Spotlight shined on Shropshire's Next Big Thing
The line-up reads like a Who's Who of the best unsigned talent in Shropshire. Dozens of local groups are vying for the chance to become Shropshire's Next Big Thing in a Shropshire Star competition, run in conjunction with BBC Radio Shropshire.
The line-up reads like a Who's Who of the best unsigned talent in Shropshire. Dozens of local groups are vying for the chance to become Shropshire's Next Big Thing in a Shropshire Star competition, run in conjunction with BBC Radio Shropshire.
And tomorrow night, the spotlight will shine on the bands taking part as BBC Radio Shropshire broadcasts a two-hour special. DJs Josh Withey and Rob Fanner will focus on local bands hoping to win the top prize – a gig before up to 10,000 fans at the Shrewsbury Fields Forever Festival in September. The duo, who are experts on the unsigned bands scene in Shropshire, regularly feature the best of new music.
The programme will provide details on how bands can enter Shropshire's Next Big Thing, as well as featuring a session with one of the entrants.
Albert Jones is a musician and songwriter with an impressive musical resume and will be playing live on the show.
The Whitchurch singer/songwriter began writing songs as a teenager but didn't find a stage until leaving for Plymouth University. Once there, things happened quickly. He formed a band, AlBenAza, and played around the UK and Europe at festivals, bars and cafes supporting Reef, Jurassic 5 and others
After two albums and one EP, Albert, band members Ben and Aza found themselves walking down different musical paths and Albert became lead guitarist for exceptional Cornish songwriter Ruarri Joseph.
In between tours with Ruarri he found the time to concentrate on his first solo record, an acoustic EP entitled This Door. Further gigs followed at venues throughout the South West, where he performed alongside international stars like Jack Johnson and Paolo Nutini.
He relocated to Lyon, France, and discovered a French audience hungry for an authentic, British tunes. Soon, he played major gigs with KT Tunstall, Newton Faulkner and Squeeze at both the Altitude Festival and the Little World Festival.
Albert said he was hopeful of winning a slot at Shrewsbury Fields Forever: "I had already sent a full presspack to the festival with no luck, so this seems like another good avenue to explore."
Four heats are planned at Shropshire venues in June and July, in Oswestry, Wellington, Ludlow and Shrewsbury, before the Next Big Thing final at Theatre Severn, in Shrewsbury, on July 22.
How to enter
Competition organiser Andy Richardson said bands should send their entries to the Shropshire Star immediately, to stand a chance of playing – groups who have featured in three earlier Shropshire Star Battle of the Bands competitions are eligible to enter.
He said: "We want bands to email us right away with links to their music, or mp3s and photographs for us to listen to and look at.
"We know that there are a great many exceptional bands and we want them to get in touch. Groups who have entered previous contests – like Madison, The Yipes, Blues Boy Dan, Decadence In Berlin and Hill Valley High – set very high standards and we hope to hear from them again.
"We're committed to promoting the best in local music and want as many bands as possible to contact us. This is a genuine opportunity for bands to take a big step forward in their careers."
The bands will line up for a series of heats planned for The Ironworks, at Oswestry, on June 16: The Haygate, at Wellington, on June 23: The Hive, at Shrewsbury, on June 30 and The Assembly Rooms, in Ludlow, on July 8.
A winning band from each heat will earn a place in the July 22 final – and there will also be one band voted into the final by readers of the Shropshire Star in an online poll.
Bands can send an email with links to their MySpace pages, websites or can send mp3s, jpegs and biographies to arichardson@shropshirestar.co.uk.
MNA employees and their relatives are not eligible to enter. There is no cash alternative to the prize, the Editor's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Tune into BBC Radio Shropshire tomorrow on 96FM between 7pm and 9pm to hear more about Shropshire's Next Big Thing on BBC Introducing in Shropshire.
