Viv Ellis is dusting off her spandex leggings for the big music fest in W7

Thirteen rock bands, three venues, one evening. That’s what’s in store with the Hanwell Hootie – on Saturday April 6th.

So far, bands lined up include The Chairs, The Scoundrels, the Du Bellows and Et Tu Brucé .

“The idea is to promote good, live music in small venues,” says Alistair Young, the secretary of the Ealing Club which is organising the event. “We are selecting guitar-related bands who recognize and respect their rock heritage”

And “rock heritage” is big in Hanwell. All down to one man. Jim Marshall. An ex drummer, he opened a shop on Uxbridge Road in 1962 selling amplifiers. The cream (if you’ll pardon the pun) of the burgeoning British rock world beat a path to little old Hanwell to get amped up. Imagine …….you might have walked out of Lidl and bumped into Jimi Hendrix! He really was one of the shop’s most famous customers (and his middle name was ‘Marshall’ – serendipity or what?)

The venues for the Hootie are three local, well-established pubs; The Royal Victoria and The Prince Of Wales both on Boston Road and the Inn On The Green, just round the corner in Lower Boston Road. Each pub will host four bands with the music kicking off at around 5pm.

Marshalls are sponsoring the event – which may be annual if this first one goes well – and have arranged for a plaque commemorating Jim Marshall’s former shop to be formally erected in the afternoon. Plus, their latest amplifier is called “The Hanwell” in homage to the part Hanwell played in the Marshall success story. (They were going to call it ‘The Birmingham’ but changed their minds. As a Brummie I ought to feel a bit miffed about that, but hey ……)

Best of all – all this is FREE – you can download a ticket from the Hanwell Hootie Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheHanwellHootie?fref=ts

But be quick, the organisers say tickets are going like hot cakes and they can only guarantee entry if you are at the venue before 6pm.

Viv Ellis

11th March 2013