A lion’s roar to start the new Craufurd year

Quite often, a new year brings new resolutions, but at The Craufurd Arms, they ain’t bothering with any of that – instead, it’s business as usual at the venue, which means gigs galore. After all, if it ain’t broken, there’s nothing to fix, is there?

Things get off to a flying start with the return of British Lion (Jan 5), the hard rock mob founded, and featuring, Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris.
Of course it’s all sold out – the opportunity to see bassist Harris in a hot and sweaty club is too good an opportunity for fans not to take up.

But, this is more than just an opportunity to gawp – British Lion play with an undisputed roar, and tunes? They’ve got lots of ‘em.
The UK winter tour also features Tony Moore’s Awake in the special guest slot.

“Tony was, of course, in Iron Maiden back in 1977 so it is great to have him on the bill,” Steve said.

The planned Swamped! event sank late last year due to events beyond their control, but The Ogretones are re-booked to play the Wolverton venue (Jan 6). This homage to the Shrek films will roll for six hours from 8pm with DJs spinning when the band stops playing.
Don’t be a donkey – book early for a January lift-me-up.

999 celebrate their 48th year together in 2024. The British New Wave quartet from London played their first ever gig up the road from here, at Northampton’s Cricket Club in January 1977, and they soon found favour with the alt-youths. When the single Homicide leapt into the UK Top 40 without the assistance of any radio play, the BBC and many other stations responded by banning it. What was more punk than that?!
Still hard at it, 999 delivered their most recent album, Bish! Bash! Bosh! In 2020. They’ll be at the venue on January 12.

If you’ve still got some pennies left after the Christmas capers, get ready to hand them over at the Craufurd’s Record Fair (Jan 14) when the dealers bring out the vinyl delights and you get to flick through the racks. Entry is free and the fair runs from midday to 4pm. The bar is open. So sup as you search – just don’t spill any over those albums…

Cancer Bats come to play homage to Black Sabbath as Bat Sabbath – keep reading Pulse Music for details about that.

Moretallica (Jan 28) sold-out the venue last year, and they’ll probably do it this time too, playing music from all 11 of the San Franciscan-based titans studio releases.

Want to Ride the Lightning with them? The early bird is sure to get the ticket.
Saint Agnes (Jan 31) wrap up the month of music at the venue as they tour in support of their current album, Bloodsuckers.

In fact, the band has just issued a deluxe version of said opus with four new tracks for fans to hop onboard with.
“Making that record was such a surreal and emotionally raw time for me but also for Jon and Andy who had to make a record with somebody who was falling apart, it felt good to go back and develop some of those songs and vocal performances that were so heart wrenching to create, a bit of closure maybe?” said Kitty of this updated version.

“Creating this album gave me a reason to get to my feet at a time when I really wasn’t sure if I could. I’ve tried to put everything I’ve been feeling into it, all the pain, the rage, the grief, even the unexpected moments of beauty and belief. I hope it makes you feel less alone. I hope it makes you feel bigger, badder and stronger. We might be damaged but that doesn’t mean we’re worthless. This is a record for the defeated, the crushed.

“We might be broken but that doesn’t mean we’re not whole…”

For tickets, head to thecraufurdarms.com