WARRINGTON rockers Wolf are set to take a unique trip down memory lane to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their first gig at Bridgewater High School.
Wolf, not to be confused with their Swedish heavy metal namesakes, first formed as a school rock band back in 1976 when part of Bridgewater High School still formed Appleton Hall County Grammar School, under the watchful eye of physics teacher and guitarist John ‘Muskrat’ Muscutt, lead guitarist Ian Harris, drummer Mark Olly, bass player Brian Peers, and vocalist Mike ‘Sag’ Sayer.
After many guests and line-up changes Wolf performed their first live gig at the school on the 23rd November 1979 and now exactly 40 years on they are set to recreate history.
Drummer Mark Olly explained: “In what has to be a music industry first, the original band line up will also include all the original guest performers, in the original venue, on the exact stage, with the original crew, playing the original set, at the same time and date as the first gig, hopefully with as many of the original crowd as can make it!”
Bearing in mind that this is a “high school gig” – doors open 6.00pm for the band to be on stage at 7.30pm. The audience have permission to bring their own alcohol in plastic glasses and the gig should end around 10.00pm so the band can all be heading home to bed by 11.00pm!
Tickets are limited and only available from TicketSource https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bridgewaterreunion/t-kmaall and cost £10.00 plus a small booking fee.
The aim is to raise money for the school to buy much needed IT equipment for the pupils studying there today.
The gig venue address is: Bridgewater Lower School, (top of) Hall Drive, Appleton, Cheshire, WA4 5JL.
Mark added: “Be there for something loud, exciting, full of surprises and special guests, and re-live your teenage years!”
Recounting the band’s history Mark added: “From the first gig in November 1979 WOLF then played Lymm Vortex Youth Club four times through 1980 and returned to Appleton Hall County Grammar School for a second gig before band members moved on to higher education. We then reunited through the spring and summer of 1981 with a view to repeating similar local gigs but for various reasons these never took place. Ian Harris eventually travelled the world through work and played a number of gigs in the far east including China, Brian Peers continued to play bass in several blues bands which took him to the United States, I worked in the music business until moving into television with drumming taking a back seat, Mike Sayer eventually settled in the honourable profession of brewing beer.
“Then in 1995 the band successfully reunited and the idea of the 40th reunion was first mentioned. We then met again in 2016 and approached the various other elements required to make the reunion possible and the school said ‘yes’, rehearsals began in 2018 and here we are at the WOLF 40th Reunion Concert 2019!”
