A HISTORY of live music in the Forest of Dean comprising memories and photos taken over more than 30 years has been compiled into a new book.

Local music enthusiast Rolly Jones and his wife Trish recently finished writing and curating the second instalment of their non-fiction series ‘A Richer Seam Than Coal’, which details the history of well-known bands to have lived and performed in the Forest over the years.

For the front cover, Rolly brought together a host of musicians included in the book to take a photo (pictured) featuring five decades of local players at Scarr Bandstand in Sling.

The previous instalment, released in 2015, was a history of live music in the 50s and 60s, from the swing bands of local village hall dances to the first beat-era bands on the scene.

The new book - subtitled ‘Keep On Rocking In The Tree World’ - is an account of the music scene from 1966-1999, beginning with a round-up of the beat groups that graced venues like The Feathers in Lydney and Cinderford’s Causeway Club in the late 60s.

It goes on to chart a course through the 1970s, with rock bands like Kilgaron and Pump Action; continuing on to the punk and psychobilly of the 80s with Migraine and the legendary Blue Chickens; and finishing up in the “manic” 90s with international chart toppers - and probably the most successful band to hail from the Forest - EMF. 

But that is to name only a few of the countless bands included, and fans of a certain age are sure to recognise many of the names of those who have made their mark on the Forest music scene over the years.

To produce the book, Rolly has had conversations with some of the stalwarts of the Forest scene to fill in any gaps in his knowledge.

In the future, he either plans to produce another book, called ‘In Search of the Lost Chords’, to round up all the bands he’s missed, or to work with someone a bit younger to help continue on from 2000 to the present day. 

Rolly said of the book’s publication: “It’s gone down really well, we wanted to make sure people in the bands had first dibs on copies as it’s self published, and now we’re starting to get the word out a bit more. 

“A lot of what’s in there comes from local newspaper adverts, which means it’s dated, so people are able to remember where they were or if they were there on a particular night.”

The book is available to buy for £14.95 from The New Inn at Viney Hill or direct from Rolly and Trish by calling 01594 841115.