Tune in to Hastings Rock for the best new and classic rock music.

This Friday night at midnight Hastings Rock closes down for another year but as always it will do it in style. Why not come and join us on the final night here at the Robert de Mortain for the End Of Broadcast Party. We will be playing the best rock from across the years, with music playing around the pub and the beer garden, with TV screens showing the studio at work. Your DJs for the evening will be Clive, Jonnie Diamond, Steve Dack, Andy Gunton and Ralph Winser.

The evening will start at 7pm and the BBQ will fire up at 9pm. BBQ food has been kindly donated by Alan Bellfield and Bookers Cash and Carry. Your BBQ chefs will be Team Lizard and all BBQ proceeds go to St Michaels Hospice.

Don't forget, Friday 27th May at 7pm at the Robert, with your favourite radio station....see you there.
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Since 1993 Hastings Rock has provided the best rock radio around and given support to a host of local bands and musicians. As you know it is very expensive for the licenses to allow Hastings Rock to broadcast each year; over £6,000 for a 28 day licence.

Over the past few years, many of you have asked us how you can help fund raise and help Hastings Rock return each year. Well, we have listened and now you can help by using the brand new Donate Button on this website. It is a safe way to donate to the Hastings Rock funds and it`s easy to do. Just click the Donate Button and chose debit, credit card or Paypal. You must be aware that the Donate Button is for Hastings Rock fund-raising only, to support our broadcasts and not for any other purpose.

Hastings Rock is run entirely by volunteers and will remain that way. So if you like what you hear and feel you can help, any donation however great or small will be used to keep Hastings Rock on air every year. You can find the Donate Button on the panel, just to the left of this message. So please help us to continue to bring you the very best in rock each and every May.

This morning I heard the very sad news of the death, from cancer, of Marian Joan Elliott-Said, aka Poly Styrene. As is so often the case these days, I heard the news via Twitter.

Poly Styrene was the lead singer in the influential Punk band X-Ray Spex. Their first single "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!" created quite a stir when it came out back in 1977, as I well remember. The sight of a young girl, with braces on her teeth, singing those words with such feeling, both upset and inspired people in equal numbers.

Poly Styrene subsequently became a role model for many young women throughout the years, even up to the present day. But especially back in those heady days of the late 1970's.

I still have my copy of their big hit single "The Day The World Turned Dayglo' by the way, in orange vinyl no less. It sits in its rightful place amongst all the classic Punk 45s from that time and it still packs a punch now.

Unfortunately, I never got to see X-Ray Spex live. I did get close though. I went to see them in Liverpool, at the famous 'Erics' club in Matthew St. but the gig was cancelled for some long forgotten reason.

Poly Styrene had only recently released a brand new album 'Generation Indigo'. It's a good album and one I can thoroughly recommend. She had even been promoting the album as much as her illness permitted, even to the extent of giving interviews from St. Michael's Hospice. Through Tweets, Facebook updates and interviews, she said she had been looking forward to getting out there to promote the album even more and to get back singing again. Sadly, that will no longer happen.

But what makes Poly Styrene's death all the more poignant for me, is the local aspect. As has often been reported, Marian got into Punk music and effectively became Poly Styrene after seeing the Sex Pistols play on Hastings Pier way back in 1976, supporting Budgie would you believe?

In recent years she made had her home in St Leonards-on-Sea, my own home town. I pass her house most days and used to see her about on the street quite often. Although I never actually plucked up the courage to speak to her. Weird isn't it?

Because of my involvement with Hastings Rock, I have been listening to Poly Styrene's new 'Generation Indigo' album quite a lot recently and picking out tracks to play on my Local Music Show. Only the other day, I sent off the track "Thrash City" to be placed onto the station's 'A' List, when Hastings Rock comes back on the air this Saturday. Now, unfortunately, those songs will be played as a tribute.

As I mentioned earlier, Poly Styrene had been in St Michael's Hospice, not far from her home. It is no co-incidence that the charity Hastings Rock now supports during its broadcasts is St Michael's Hospice. We support St Michael's Hospice because of the wonderful work that they do, because they are local and also because we all know somebody who has been affected by cancer.

Unfortunately that has been brought home to all of us in the Hastings musical community, with the sad passing of Poly Styrene. At least we will always have her music to remember her by.

R.I.P Marian Joan Elliott-Said (Poly Styrene) 1957-2011.

Oh Cancer, Up Yours!

AG.

You can see videos of X-Ray Spex and view and make comment on Andy's blog here.

The first Beatles day took place at Pissarro's in December 2000 and was so popular it has since spawned a further eleven events, moving to the Marina Pavilion in 2001, then to Hastings Pier in 2004 and finaly in 2007, across the road to the White Rock Theatre.

Each year it grows in stature and Beatles Day 12, held on Sunday 10th April was no exception. There were two stages in action, one in the main auditorium and the other downstairs in the Sussex Rooms, providing a total of over 19 hours of almost continuous entertainment provided by over 60 acts. The only criterion for the day is that all songs performed must be Beatles related, otherwise anything goes. This can and does include solo material from any of the four members, or material they wrote for others.

So there was rock, in the form of Hornet, who thrashed out three high energy songs, their guitarist being carried through the audience while he played, which was very entertaining. Mike Hatchard (keyboards) and Mark Ramsden (sax) brought a jazz element to the event with their renditions of, amongst others, Penny Lane and For No One. Brooke and Geoff Sharkey and Bear provided a folk variation with Brooke playing mandolin on two of the numbers they performed. They travel down from Norwich each year to support this event

Whole families were represented, five on stage in the case of A Flock of Flacks, showcasing their musical talent with Get Back, Your Mother Should Know and The Things We Said Today. Nigel Clements (guitar), accompanied singer Hanna Smyth and guitarist Shauwn Dubrai and performed five numbers including For No One and Blackbird. Young band Stagefright used the opportunity of a decent stage and PA to perform their four songs in a punk style. Also representing the young, Idi Ellis, at just 13, had the audience spellbound with his blues interpretation of Sexy Sadie and You Can't do That. He repeated these and four others in the Sussex Rooms later on. Hastings Rock's own bluesman Richard Studholm (Mondays 2100 - 2300) performed as the Blue Devils and featured the Cranbrook Symphoney Orchestra. Their selection of songs included Strawberry Fields Forever, Glass Onion and Here Comes the Sun. Eclipse, as you may guess, performed their set in the style of Pink Floyd, an excellent interpretation of four songs including Something and You Never Give Me Your Money

Into the evening, local musician, Ronnie Scott's Award and double BBC Jazz Award winner Liane Carroll appeared with her husband Roger Carey and Steeleye Span drummer Liam Genocky to perform their short set which included If I Fell and We Can Work It Out. Another change of style with the Submarino Marinas (aka Blair) brought a Latin American flavour to their performance. Blair kept the rest of his band on their toes with his improvised but very tight performance, and the talented set of musicians with him coped admirably.

The evening was rounded off by the Electric Beatles, one of two Beatles look and sound alike bands. They performed some of the earlier Beatles songs culminating in a final rendition, with other performers and the audience, of Hey Jude.

All the musicians perform for free at this event which raises money for MacMillan Cancer Care. With fears that a fine sunny afternoon outside might deter people from attending, a running total was read out throughout the day. By the end, the audience raised a loud cheer when they learnt that this year's event had exceeded last year's total with over £16,800 raised for this very worthwhile cause. This all aided by the many volunteers who gave up their time to run and manage this event. It is worth noting that over the twelve Beatles Days so far, over £100,000 has been raised to help people living with cancer in East Sussex.

Beatles Day is arguably one of the best showcases of the year for local musicians. One of the performers involved, Jo Brooks, said he regards Beatles Day as a kind of Hastings' musicians 'works outing'. The event shows that Hastings punches way above its weight for its population size, with so much musical talent in one place. Pete Prescott, as organiser of the event, referring to this said "I love this town". Of those attending the White Rock Theatre on Sunday, few would argue with that.

SFH.

You can find more information on Beatles Day at its website here.

For our 2011 broadcast we are pleased to announce that we are being sponsored by Chase Vets, who practice in Hastings, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Bexhill and Tunbridge Wells. Apart from surgeries, they offer a range of services including pet food, pet aid and a pets abroad service.

We will be back as usual on 87.7 MHz. F.M. and on-line, raising awareness for St. Michael's Hospice which we hope you will support. So please join us for our broadcast in May.

If you would like to advertise with us, you can find contact details on our contacts page.

In the meantime why not check out one of our social networking sites where there is bound to be some lively discussion about our forthcoming broadcast. You might also want to visit our sponsor's website or that of our chosen charity.

Keep checking this website for more information and don't forget to tune in during May. top

Due to low usage both during our last broadcast and throughout the last year it has been decided to close the Hastings Rock forum.

In a message to all users, Steve Tomlin, who runs the forum said "We have decided this year to lay to rest the Hastings Rock Forum. It's been superb over the last few years and I know all involved have enjoyed it very much. We will hand over to the Hastings Rock Facebook fan site. Please get involved and show your support this year. Tune in and turn it up in May. Over and out..... All at HR Forum"

We would like to thank Steve and his team for all the hard work and effort that they put in to set up and manage the forum over the years.

Are you in a local band? ...

We are keen to help promote local music. If you have songs you think should be heard on the station, then we want to hear from you now. Your music needs to be on CD, preferably original material and of broadcastable quality and content. So if you are from the Hastings, Rye, Battle or Eastbourne area, e-mail Andy Gunton for more details.
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You will find all the news about Hastings Rock here on these pages. They are updated regularly, particularly leading up to and during our broadcast periods, so keep visiting to stay in touch with the latest news from your favourite radio station!

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