Birmingham, UK served as the birthplace for a band called Briar in 1979. With Briar‘s lineup solidified by 1982, they attracted some attention and their debut Too Young was issued in 1985. Quick on Too Young‘s heels was Take on the World in 1986 which led Briar to a worldwide record deal and the third release Crown of Thorns in 1988. After recording a fourth album, that to this day remains unreleased, and some lineup changes they released an 8-track album called Hard Times in a very limited number in 1992. Briar drummer Dean Cook says: “Hard Times represents the final chapter and an important part of the Briar story, to be honest, the band had got to the point where we all felt we were starting to try and play what people were buying as opposed to what we actually wanted to play!… We had written and recorded the tracks with our longtime manager & producer George Bond in our own studio, initially as a demo but a few people had heard it and loved it so we eventually put out some promo CD’s and cassettes, at the time it was a minimal release but sadly pretty soon after that the band had truly run its course and in 1993 we played our last show!”
Briar‘s Hard Times will now see the light of day and be released on January 18, 2016 worldwide thanks to Battle Cry Records/Mighty Monster Records.
BUY: Briar – Hard Times (link available shortly)
