The Laurels

Series 1 Episode 7 of the podcast covers the work of The Laurels. It features host Dean Vernals ‘in conversation’ with Mark Butler & John Bonehill who both played guitar and shared vocal duties in the band.

The Laurels were a four-piece formed in 1986 and as well as Mark & John, the core line-up featured Trevor Walsh on bass and Fintan O’Hallorhan on drums. Dean first became aware of them sometime in the late 1980s, when he was passed a demo tape by a musician friend. He digitised it during the first lockdown in 2020 & set about locating members of the band, with the hope of persuading them to take part in the series. He struck lucky after spotting a post on the Birmingham Music Archive Facebook page and discovered that he wasn’t the only one who has good memories of their music!

Mark & John have selected three tracks to play from the Laurels collection: Do You Believe in Me?, The Sound of Rain & Watershed. They also share a track they have written together and recorded since the break-up of the band - ‘Falling Away’.

If you remember The Laurels or were in a Birmingham band between 1985 & 2005 and would like to take part in a future episode, then get in touch at: [email protected]. You could also follow the podcast on Twitter – just search for whenthenightcomespodcast to see some archive photographs of the bands featured.

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