BRIAR Vinyl Records and CDs

... music !!......it was bloody awesome !"..................the two guy's were hooked, they soon found out the vocalist in question George Bond only lived around the corner from them !. His life (sadly for him ! tee hee !) would never be the same again. Briar needed a manager and Dean & Kev were determined he was their man. Dean remembers "George had this little Marshall Amp a little 30 watt combo, I think and we were round their every night asking to borrow it for our rehearsals at David Tattum's house", George allowed the guy's to use the amp, but was apparently none too impressed when he found out, 3 guitars & 2 vocalists were all plugged into it, George remembers " I was invited to check the band out at the bassists house, they had turfed his mom & dad out for the night and set the gear up in the front room, the band started playing....it was the worst thing I had ever heard, I stopped them and said, have you tuned up, they nodded....and smiled, then I realised, they had, but not together, so you had 3 guitarists, tuned perfectly in completelly different keys.....they never sounded (quite) that bad again !". The bands first gig under the Briar name was in 1980 at The Cameronian Club, Bromford, Birmingham to a huge crowd of friends. George was eventually convinced that taking on the band was a wise move and soon the band were gigging all over The Midlands, in this time a new bassist was recruited named John Smith, they quickly went from strength to strength, supporting the likes of "Cryer", "Bandanna", "Shy" & "Trouble". In 1982 the line up changed and Darren Underwood & Dave Fletcher were recruited for the departing Dean Rogers, soon after John Smith also left the band and Kevin Griffiths took up bass guitar !, the new lineup was Kevin Griffiths (Bass & Vox), Darren Underwood (Guitar & B.V's), Dave Fletcher (Guitar & B.V's) & Dean Cook (Drums & B.V's). In 1982 the first Briar 7" single was released on (producer/writer Muff Murfin's) Worcester indie label Happy Face Records, the vinyl received brilliant press from the start, metal magazine KERRANG claiming "Another new band on their way to stardom !". The first big break came when (then) top radio 1 DJ Peter Powell gave the band their first (of many!) BBC radio session's plus he decided to put the band on their first live TV appearance on his top viewed programme "The Oxford Roadshow". The appearances were a huge success for the band, who were now commonplace names at such top London venues as The Marquee (Wardour St), Dingwalls etc, the band then won a top Birmingham band competition called "The Hottest Band in Town" run by magazine Brum Beat, soon after that the band inked their first proper record deal with FM/HM Records and the first album "Too Young" (recorded at UB40's DEP studio) was released again with great reviews from UK rock press. The band then started playing to full houses at such bigger venues as "The Hummingbird", "The Powerhouse" etc, in Birmingham plus playing support to (at the time) top bands such as Tygers Of Pantang, Statetrooper, Eddie & The Hot Rods & Angel Witch. The band biggest break came in 1986 when they had put out a new longplayer titled "Take On The World", a great album of powerchord 80's pop metal !! still a favourite with many fans, pop guru Jonathan King rung the band up and decided Briar were just what the UK rock scene needed, the band were signed to his management company "JonJo" & George Bond was installed as full time personal manager to the band, with Jonathan & (his brother) Andy as business managers. A new record deal with PRT was signed and a new single put out "Edge of a broken heart" was the bands first hit, No 1 in the national rock charts, ahead of