Welcome to NEWPORT Rock Collecting
Newport Rock Collecting is a social history and contemporary collecting project, created by Winding Snake Productions in partnership with Newport Museum & Art Gallery. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and with support from First Campus (University of South Wales).
Starting in 2018 we have been gathering memories and artefacts from gigs and gig-goers relating to events in Newport between 1970 and 2010 for a new audio archive and exhibition, celebrating Newport’s commitment to bands, gigs and rock music! Explore these pages to find out who we spoke to and what we heard.
Videos
PodCast
Special guests join host Richard Parfitt in two 1 hour specials for the archive.
Audio Archive Special 1: Richard Frame and Alan Jones
Audio Archive Special 2: Sam Dabb and Gary Raymond
Spotify Playlists
We have curated a selection of Spotify playlists for Newport Rock Collecting. Just click the playlist previews below to launch Spotify.
Audio Archive
We spoke to people from the Newport music scene about their memories and experiences.
To start listening straight away please visit the full archive at Peoples Collection Wales
For now, here is a sample...
Jon Langford: MAN, 1999
Jan Davies: Van Morrison and Georgie Fame, 1993
Paul Eversley: Reggae in Newport
Chris Harding: Stone Roses, 1995
Sue Jenkins: Hawkwind and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, c.1971
Paul Davies: Ralph and the Ponytails, 1978
Cathy Cooper: Gaydogs and Portsmouth Symphonia, 1974
Exhibition
We've selected a small number of artefacts from the exhibition at Newport museum for you to see here.
I SAW BILLY BRAG AT THE DOCKS SOCIAL CLUB (MINERS BENEFIT), BLURT, GIVE ME MEMPHIS, THE THREE JOHNS, RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, HUSKER DU AND MANY MORE AT STOW HILL LABOUR CLUB. CERTAINLY OVER 100 GIGS I WOULD SAY AT TIS AS WELL AS GIGS AT THE NEWPORT CENTRE.
I ALSO WORKED CASUALLY SELLING PROGRAMMES AT THE NEWPORT CENTRE FOR RUN DMC, ROACHFORD, CLIFF RICHARD, I HAVE TOO MANY STORIES TO EVEN BEGIN TO SPEAK ABOUT
C. Bertram
Get Involved
We've collected loads of stories, but its not too late to contribute towards this archive. We'd love to hear your memories of gig-going in Newport in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s or 2010s - you can either type your story out, or record yourself, and send it to us using the button below.