Make an extra special reminder in your 2012 diary for our next big Granary gathering on April 8th 2012.

It’s time to strap on your jingle Bells as we gear up for our Christmassive Rock night! Non-stop Classic Rock until the bells end!

Always the big one of the year, bringing Granary fans old and new together to revel in the classic rock that made the Granary famous. As well as the music there’s all the Granary showcards and posters to make you feel at home plus a dip in “Santa’s Rocking Sack” and possibly an air guitar to strum into the night. Be early as the night starts at 7.30pm and, of course, admission is FREE!

Once again the four horsemen of the poxy lips will be riding into the Lion to blast classic rock in true Granary style - the club may be gone but the spirit lives on. Starting a 7.30pm with a trip into the tripping past with DJ Super-Ed, on to Ade the First firing on both barrels (of real ale) with his pick of the classics, Al Read will do his best (if he can remember who he is and where he is) to bring back all those memories of the Friday night rock discos, then there’s the true rocker Adrian Coleman (the man who held the Granary together in it’s final years). Be prepared for a mega-bash of classic rock when all four join together to present the feast of floor fillers! See the show cards and posters of Granary memorabilia and see if you can catch a free air guitar!

All Granary fans were saddened to hear of the death of guitar maestro Gary Moore. One of Gary’s first gigs in in England was at the Granary as the front man for Irish band Skid Row. Here’s the page from Al’s Granary desk top diary where he kept details of all the Granary bookings which shows the third Skid Row date in May 1971 and, a few weeks later, the booking of Skid Row’s stable mates Thin Lizzie (they changed the “ie” ending to a “y” before the release of their first English record ( NEW DAY EP for which Plastic Dog partner Rodney Matthews did the cover).

We were so impressed by the musicianship of this 16 year old guitarist the we re-booked Skid Row immediately and put them on the front cover of our Granary Dogpress magazine for May 1971.

Skid Row played six times at the club and Gary always stayed over at our flat in Clifton and wow did he like to party! Full stories on pages 35 and 50 of the Granary Book. Gary also did three gigs at the Granary with his Gary Moore Band. Al did ask Gary to write the foreword for the Granary book but he was unable to meet the publishing date.

A few interesting items that didn’t make it into the Granary book have surfaced including this ticket for the 3rd day BBC RPM music series that were filmed at the Granary in 1981. Wednesday 11th November 1981 featured THE STRANGLERS and VICE SQUAD, Thursday 12th was ALARM CLOX, THE GROSS CLUB and BLACK ROOTS, Friday 13th was SLOW TWITCH FIBRES, NEON and the PAYNEKILLERS.

The collection that contained these Granary bits and pieces were found in Les Pearce’s desk and were given to us by the Pearce family for which we thank them.

One ticket for an event in 1986 answers that age old question “When and where did all this binge drinking start?”

Gran Fan Aidan Naughton supplied us with this pic of Welsh band MAN on stage at the GRANARY on 2nd Feb 1984. The photograph was taken by Mike Ware.

Granareunited is always a great night crammed with all those classic rock tracks that made the Granary Club legendary. So whilst the rest of the country is going royal wedding crazy why don’t us rockers go crazy with a magical marriage of loud classic rock and beer at pub prices. Make a note in your diary to be free to make it to the Lion on Sunday 24th April.

Al Read was singer and guitarist with East of Eden on their first single “King of Siam” Atlantic Records 1968 which is included on two current LPs.  In Germany on “Le Beat Bespoke 4″ Circle Records, CPWL 111 and in Poland on “Owski Urities Psych Beat” Private Press, 666-1.

Al says “Back in 1968 I was an unknown singer and guitarist for a little known band here in the UK. Now 40 years later I have become an unknown singer  for a little known band all across Europe!”

Al Read makes his regular appearance at the Prom Music Bar as presenter of the Pop Quiz on Tuesday 7th December. Al would love you to come along and join in. The majority of Al’s quiz is made up of music clips for you to identify - easy - well perhaps. Give it a try.

The Granary Event of the Year - everyone invited to celebrate the memory of the heady Granary days of classic rock - your favourite rock floor fillers brought to you by the team of original Granary DJs. AND at no charge for admission. Pass the word to all your friends “The Granary is alive and well and rocking for Christmas!”