By Art Gomez

In the middle of the town of Idyllwild, just a few blocks down from the shops and restaurants is a hidden gem called Audiowild Studios. A commercial recording studio and performance space that offers recording, mixing and mastering for all genres of music as well as a performance space for private events and rehearsals. The studio also offers artists video shoots, podcast recording, green screen filming and much more.

The man behind it all, Brian “Puke” Parnell, said “It’s actually kind of shocking that nobody has created a commercial recording studio in Idyllwild. I think it’s going to be a really beneficial thing all around.” “The venue creates a space with professional sound, lights, and stage for musicians to share their craft in our beautiful mountain town. From our free Local Jam Night on Thursdays to our all ages shows, we bring musicians of all different genres to our stage to play for locals and travelers alike. Our affordable audio recording capabilities allows artist to record without needing to rob a bank. We are also fully equipped to livestream and record performances using our four-camera setup, where we can capture both audio and video of an entire performance.”

Unfortunately, in today's age music has been devalued. Even though a certain billionaire streaming service CEO might claim that music is "basically free to make," people who actually write and record music for a living know that this is not true.

Parnell is known as the vocalist and guitarist of 2020 Coachella Valley Music Award winners for ‘Best Punk Band’ Throw the Goat. Parnell is also the founder of the Idyllwild Strong Music Festival, a yearly benefit concert born in response to the Cranston Fire of 2018 that devastated the town of Idyllwild burning over 13,000 acres and destroying 12 structures.

Back around 2016 Parnell began recording bands and musicians in his apartment. “I started by helping Johnny Wilson, aka Johnny Trash, the original rhythm guitarist of Throw the Goat. He had written some solo acoustic songs, and after we recorded all the vocals and acoustic guitar, I couldn't help but hearing other instruments in there. And seeing

as how you can't swing a dead squirrel in Idyllwild without hitting a musician, we started reaching out to people we know and were trying to see who wanted to contribute to the album. We ended up with, like, 22 different musicians on there. I just kept the ball rolling after that, and did the 5th Town record, Sweat Act, the Instigator demo and their full-length.”

At the beginning of 2021, Brian went through some rough issues, and decided that he was just going to take a swing and go for it. “There was a unit in the middle of town that I had my eyes on for quite a while; I reached out to the people who own the building which had formerly been a church, and just threw it out there. I fully expected them to say 'no way', and instead, they said, ‘That it’s a great idea.’”

That meant Parnell had to then come up with the funds to take over the space. “I’m not exactly an independently wealthy guy. I’ve lived well below the poverty line for pretty much all of my adult life, so I had no idea how I was going to come up with the money. I scraped together everything I had, called up everyone who had ever owed me a dime and then borrowed a bit from a generous friend. The stars aligned, I got the keys in mid-March 2021 and started working two jobs to cover rent and got underway with remodeling, soundproofing and getting everything up and running.”

Audiowild Studios has the building right in the middle of town that used to be a church and a medical office. The building is thought to have been constructed in the 1980s. Lead lined walls for X-Rays had to be removed and other upgrades had to be made. The stage had been built by the previous occupiers for a spiritual/religious venue.

Creating a recording studio and performance space can already be considered a great feat, but as Parnell explained, it’s always in his nature to “tack on more and more and more.”

“I have my guitar bench here, so