The Hayriders Formed in1982,having originally been known as The Rockin Renegades.The original line up was Neil Wright vocals; Wayne Dixon bass guitar; Rob Millichip lead guitar; Steve Anson rhythm guitar; Neil Freeman drums. Their first gigs were performed at a weekly residency at The Market Tavern, Kidderminster and various social clubs around the country. They became quite successful on this circuit, gaining good reviews, awards and accolades. At this time the music consisted of rock and roll standards. When members of the audience were noted to be Hepcats into the Neo-rockabilly scene which was sweeping the country, changes in musical style and line-up followed. Mark "Beefy" Davies coming from the Rockets (Mike Sanchez and Ian Jennings of Big Town Playboys fame) filled in on upright bass; Neil Wright continued on vocals; Rob Millichip on guitar and Neil Freeman on drums. With this new line up they came to the attention of Colin Silcocks (Rockin 50's Club) who booked them for one of his local record hops. On the success of this he then booked them to open for the Birmingham Powerhouse All-Dayer, and due to their isolation from the circuit, offered an alternative take on the music. They continued to climb the bill of successive all-dayers culminating in supporting Mac Curtis. On the strength of this, Paul Barrett (rock and roll promoter) booked them to support Eddie Bond in France, which led to support for Jackie-Lee Cochran in Bristol and France. At this point the band were performing 2 to 3 times a week, finding little time to record, but managed to record 3 tracks for "The James Deans Of The Dole Queue" LP on Northwood Records. They then went on to support Janis Martin in London and were requested to record a track for the "She's Just Rockin" LP. At this point members started to have families and the Rockin scene was slowing down so only sporadic gigs were performed with various line-ups and one recording was made for Rockhouse Records.

Then in 2010, Mark Davies and Neil Wright noticed a comment on Facebook asking "Whatever happened to The Hayriders and did they ever do an LP?" to which they thought "yeah whatever did happen and no we didn't do an LP due to lack of time" so the scene was set for a reunion. Neil Wright, Mark Davies and Rob Millichip were all still in the area and still in touch with each other but original drummer, Neil Freeman was last heard of flying helicopters in California then had moved to Australia. They performed a few gigs with Jim Booton on drums. Towards the end of 2011, Neil Wright heard a rumour that Neil Freeman had returned to the area so sent a tentative email resulting in the original line-up playing together for the first time in 30 years on New Year's Eve 2013. Since that time, original guitarist Rob Millichip decided not to continue and after trying several guitarists, they were lucky enough to gain one of the best guitarists in the country, Darren Lince (Space Cadets, Jack-Rabbit Slim etc.) With this new line-up, a CD has finally been recorded, due out November 2014. Gigs are coming in thick and fast, recently opening at Hemsby, this year supporting Levi Dexter and Johnny Powers . All members, now with full family support, are looking forward to performing more and more gigs and promoting their new CD.

Click here to listen : So Good  

Click here to listen : Is There No Love For Me Love 

Do you want to listen more HAYRIDERS' songs ? Click on each band / artist french page !