DEAN COOK ON LINE-UP CHANGES, RECORDING THE “HARD TIMES” ALBUM, AND WHAT THE BRIAR GUYS ARE DOING TODAY
Decibel Geek podcast/website staff writer The Lionsheart recently interviewed Dean Cook for a talk about the reissue of Hard Times by Briar, the bonus material and the last couple of years of Briar before disbanding in 1993. A few excerpts follow:
On recruiting a new vocalist/frontman in Kevin Billington:
“As I say we were deflated after the CBS/Sony deal and we were keen to get something else out there to try and help restore our reputation as a solid original band, Gimme All You Got was written as part of Reach Out so that was our next 7” self-financed single! We got that out there on our managers Shotgun Charlie label, it gained us a little interest but sadly didn’t get us an acceptable record deal, which is what we needed at the time, which is a pity! Basically, Kevin Griffiths was always more interested in playing bass than singing, so at this point he decided he just wanted to enjoy himself on stage and just play bass...so we got a new singer in for a while! It was as simple as that really!”
On recording the Cleveland House Demo in 1990 with the new six piece line up including keyboard player Jez Prosser:
“It was recorded in our rehearsal space in Cleveland House on Tyburn Road in Birmingham with our live sound guy Den York & manager George Bond, it was recorded completely live on our 8-track Tascam tape machine, as far as I can remember it was the only time we recorded live with Kevin Billington, it turned out well.“
On memories for the recording of the Hard Times album way back in 1992:
“We had set up that studio with our manager, it was so we could go in and record demo’s when we wanted to! In hindsight Briar always sounded best when we recorded live, we weren’t the type of band who were happy to record and re-record! We rehearsed a lot and we sounded great live and in my opinion that’s how we should’ve always recorded.“
On how Dean has kept himself busy and what the guys in Briar are doing today:
“Yeh, I have many projects and I’m always playing in lots of bands, it’s just my thing really! I’m only happy when I’m playing! Dave is currently in a couple bands, I also play with him. He is in Bogus Blooze and Ssex PistolsS (tribute). Dave’s my fave guitarist ever! He’s the most natural rock player I have ever played with and I have played with many players! Kevin Griffiths still plays, I’ve played in a number of projects with him over the years since Briar split up, he played bass in my solo project for a while called Ten and we also played together in a band called This Is. Kev also still plays occasionally with a few covers bands. Darren I still see occasionally but he doesn’t really do much of the band stuff nowadays, I think he was and is still more interested in the recording process as opposed to the live bad thing!“
Link to Official Website Post:
The Decibel Geek Podcast, started in 2011, is a weekly hard rock and heavy metal music and discussion show. Covering rock and metal bands from the late 60’s to today, the show features rotating themes including Year in Review, Radio Sucks Radio Show (music-based), Interviews, Fresh Blood (upcoming bands) and many more.
