2013


	Welcome to the Quarrymen’s Official Website


	UPDATED Oct 2016


		The Quarrymen in 2013:

	St Petersburg and Moscow

     On Thursday 18 April Len Colin and Rod met in Helsinki Airport and flew on to St Petersburg where we were met by a welcoming group of Russian fans and driven to our hotel which overlooked a stretch of water covered in thick ice, at the other side of which was moored the cruiser “Aurora”, whose gun had fired the shot to signal the attack on the Winter Palace in the October Revolution of 1917. After meeting our host, gig organiser Alexei and our fixer Jane we were entertained to a splendid dinner washed down with some Siberian beer!
     Next day Jane took us on a walking tour of St Petersburg and the weather gradually warmed up, so much so that the ice on the river had completely melted by the time we returned to the hotel. The city is nothing short of fabulously beautiful and would certainly repay a longer and more leisurely visit.
   The Club Aurora - named after the cruiser - was right next door to the hotel so sound check was just a stroll away. We were introduced to our guest bass player, Nail and ran through a few numbers with him. The gig went very well, we were on last, having enjoyed the previous bands such as Urban Crow from Finland and Russian bands Sunflowers and Putting on the Beatles Style amongst others. Urban Crow presented us with copies of a very funny and irreverent comic strip history of the Beatles -in English - which we found most amusing.
                                                                                                                                    Photo above: With Petersburg gig organiser Alexei Lyamin   Next morning it was raining, so we were taken on a trip by minibus around the city, visiting some of the incredibly beautiful churches such as the “Cathedral on the Blood”. In the afternoon we had lunch a bar called “Liverpool” before taking the train to Moscow.


		Left: The Winter Palace


		Below: The Cathedral on the Blood


	Left: with guest bassist Nail Kadirov



The express to Moscow was superb - just four hours instead of the overnight trip it used to be. The weather was just a little warmer than St Petersburg but it was a bit damp as next morning we were taken on a drive round some of Moscow’s sights, ending up at Radio Moscow’s English language broadcast service where we were interviewed by DJ AJ, who turned out to be an American guy. We had a lot of fun pulling each others’ legs and he turned up at our gig that evening and played washboard for us on a skiffle number. The Moscow gig was to be held in a famous club called B2 and there was a surprise waiting for us there in the shape of Andrey Makarevich. Andrey had a band in Soviet times called Time Machine and is probably the most famous musician in Russia and a huge Beatles fan. We twisted his arm to play washboard with us, and when he walked on stage the whole place erupted with delight! The audience was quite fantastic and it was certainly one of our best ever gigs. Many thanks go to our Russian fixer, Jane, to the organisers of the gigs for their great hospitality, to our two guest bassists and to all those kind people who made this trip such a success.



		Above: with Moscow guest bassist Den Kagorlitskiy




		Above: with Andrey Makarevich and Jane


		Below: The B2 Club in Moscow


	Right: with the guys at Radio Moscow English language service

There is quite a lot of footage of the Quarrymen in Russia on Youtube, some
better than others. Try these:

St Petersburg:

That’ll be the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md4EUmqwaZA

Twenty flight Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auSRRM85Go4

Blue Suede Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMuF6ghwp84

Maggie May: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4p37k-8UEM

Freight Train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVsftfL2iLc

Rock Island Line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzm8VFYVQNY

That’s all right Mama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVs-UvVt4Z0

Moscow:

In my life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy33WDRl7jc

Blue Suede shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mnjDKwni9Q

One after 909:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpVVoSCRE0I

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/SpVVoSCRE0I/search/quarry-men

Putting on the style with Andrey Makarevich on washboard!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BRaT_Q1hY