News

Live and Unsigned Comes To Glasgow

• 8th Mar 2011

The Scottish regional finals of the Live and Unsigned competition will take place at Glasgow’s Concert Hall on 12 March.

The lucky bands who made it through the auditions will be hoping for a place in the North East and Scotland area final on 24 April. And from there the goal will be the grand final: the Live and Unsigned Festival at the O2 Arena in London.

Over 10,000 acts enter this annual competition – and with prizes valued at over £100,000 it is easy to see why. The rewards on offer include festival slots, tour dates, recording time and equipment. And with the chance to play in front of many important figures from the music industry, the big break could be very close.

The judging panels are impressive, including such well known names as Noddy Holder, Malcolm McLaren and Annie Nightingale, as well as many others from all aspects of the music industry.

The competition provides a great opportunity for unsigned bands starting off in the ultra-competitive world of music.

Paisley rock band Five Bar Gate will be taking part in the Scottish regional finals and are excited at the prospect.

“We have to incorporate a cover version into one of our own songs. We are going to do Zombie by the Cranberries and probably Eyphoric being the original piece,” they told me. “As yet we have no idea how this is going to go as we have not finalised the arrangement.”

I’ll be attending the Scottish event. Look out for a review of how Five Bar Gate get on, and of some of the other bands that you just might be hearing an awful lot more about in the future.