Cumbernauld man writes trailblazing new rock book about cult band. The Grateful Dead

Greenfaulds resident John Kilbride is the author of ‘The Golden Road – The Recorded History of The Grateful Dead’

John (54) who is originally from Bishopbriggs but who has lived in the town for 15 years with his wife and son, said that he was confident that there is a massive market for the book he’s just spent two years writing. And that’s despite his own admission that the band he’s been a fan of since the 1980s is not as well known on this side of the Atlantic.

The former broadcast journalist said: “The Grateful Dead were one of the biggest touring bands ever from the late 60s to the mid 90s. Surviving members remain a huge act, and are touring this summer while a biopic of their legendary late guitarist Jerry Garcia is in the pipeline.

“The book was published last week by Sonicbond publications that specialises in music biography. The book tells the story of the band through their releases. Despite only releasing about a dozen studio albums during their career, they have since released over 100 archive live recordings.”

That brought back a few memories for John in turn who first discovered the band on an expedition to The Barras as a young lad.

He said: "I was in search of more old-school Clash singles but came away with a bundle of tapes that even decades later shaped my musical taste. The stall obviously wanted rid of these obscure tapes, selling them cheaper than blank tapes so I picked them up on the strength of what I’d heard and the fact there were some Dylan covers. This was, to paraphrase the lyric, being shown the light in the strangest of places. I knew I was on the right track writing it when I spotted a guy wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt in the Antonine Centre.

“Several band members have published autobiographies and there are a large number of books that tell the band's story. This is the first that tells it through the recordings that have emerged.”

The book priced £17.99 is available from www.burningshed.com/sonicbond