Briar

R

ising during the time of the NWOBHM movement and fading as it passed its peak in the heavy metal world, Briar came out of Birmingham in 1979 under the original membership of Kevin Griffiths (vocals/guitar), Dean Cook (drums), Dean Rogers (guitar) and David Tattum (bass). They played their first gig under the name in 1980, a name they settled on after having "got pissed off changing names all the time".

They would release their debut Too Young in 1985 under the revised membership of Dave Fletcher (guitars/vocals (backing)),Daren Underwood (guitars/vocals (backing)), Dean Cook (drums) and Kevin Griffiths (vocals (lead)/bass). This line-up would then go on to record Take On the World (1986) and Crown of Thorns (1987) before a very long break in recording resulting is several new demos in an effort to re-enter the market. The aptly titled Hard Times would be the result in 1992 under the again revised membership of Cook and Griffiths with new members Jez Prosser (keyboards) and Mark Carleton (guitars). As it turns out those hard times never ended, and while competing acts like Iron Maiden and Saxon carried on the NWOBHM banner into the next century, albeit modernized, Briar failed to keep up and folded in 1993.