For Those About to Rock...We Salute You...Again! by Joolz

For those of a certain age and musical leaning, the name Trog Bar will hold great memories. For a goodly number of years, Trog Bar was the place to go on a night out if you liked your music Loud and Rockin'. The place itself seemed to act as a gravitational force to all with long hair, tattoos, denim jackets and a preference for patchouli. It wasn't the sort of venue you could easily take your gran for a quiet drink. But who wanted old biddies under your feet?

The décor was bad, mad and mean and the carpet developed, over a number of years, a life force all of its own, sucking at unwary customers feet if they stood still for too long. But we put up with all of that to hear the music played. As much Rock and Metal as you could get and at a volume warranted of the genre. Even when, in the mid 80s it was closed for 'refurbishment' and turned from a dark and moody nightspot, to a shiny, chromed, laser studded venue, cleverly called Lasers, it took the very smart move to keep the Rock and Metal music theme going.

Even on a weekend, when the 'Trendies' infiltrated the inner sanctum of the local 'metal head', the music still was loud and proud.

Who can forget the two 'state of the art' laser, that worked briefly after opening and then very infrequently for about 2 years before dying completely? Always a good laugh for writing important messages on the walls. I can always remember one message reading 'Girls - watch your handbags' whilst the other laser simultaneously wrote 'All Trendies Fuck Sheep' up the other end of the room for the amusement of the metal crowd. Ah simple things... The local Metal scene was also served well at the time by the Rugby Tavern and Georgian pubs and even had a dedicated Rock Night at Romeo and Juliet's nightclub.

Then, in the mid 90's, Lasers finally closed, to be knocked through and turned into some soulless, production line, eatery come pub. The rock crowd soon lost what appeared to be virtually all its favourite venues and the town rang to the tune of pop and not rock. Metal heads like myself were growing older and the scene seemed to diminish.

Recently though, the sound of metal seems to be growing louder and louder. More rock is played on the radio, more seen on TV. Some of the 'classic' 80s bands are having either revivals in their fortunes or even re-unions of those who split and are out touring more and more.

And locally, the sound of metal can be heard once more spilling through pub doorways.

For a while now, the White Room on Cleveland Street has been doing a sterling job with its promotion of live music and now, the town centre has once more got a venue for all diehard metal fans. The Green Bricks overlooking Hull Marina now boasts a Rock Night every Friday night. The attendances are getting better and better and this is nearly all through word of mouth. The music for these evenings is supplied by Steve from Hull & Yorkshire Rockers (www.hullrockers.co.uk). He plays a full selection of all the classic rock and metal hits and takes any requests (check out the web forum), and, as he says 'If I've got it, I'll play it. If I haven't, I will next week'.

If you want to bring your own CD just in case he hasn't got it, he'll play that for you too.

Steve is very enthusiastic about having a permanent rock venue again once more in the city centre and is equally backed by the management and staff at the Green Bricks.

So, if you fancy a trip down memory lane, see if you can recognise a few old faces, spot who's lost or kept their hair or just want to listen to some damned good rock music, get on down the Green Bricks on a Friday night and see if you can still bang your head like you used to.

Comments System Prototype Version 1.0 by Mo

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