outpostdigital
ubw newbie
Joined: Mar 11, 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:31 am |
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UK HUNT FOR LIVE MUSIC TALENT HAS LAUNCHED
A nationwide hunt has begun for the UK's best live music act, and with slots at two major festivals already guaranteed for the winner, the Red Stripe Music Award (RSMA) will be tougher this year, than ever. Last year, two bands from Chester, Camel One and City Royals, made it to the final, but were pipped at the post by Hertfordshire band, The Runners.
This year bands are being urged to apply for the gig season to be in with a chance of winning the Red Stripe crown, and new to the competition this year, the winning band will also win a tour bus! Bands need to register at www.redstripe.net to be in with a chance to perform.
Across the UK, hundreds of artists will be taking to the stage in over 50 different venues to try and win the coveted RSMA crown. The Runners have since played live sessions on Steve Lamacq's Radio 1 show, released their first single and are now well on their way to becoming the UK's next big guitar band after scooping the top prize in 2007.
Lead singer, Gus Cox says: "The last year has been manic. We've been touring all over the place, played gigs to thousands of people and appeared on Radio 1. Red Stripe has really helped us out, not just by providing cans of the stuff, but by actually helping us to realise our dream. Winning the Red Stripe Music Award has opened so many doors for us that just wouldn't have been possible otherwise."
Described by music promoters as live music's answer to the Mercury Music Prize, the gig series is also about bringing live music back to where it belongs - in the clubs and mosh pits of small venues around the UK.
"We're not about glitzy award ceremonies or buying our way into the music scene," says Red Stripe's Jonny Kirkham. "Red Stripe goes hand in hand with music - look at Noel Gallagher in the album sleeve of ‘Definitely Maybe’, or even younger bands like The Klaxons and The View who have brandished their cans of Red Stripe on stage. We’re holding this competition to help give acts a big break within the music industry, and get exposure to key people, and it's worked pretty well with The Runners."
RSMA kicked off in January 2008 and the finals will be held in May. Live dates are happening around the UK right now.
For full and comprehensive listings and to keep up with the winners check out:
http://www.myspace.comredstripemusicaward
http://www.redstripemusicaward.com
Upcoming Dates:
Ego, Edinburgh - 6th Mar
The Faversham, Leeds - 6th Mar
Sound Bar, Birmingham -6th Mar
The Junction, Cambridge - 7th Mar
Attic, Accrington - 7th Mar
Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh - 9th Mar
Roadhouse, Manchester - 13th Mar
Studio 24, Edinburgh - 13th Mar
Talking Heads, Southampton - 13th Mar
HIFI Club, Leeds - 13th Mar
Hootananny, Brixton, London - 14th Mar
Boardwalk, Sheffield - 14th Mar
The Koola Klub/Chy Bar, Newquay - 14th Mar
The Telegraph, Brixton, London - 14th Mar
The Vaults, Shrewsbury - 20th Mar
Tunnels, Aberdeen - 20th Mar
The Grapes, Aberdeen - 20th Mar
New Cross Inn, London - 22nd Mar
The Lamp, Hull - 26th Mar
UBA Rooms, Burton-Upon-Trent - 26th Mar
Bullit, Tamworth - 27th Mar
Hub, Exeter - 27th Mar
The Croft, Bristol - 27th Mar
The Forum, Tunbridge Wells - 27th Mar
The End Bar, Newcastle upon Tyne - 3rd Apr
Esquires, Bedford - 10th Apr
For more information contact Outpost Digital on 0207 684 5634
Or email oli@outpostmedia.co.uk or david@outpostmedia.co.uk |
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outpostdigital
ubw newbie
Joined: Mar 11, 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:44 am |
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THE RED STRIPE MUSIC AWARD FINAL
w/ DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, THE WALLBIRDS & THE RUNNERS
12th May - The Forum, Kentish Town
Doors 18:30pm
The Red Stripe Music Award, the UK’s widest search for the best unsigned music talent, reaches its climax on Monday 12 May with four finalists from across the UK battling it out for the Red Stripe crown, playing alongside the headliners, Dirty Pretty Things.
After 52 showcase gigs, in 32 different towns and cities, and performances from over 200 bands, Red Stripe reps have scoured the country for the very best of the UK’s undiscovered talent. And now the line-up has been whittled down to just four bands who will fight it out for the coveted title of winners of the Red Stripe Music Award 2008.
Klaus Says Buy The Record:
This Brighton based songsman is already renowned for his elastic live show, the rousing poet combining the utterly pop with the fantastically theatrical. His Jamie T spliced with Paul Heaton manner is a jocular and whimsically lyrical feast of menacing adolescent excitement with well-nourished flashes of Get Cape Wear Cape Fly.
Kiddo:
This Edinburgh four-piece makes music so mischievously charming you’re as carried away on their songs as you would be Good Shoes or dare we say, The Cure. Uber-catchy pop songs, delightfully delivered with a refreshing sense of on-stage cohesion.
The Down and Outs:
Like Vampire Weekend, The Down and Outs know how to make a melody that wraps around your life, itching the sun-loving inner Beatles fan with a vocal jumble of lyrical whips so sharp they pierce the British weather with massive beams of musical sunlight.
O Fracas:
We’re still not a hundred per cent sure how to pronounce their name, but we do know that they make a different sound to most other bands in the UK. From the outlandish catchiness of their weirdo dark-pop to the undertone of vaudevillian vocals and pianos, they meet the oddball with the custom and make it sound belligerent.
High profile industry tastemakers – Stuart Clark from Music Week, Oli Hodgson from Coda and Will Kinsman from The Fly, will be making the final decision on the night, which will see one band being given the opportunity to play at two of the UK’s best new festivals, The Great Escape festival in Brighton (15-17 May) and Lovebox Weekender (19-20 July), and they’ll get their very own tour bus. Plus, there is the ‘money can’t buy’ prize of exposure to some of the biggest names in the music industry.
These four disarming bands have been selected from over 1,000 applicants who applied online for this year’s event, which went on to make the carefully selected 200 performing acts of the competition across 52 nights, starting way back in January 2008. The award was set up to champion real talent at its grass-roots stage and the final 200 were carefully researched by a team of Red Stripe and Barfly music-obsessed aficionados in an extensive A&R process to deliver what we hope should be an incredible night of rock ‘n’ roll.
Jonny Kirkham, one of the guys behind Red Stripe, says: “Any band that is starting out needs as much help as they can get, and as Red Stripe has been working in and around music for nearly 40 years, it is only right that we try to help local scenes develop.”
In just two years, RSMA has doubled in size and with the support of headliners Dirty Pretty Things, RSMA is already earning itself a reputation.
Red Stripe has enjoyed a long and rich history with music. Where there have been guitars and the will to rock n roll, there has been the obligatory can of Red Stripe. From The Clash to Oasis to The View, British bands have worn their association with the Jamaican lager like a badge of honour, flaunting it on magazine covers and even on their own sleeve notes. Distributed through great live music venues, Red Stripe is name checked by bands like the Kaiser Chiefs and Massive Attack, and is requested at album launches by artists themselves.
Jonny adds: “This isn’t some rubbish battle of the bands competition. It’s an award that concludes 52 local showcases and we’re proud to be able to give something back to bands’ fans by putting on a show for the final.”
You can register for tickets now by going to www.redstripe.net
Or you can apply for FREE tickets via Ticketmaster:
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/1F00408FDB334D33?camefrom=CFC_UK_MAMA_RSMA_REDSTRIPEWEB
Of course its first come, first served as it is with all of the free Red Stripe shows, and as always – we’ll see you down at the front.
www.redstripemusicaward.com
www.youtube.com/RedStripeMusicAward
www.myspace.com/redstripemusicaward |
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