Barry Lubotta
President

Marshmellow Records
Phase One Recording Studios
Off-Beat Music Company

Barry broke into the music biz in his hometown of Montreal at age 10 when he signed a binding legal contract stipulating that in exchange for his parents buying him a green two wheel bicycle, he would agree to take piano lessons for a year. Mom and Dad told him he would become a famous musician one day, or at the very least find a low paying job within the music industry. Barry gleefully signed without legal representation. 

The bike was fun but the piano lessons were painful, and no one mentioned anything about practicing! Discovering newfound powers from his Superman costume, he pleaded to be let out of the contract after only a few months. He wrote a passionate letter to his folks informing them of his decision to become either a professional football or baseball player. They caved and let him out of the contract AND he kept the bike.  

Karma being what it is, Barry would not become a professional athlete, ending up instead... in the music industry! Of course the story confirms that Barry had what it takes to successfully be in the music business from an early age!. 
 
At 15 and sporting the thickest hair he would ever see staring back at him in the mirror, Barry journeyed off to prep school in Vermont where he majored in hockey and football with a minor in studies. In 1964 he decided learn how to play guitar as it seemed reasonable that he might become the sixth Beatle. It was a lovely three years in a great school and it prepared him for college. 
 
 
In 1966 Barry entered the freshman class at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. He joined his first band, Sico and the Cmen playing guitar in a rhythm and blues band. By his second year he was playing on the school’'s varsity hockey team and had formed the successful band, Abraxas. When not busy with these activities, he studied a little business administration, but never too much as to interfere with his musical pursuits.

One of the first progressive rock bands in the Ithaca area, Abraxas played many bar gigs throughout upper New York State and at college fraternities. Band mate Larry Hoppen went on to become lead singer, co-lead guitarist and bassist for Orleans, a popular 70’'s group that had many top ten Billboard hits still heard on radio today, such as “"Dance With Me”, and “"Still The One". 
 
In his spare time, Barry rummaged through music store basements and pawnshops across North America, eyeing and buying some great guitars which he restored, meaning he changed strings. All these fine instruments were sold profitably but prematurely as today the Les Pauls, Firebirds, Flying V's, Strats, Teles and such would be highly sought after as collector's items. 
 

Barry's dad frequently travelled to England on business trips and was always thoughtful enough to bring home the latest Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix record, thus ensuring Barry was one of the first in North America to discover these great guitarists. He found it rather frustrating to tell friends about this incredible guitarist Jimi Hendrix when no one else had yet heard of him! 
 

In the summer of 1969 Barry trekked to Woodstock, New York along with half a million other would be cool dudes. After lying in a muddy sleeping bag and sleeping under the stars with a misty rain coming down all night, he and his buddies decided to leave a bit early - the next morning in fact, thus ensuring they would miss many of the finest acts at the most famous music festival ever. 
 
Nonetheless, during that era he saw all the greats live in person, Hendrix from the 4th row in Syracuse, NY, The Beatles from the 1rst row in Boston, the Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, Spirit and his favourite, Procul Harum in Cortland, New York. 
 
Returning to Montreal in 1970, he worked at a desk job in the family's collection agency business. A year or so later, at 23, he picked up and moved to Hartford, Connecticut for more than a year as manager of an office and then on to Washington, DC for six months where he opened and managed another office. Little did he know that the collecting skills he developed during this period would come in very handy many years later whilst owning a recording studio. 
 

At the end of this two-year stint Barry returned to Montreal, but by 1976 he decided to make Toronto his permanent home and packed his bags. He continued to work in the family business for a while, then tried his hand in real estate but found that neither career was artisically fulfilling and he continued to look for something that would stimulate his creative side. 
 
By 1981 Barry started messing around with his guitar again and soon after wrote and recorded songs he had written. He found the process intoxicating. He was soon introduced to local recording studios such as Kensington Sound and Wellesley Sound. Although non-technical at the time, he knew that recording music was something he felt very comfortable about. 

In 1982 he purchased his first Tascam 4 track Portastudio but could not figure out how to work all the knobs and buttons. When a year later it was stolen from his apartment he was overwhelmed with joy and was only too happy to collect the insurance money. When the cheque arrived, he fell to his knees, look skyward and blurted “out "Thank god I'm out of the recording business!"”  
 

However, two years later the music bug struck again and he bought an even simpler 4-track machine which he eventually mastered. Thus began his love affair with the art of recording music and his home studio continued to grow in size and equipment over the next seven years. 

In 1991 Barry opened his first commercial studio in the west end of Toronto called Pizazzudio, which became known for it's quality equipment and fine attention to detail. For ten years Pizazzudio succeeded as a commercial recording facility during a difficult business climate.  

In 1994 he decided it was time for his business to become “vertically integrated”and launched Marshmellow Records which ran along side the studio. Artist Steve Middleton was the first person signed and Acoustical Scenery the first album released, an album that still sells well in 2005, when this was written. 

Other releases followed and new distributors were found at Midem in Cannes, France. Marshmellow albums were being sold around the world and the quality of the recordings was being praised by many. There was a four year lull in Marshmellow when Barry took over Phase One Studios in 2001. A massive renovation and a new business took a lot of time and effort and new releases for Marshmellow slowed to a crawl. However, by 2005 Marshmellow was back in the game releasing new albums also recorded to a very high quality.  

On a personal level, Barry still plays hockey and likes to shoot photos and video when he can, editing the results on his Mac. His owns what possibly might be the largest squirrel figurine collection in the world, with more than 300 rodents taking up residence in his home. He also feeds a roving band of mooching squirrels every day and as he likes to say, “"I have plenty of friends in high places!"  
 

Barry is very proud of Marshmellow and would like to take the label to it's highest level ever over the next few years. He is committed to recording great music at the highest fidelity. I've got to feel I'm going to like an album five years down the road in order to release it today," he says, adding, “"in a world where recorded music is almost too plentiful, I want to make albums that stand out from the masses”."

Finally, Barry would like to thank the artists who have recorded for Marshmellow and the distributors around the world who have helped bring these albums to a wider audience.