mobile studio. “Rather than putting this beautiful museum piece on display, putting glass behind this console and never touching it again, we’re actually using it to create new music and inspire the next generation of musicians to use the same studio that all their idols used,” he said. NMC is hosting ‘Live from the King Eddy’ that kicks off Sept. 26 and 27 where music lovers can come to a live recording session that will result in an album from ten different artists taking place in 2026 and 2027. Learn more about it here: https://kingeddy.ca/event/live-from-the-king-eddy-the-free-label-26/.
