About Us

Think you’ve heard every anecdote about The Beatles? 

Or what inspired David Bowie to write Life On Mars?

Why Steve Marriott took a wooden wedge to every gig?

And how Jack Bruce fell out with a city?

Do you know where it was illegal to buy someone a drink?

ABOUT THE BOOK

• LIVE AT THE FRONT PAGE is a book which tells the true story of a little cellar music club where everyone loved to play. It includes authentic and untold comic moments in the musical story of the city of Carlisle from the sixties to the nineties.
• Jazz legend Ronnie Scott, seventies superstar Steve Marriott, Cream bass player Jack Bruce, and Pentangle founder Bert Jansch are just a few of the dozens of musicians whose stories intertwine with the Thatcher era of the 1980’s. 
• Mark Knopfler contributes his own thoughts about his background and influences during what he calls the ‘wilful’ destruction of the North’s industrial heritage. 
• The surviving member of the Zimbabwean band The Bhundu Boys, who made their English debut in the club tells the tragic story of a group of young musicians wiped out by HIV.
• In the background is a unique social experiment which controlled the entire city’s drinking habits, and shaped attitudes to the arts and entertainment for three generations.
• it is a modern musical history of Carlisle and a story of triumph over adversity during a decade in music, politics and social upheaval which influences life in Britain to this day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Martin Lawson is a journalist who has worked in television news for Border TV, BBC Newcastle, TVam, Sky News and The Associated Press. He was co-owner of the Front Page Club with Bob Mungall during the 1980's when the club was first established.