5/11/15

THE SURREY ROCK SHOW!



With
STEPHEN “STEVE” GARDNER
From England, UK

Courtesy of Steve Gardner & Cassidy Young

 
The Surrey Rock Show with Steve officially launched in January 2015 after a few trial attempts at hosting the Rock Show in December 2014.

The idea is simple enough, to play a variety of rock music from new bands mixing them in with existing-established bands and the giants of the genre that are deemed classics now. Steve, or Mr. G as he is often referred to as, is constantly amazed by the geographical variety of his listeners.

‘I have listeners all over the UK but an almost equal amount in the US with Canada coming in a close third. When people started telling me they were in Europe and now also in Australia, it just baffles the mind that the reach is so far from our little studio in The Surrey Hills’

Steve often jokes that the studio is in the treetops of the Surrey Hills, which is a very green county with a largely untouched countryside bearing in mind its proximity to London.

‘The studio is in a small town called Leatherhead which is just outside the M25 ring road that keeps Londoners contained for the most part! It’s the home of Sir Michael Cain when he is in England and a whole host of other celebrities and sports stars. Some who have been into the studio to record pieces that go out on this community based radio station”.

 
The Surrey Rock Show is aired on a Saturday morning but is then uploaded to Mixcloud for the growing audience to play at their convenience. Steve then tweets about the show from the twitter account @SurreyRockShow offering suggestions of ‘Rock Sandwiches’ named because he generally plays the tracks in threes.

‘I do three tracks at a time as often listeners don’t have a full 2 hours to listen to the show which is internet based. Giving the timings out on Twitter means that the listener can go directly to a combo that they like the sound of. I will try to mix up two known bands with a new band or two new bands with an established act as the ‘filling’ for that sandwich! It’s an idea that seems to be working as the listening figures are fairly consistent each week’.

A new addition to the show is a once a month ‘Girls That Rock’ hour. Aired on the first show of the month the hour is made up of female fronted rock bands only. Steve mentioned

‘I decided to do the GTR hour (Girls That Rock) because some of the best rock out there right now is by bands with female leads & they are not getting the attention or respect they are due. The first GTR hour went out in April 2015 and it drew a lot of attention to the show. I’m getting a lot of tracks sent to me from bands I have never heard of and soon, I think a whole show of ‘Girls That Rock’ will be doable! And do it I will!’

The Surrey Rock Show can be found at: 


It airs every Saturday at 10:00hrs GMT or on Mixcloud via the twitter feed @SurreyRockShow.  

The Surrey Rock Show also has a facebook page where the latest show is always posted: