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:
