CAVERN CLUB TO OPEN ITS DOORS TO RISING MUSICIANS WITH ROCK SCHOOL

Cavern Club is to open its doors for rising musicians with new Rock School programme

Liverpool’s Cavern Club is opening its doors to budding musicians with their new Rock School programme.

The cellar club’s tuition programme will focus on helping musicians to learn their craft in the place where The Beatles learned theirs in the early 1960s.

Rock School Director and Principal tutor Richard Punzi, who graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, is heading-up the Rock School tuition project that offers expert lessons on guitar, bass guitar, piano and drums to students of all ages and levels in multiple styles.

Richard says: “Learning your instrument is so much more than simply being taught chords. It is about having the confidence to put your own personality into every performance and what better place to find inspiration to do that than the place where the biggest music phenomenon learned theirs?! Our programme not only focuses on the individual learning music and theory but also puts students into a band situation playing songs, to help them understand how to work together as a unit. We aim to showcase that talent annually on The Cavern Club stage."

The Cavern Club, which recently sponsored Best Live Act at The Q Awards, has been providing live music since it opened as a Jazz Club in 1957 and continues to promote original bands and artists.

BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Dave Monks regularly holds successful BBC Introducing shows at the venue and Amsterdam and Pele singer/songwriter Ian Prowse runs a hugely popular open mic night in the Cavern Pub every Monday. The Cavern also teams up with Sound City and Generator to present the Arts Council funded Mapped Out project which supports new bands on a national tour and gives music fans a chance to see the acts of tomorrow for as little as £5.

Events director Jon Keats says: “The Cavern has a rich musical history. Our venue is synonymous with The Beatles but our motto is ‘A foot in the past and a hand in the future’. The Rock School is yet another example of how we are looking to the future whilst at the same time protecting the legacy of the Beatles and incredible artists who have made the Club the legendary venue it is today.”

The Rock School tuition programme is set to take off this week and has already attracted a number of students eager to take to the iconic stage, which has played home to Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and more recently Arctic Monkeys, Elbow, Jessie J, Adele and Jake Bugg.

Jon adds: “We’re proud to be able to offer something unique to our students who don’t just want to be stuck learning chords in their bedroom.”