Live Music Showcase at Aldershot Regional final – Feedback

The Regional Final live music showcase in Aldershot, took place as Princes Hall welcomed the best of unsigned talent for the latest round of the Live and Unsigned Competition. Aldershot’s Princes Hall provided a great atmosphere for the live shows on the 10^th April, with guest acts Missing Andy and Danica Hunter  headlining the showcases. 

Judges presiding over the Aldershot Regional Finals included Radio 1’s legendary DJ Annie Nightingale, Stuart Slater from Slater Drum School, vocal tutor Sabrina Findlay, Andy Kettle from Global Music Entertainment Group and vocal tutor Lee Webster.

The competition was fierce, and the standard was extremely high, well done to all the acts for putting on a great show! Credit goes especially the few who made it through to the Southern England Area final on Saturday 21^st May at the Portsmouth Guildhall.

Find below feedback for the day. Please be aware views expressed by Judges are opinions and subjective to that particular Judge panel. These views in no way reflect the views of Live and Unsigned, but are published with a view to being beneficial to the performing bands and singers who performed. So please take the feedback onboard with a view to helping.

Final 1

Big Ricks –Reasonable today. Some nice percussive touches, but be careful with your adlib in the opening bars.  Needs to be really convincing to set the correct context. Rapping is clear and consistent, but needs a bit more dynamic. Good original lyrics, but lacks the emotion and doesn’t grab the audience.

The Awe Kids –mature song and looked mostly assured on stage as a band. Image needs to be more uniformed. Good sound and good timing along with a great original song. Real promise evident and unlucky not to go through.

Shanay Holmes –Very composed at this slower tempo with quality in expression.  Powerful projection and dynamic contrast adding much character. Great original song. Try to move around the stage more. Great understated image Shanay...

A Different Perspective -A little hesitant initially, but overall confidence and fluency improved. Great vocally. Try to get some more stage experience and tighten up timing and could be very good with more work.

Yasmin Cherelle –Solid vocals and real commercial potential but just feel you are trying a little too hard. Relax a little. Performance was too static.   

Blackwaters –A reliable band, but please find the extra musical gears you need to fill up a big stage and venue.  I am talking presence, projection, assurance, dynamic shape, not just volume. Good original song, but not original enough as a band.   

Cymbeline –Very good and strong sense of articulation. Lovely vocal tone. Accomplished and easily good enough today.  

Ben Hudson –Entertaining, and enjoyable delivery style, but musically not completely secure unfortunately. Not all values clearly defined on the guitar (which detracted) and guitar tone quality not great to be honest. Consider fronting a duo/band – you are stretching yourself a bit thin. 

Burn and Magz –A rough diamond! Very well rehearsed and co-ordinated. Used the stage and interacted with each other well. Watch mic technique (plosive consonants in particular) and ending was a bit random. Work also on complementing each other in performance, but definitely keep at it.

Chantelle St Clair –Very individual voice! You need to develop this and your own style. Also work on stagecraft but many good qualities here. (Nice work Mr Guitarist)

David Campbell –Please please be tuned and ready to go! You however recovered this and performed well, plus the delivery improved in fluency, but to go much further  you need to find an edge. Great potential.

Gemma Barnes –What a good attempt for a young performer! Improve your pitching and tone control in the low register but dynamic shape here, stylistic and one to watch. Also, try and engage just a little more – but this will come with age and experience.

Graham Russ –Solid and reliable here with good song choices. Uses his guitar and voice together with varied dynamics and styles. Great transition into cover song. An overall really enjoyable performance.   

The Dirty Tricks- The first band which made me stop writing and take real notice. Not musically outstanding (keep your lessons up), but really had something. Very tight as a band and good interaction from the lead singer. Work on image and song writing craft but well done lads.

Alice Ella –Lovely tones and great intonation / stylistic quality. Good interaction with the audience. Image also well considered but tried too hard to impress which suppressed ‘you’ and your own personality. Definitely top half though today. 

Final 2

Matt deFreitas –Good image, vocal style and overall presentation. Good connection and presence.

House of cards –Impressive musicianship in places. A lot of music for a three piece band on stage but you need to work on image.  Seem a bit distant as a group.

CMG -A range of personality on display - a man who looked like he was really enjoying himself. Difficult to place him but overall very enjoyable. Split the judge’s opinion though! Modern man meets Moby. Great with the audience and stage presence.

Electric Monk –A very technical performance – maths music with varying time signatures and rhythmic variation galore. Very well put together and a strong delivery here. Lead singer has a great range. The whole band need to work together a little more, performance felt a little loose.

Corey Sharp –Emotional and stylistic. Great promise here but needs an edge and more experience.  

Munkinpure –Drummer / vocals dealt with the transition between front of stage moving to playing on the kit with opening rhythmic stabs was excellent.....and this was generally balanced with backing vocals (but more balance needed).  Front man seemed to have a lot of presence and he would be better used as a front man alone. Good image.

India Thorp –Powerful, projecting and expressive vocal delivery, and played a well considered piano accompaniment which did not detract the vocals. Aim for greater legato flow.   

 The Helm –A little strained vocally, but musically reliable.  Work on overall image and stage craft to go further in this style.  Nice rendition of cover song and overall tight playing.

Hollie Feltham –You split the judges right down the middle. Very promising, but lacked connection here...more experience required but stick at it Hollie.  

Luisa Santiago –Watch mic technique – quite a few plosive consonants, but intricate keyboard rhythms coupling really well with the vocals. 

Jess Symonds Band -For me, this developed really well. Looked comfortable and should easily go through. Every band member looked as if they knew their role (not just musically). One to watch. 

Emily Denton –Song choice could have been more exciting possibly, but generally strong. Try however to retain audience focus until the very end. 

Roulettz –Need to work on harmony and be careful with pitching all through, but some well worked choreography and attention given to image.  

Final 3

Picaroons –Great to hear a female rock vocalist with so much range and passion. Watch the fluency of opening the song , and band timing a bit disjointed in the drum fill parts but impacting and strong vocals.

Currently unnamed –Good stage chemistry and created a good vibe. Not sure the lyrics need to be so blatant, particularly when the music and arrangements were clearly advanced. This style did not suit but one to watch.

Lloyd Hurrell  -Haven’t heard much country style today! You told a nice story with some inventive guitar work. Expressive and engaging and dynamics were spot on. Will be unlucky not to go through.

Melanie Jane –Seemed a bit rushed tonight and guitar needs to be more varied when the rap kicks in. Lovely soulful voice though!

Epilogue –Enjoyed the song! Also enjoyed the youthful energy and these guys gave it a great go....not all musical aspects were completely secure, but keep at the lessons, keep the delivery style and good luck!

Into tomorrow –Liked this band and their musicality at such a young age. Aim to engage more convincingly with the audience. It took a long time to give eye contact, and a half attempt at a handclap. Got to pull these things off or not risk it...! You need to be sure of your sound! Stand a chance at getting through but need more experience on stage.

Pates Desabiyé –Spanish guitar style was a first for me in a long time. Clearly considered and almost flawless. Some of the more complex guitar riffs did not quite sound completely clearly defined but technically impressive.

Paula K –Some strong aspects here (notably drumming, vocally, overall control and maturity of musical presentation), but you absolutely have to work on image and delivery style.

Reece Lake –For me, really not sure what the backing track was doing (very detracting rhythmically) but if we overlook this, then a solid performance with some connection, expression and confidence.

Nocturno –thought the girls and guitarist had something but just felt rhythm section didn’t have so many gears to move up to the next level.

Penance –First metal band today and great cover choice – locomotion - nice contrast here! Had some audience participation and original was solid in this genre. Polished and should go through. Keep doing what you’re doing.

People ’s Republic –Packed a lot into a small amount of time. Really like the vocalist – nice techniques, projection and dynamic shape here, and musically reliable overall, but would benefit from more attention to image.

Shock contender –Drummer stylistic right down to funky ghost notes, accented off beats and the hat! JK sounding bassist / vocals with interesting light effects on guitar(!) and half decent slap plus controlled guitarist lost in syncopation. It Worked!  Became increasingly fluent and confident, but watch key – a bit of high register straining tonight. Most original band of the day.

Layst –Strong entrance and tight performance. Well done guys. Definitely a stronger act, composed, well chosen songs and good luck in the area final...

The rock a Toons –Fantastic outfits! The effort makes such a difference. Rockabilly to a good standard here and great image, but some timing slips and split the judges...Will always do well in this style.

For those acts who didn’t get through the Regional Finals, don’t forget to use your Wildcard! All acts have been given a Wildcard in the form of a national public vote. There are two places up for grabs and just two weeks to make your mark, so keep an eye out on the website and get voting for one of those last Area Final spots!

If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it Southern England Area final on Saturday 21^st May at the Portsmouth Guildhall go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets with the following link; http://www.liveandunsigned.uk.com/live_shows