No Sleep Till Saltburn

“No Sleep Till Saltburn”, by author, broadcaster and commercial voice artist [a:Mark Gregory 37774 Susanna Gregory https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1316288895p2/37774.jpg] examines the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) scene of the early to mid-1980s in and around my neck of the woods, the North East of England. His excellent book chronicles his adventures as a fan, a fanzine magazine publisher, concert promoter, band manager and milk man. This was an era when I had long messy hair, ripped skin-tight jeans, denim and bikers jackets with obscure band patches and an even more obscure band t-shirts. I was there when Metallica played Newcastle Mayfair 1986, with Cliff Burton (see my photos of that gig here and a bootleg here) on bass but even at that point Metallica had been around for a few years as they themselves had been influenced by the likes of Diamond Head and Raven (who recorded some seminal albums at Neat Records in my home town of Wallsend). So, Mark's book helped me to conceptualize the first several years of the metal scene in region, the years where I was just a little too young to go to gigs, drink beer, jump around the place and miss my last bus home.Mark has a real love of the subject and this shines through in his writing  which is full of depreciating humour. Easy to read and therefore enjoy I devoured this book in one day. This is a must read for all heavy metal and rock fans and having briefly met Mark at gigs he comes across as a really nice guy; here's hoping Mark writes a follow-up book! Check out the official Facebook page for more information and read a great interview with the man himself!Visit Marks Blog