Wirral bands look forward to Youthfest battle (From Messenger Newspapers)

Wirral bands look forward to Youthfest battle

4:33pm Wednesday 30th May 2012 in Music By Craig Manning

MEMBERS of the eight young Wirral bands who will compete in front of hundreds of their peers at this year's Youthfest showcase say they are ready for the challenge.

Zinc, Route 22, Fools On Parade, Static Vibe, Undiscovered Society, 23 Fake Street, Solitary Confinement, Immortal Conspiracy will take part in the event at Birkenhead Park on June 30, with a chance to win time in a recording studio.

Each band was chosen following heats at Wirral Council's Youth Hubs, featuring a judging panel made up of representatives from Wirral Globe and charity The Open Door Centre. The competition was open to 13-19 year olds.

In the run up to the festival, bandmembers spoke about what it means to be taking part.

Danny Bradshaw, 15, singer with Static Vibe, said: "We played Youthfest last year and absolutely loved it. Everyone seemed to have a great day!

"Our band started at Oldershaw school as part of our music curriculum. We had a few different line ups before settling on this one.

"We play alternative rock, mainly driven by guitars. There are some heavy moments, along with bits you can sing or jump to, and have fun.

"Our major influences include Lower Than Atlantis, Twin Atlantic, Nirvana, and Deaf Havana, as well as a few local bands we like, for example We Were Beautiful."

Josh Newton, 15, drummer from Immortal Conspiracy says their music is hard to label.

"Forming the band took a couple of months. It started out with just two of us, but we kept looking for other keen metal players until we had found the perfect set up.

"We play Heavy Metal, but we don’t really fit into one genre of metal, there's elements of lots of different things in there.

"Our greatest influences are Slipknot, Lamb of God, Pantera and Machine Head.

"Having a career in the music industry would be sweet!

"That's our band's aim, we want to get big, have loads of gigs and have a future in the industry."

Graham Fryearson, 15, singer with Undiscovered Society is excited about the thought of appearing at a festival.

He said: "The band consists of three really good friends who love to play music.

"We started to play together in school a couple of months ago and then decided to take it seriously and start writing our own material and looking for gigs.

"We play Alternative Rock, inspired by the likes of Muse, the Foo Fighters, and Queens of the Stone Age.

"We are really excited about making our first appearance at a festival – especially to see the audience’s reaction to our original songs."

Joel Hitchcow, drummer with Route 22 explains how they came together.

"We are all friends from school but our bassist came into the band late due to being from different schools.

"Our major influences are Black Stone Cherry and Nickelback – we play hard rock.

"We as a band would like to see ourselves as professional musicians but I guess our individuality will single us out for bigger things in the music industry."

Cameron Drysdale, bass player from Fools On Parade describes their music as: “fast paced rhythms with bouncy riffs and sing-along day-to-day vocals”.

"We got together to play an 18th birthday party in 2010.

"Since then we’ve played at the 02 in Liverpool, The Picket, Cavern and we’ve just played at Oxjam in Hoylake.

"We're inspired by bands like Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kane, The Black Keys and Kasabian.

"We've never played an outside venue before, so it’ll be a nice change playing in the open area with the atmosphere you get in the open.

"We're looking to move up a level soon – we want to record a 3-5 track EP to get our music heard further afield. The internet is one of the biggest places to promote new talent!”

Sam Kydd, singer/guitarist with 23 Fake Street says their band took a while to find their sound: "We didn’t know what style we were playing at first, but eventually we've become an Indie Rock band.

"Our main influences as a band are the Kooks and the Wombats.

"We can't wait to see how people react to our music at Youthfest. We just want people to have a great time."

The Youthfest show starts at 2pm, ending at 8pm.

As well as live bands there will be a DJ tent and stalls by the likes of Fallen Industries, Bido Lito Magazine and Wirral Council partners.

Following the performances, a judging panel will choose an overall winner.

The winners will then return to the stage to play a further set.

Details of the prize for Youthfest, and the judging panel, will be announced in the week commencing 11th June.

Tickets for Youthfest 2012, £5, are available from the Floral Pavilion box office on 0151 666 0000, from the Youth Hubs and www.ticketswirral.co.uk.

Youthfest is organised by Wirral Council's Universal Youth Support Service, formerly the Youth & Play Service, and funded through the Early Intervention Grant.