The Quarrymen live in Bristol
The Thunderbolt in Bristol will showcase THE QUARRYMEN on Saturday 17 December 2016.
The band that were on stage with John Lennon on Saturday July 6th 1957, John Lennon’s original Quarrymen got back together in 1977 to celebrate the most momentous meeting in pop music history. Their fun at the reunion and great interest from fans made them decide to re-form the group. Three of those five original musicians form the current Quarrymen line-up: Len Garry, former tea-chest bass player, now playing guitar and replacing Lennon as lead singer, – Rod Davis, from Quarry Bank School, who at first played the role of banjo player but now on guitar and Colin Hanton on drums, who played with John, Paul, George on the famous 1958 Percy Phillips recording session which produced “In Spite of All the Danger” and “That’ll Be the Day” which eventually went on to be featured on the Beatles’ “Anthology, Volume 1” CD set. New member John Duff Lowe who was invited by Paul McCartney to join the group in 1958 and who also played on the Percy Phillips Session is on piano. Other members of the original group included John’s lifelong washboard player Pete Shotton who retired because of health reasons in December 2000, and guitarist Eric Griffiths who sadly died in January 2005. In 1998, New York post referred to them as “Pre-Fab Five” after their gig at the legendary “Bottom Line” in Greenwich Village. Anyone who is well versed with the history of Beatles is aware of the fact that The Quarrymen eventually evolved into the Beatles. The Quarrymen’s music is influenced by the stories of their origin, the skiffle and early rock music and this draws to their shows not only Beatles’ fans but all those who enjoy the history of the music and of the fifties.
The Quarrymen’s music influenced the birth of the Beatles, the Skiffle and Rock ‘n’ Roll of the mid fifties which includes records such as – “Rock Island Line”, “Mean Woman Blues”, “Midnight Special”, “Twenty Flight Rock”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, and many more, played in the style of the hundreds of similar groups who were laying the foundations of British Rock Music. But the one major difference was that The Quarrymen was fronted by immensely talented John Lennon who gathered together his best mates way back then to go aboard on the most famous journey in music history. The Quarrymen along with their music also share their Liverpool sense of humour in the stories and anecdotes with which they spice up their performance. This added feature gives Beatle fans a unique insight into the origins of their favourite group and the city in which they grew up.
The Quarrymen have played all over Europe, in Canada, Japan, Cuba, and Russia since 1997 and have visited the USA many times, performing in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Las Vegas and across the country. They have shared the stage with Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Tony Sheridan and Laurence Juber and have also appeared many times on TV and radio appearances. They were featured on the BBC TV’s Hour long documentary titled “It was 50 years ago today” which dealt with the “Day John Met Paul” in Liverpool. In concurrence with the Lennon biopic “Nowhere Boy”, the Quarrymen in 2010 undertook a 21 day tour of the US during which they played 17 gigs from coast to coast. During this time they also did a massive gig in New York to celebrate John’s 70th Birthday and the guests in this gig included Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton and Neil Innes. In 2013 they were featured in the Channel 4 documentary “Rock ‘n’ Roll Britannia”. Two cds have been releases by them, “Get Back Together” in 1977 and “Songs We Remember” in 2004 and 60 minute dvd was released in 2009 by Horst Fascher’s Star Club tv.
Bassist Chas Newby has also now joined the Quarrymen who was a school friend of Pete Best and was recruited by him when they Stuart Sutcliffe left them and they had no bass player. Chas played with them on four occasions before he went back to university. He plays a left handed Hofner bass and his musical ability and his gentle sense of humour will prove a great addition to the Quarrymen’s lineup in 2016.
www.originalquarrymen.co.uk/