Unsigned Bands music competition in London Blogged by Robin Lewis

Live and Unsigned, an unsigned bands music competition in London, has uncovered the best original, unsigned talent in the Region, including Live and Unsigned Area Finalist Robin Lewis, who has created a blog about his competition experience for the chance to win a great prize.

Live and Unsigned Area Finalists have been asked to write about their progression through the music competition to be in with a chance of winning a prize of £500 worth of recording studio time. The best blogs from the acts involved in this year’s Live and Unsigned music competition are going online for a chance to win. The best blog will be decided by which act receives the most likes for their blog on the Live and Unsigned Facebook wall.

We’ve had a great response from bands and acts wanting to share their experiences of Live and Unsigned, and now they will be shared with you for the chance for acts to win time in a recording studio.

Throughout the week we’re going to put up an act’s blog entry for you to join in the fun and read, if you like their blog, vote for them on our Facebook page by pressing the Like button or commenting positively on their work. The act with the most support for their blog within one week of it being posted will be the winner of the recording studio time prize.

The best of luck to all of our bands and acts who have shared their stories of the Live and Unsigned music competition - get voting for your favourite!

Blog 2: Robin Lewis

Ah, Live & Unsigned, we meet again. I say that with a level of respect; as this was the third time round that I was entering I was under no misconception that there was a level they were looking for and if I was shy of that I was going home, empty handed. And we all know in this game that it's something you go through, call it an initiation. I've been there, as I'm sure everyone has been in some aspect of their lives. Something that I often find myself wondering is if we want to grow then our goals are going to be continually pushed and the potential for failure continues, maybe I should save that thought for another time though, focus on the next step - audition day!

Audition day

After making the journey across London I hopped off the bus at the Beck Theatre on a truly English day. The weather was the least of my concerns at this point; I had a few lines going through my head that I couldn't forget. In rap there's is such a fine line between getting someone’s attention or watching their faces sink and their eyes roll, and inflection and mannerisms are integral to this. I needed to hit every line perfectly on every beat so as to show skill, and I also had to show the judges I believed in what I was doing with a driving passion. I made my way up the familiar steps into the bustle of the registration. Some faces were more nervous than others, but when it comes down to that moment when you have to impress a panel of judges, everyone feels that python around their throat or an early onset of Parkinson’s disease.

I signed up and was in the line leading down the corridor outside the studio in no time. I had my head to the floor, visualizing myself smashing my performance, judges going wild after what they'd just seen. I read somewhere once that if you can see yourself doing something in a certain way then you'll gravitate towards that idea. It's worked for me so far.

Feet were tapping, legs were pacing, arms were shaking themselves loose and the occasional finger was in the ear of someone getting their pitch. "That's you Twig", came the voice of an annoyingly calm official. I walked through the door to a familiar foe, separated only by a desk, the dividing line. Thirty seconds, you've got this, go for it. The music started and I was off. By this time the lines were instinctive so there was little thinking about what's next. Then, as if it had never happened, it was over. I felt the blood pouring back to my extremities. I walked out to a group of faces who suddenly seemed so nervous, their eyes following me with a look of expectations like I had some life altering answer they'd been looking for. Now came the wait...that awful, time-twisting, soul destroying wait. Someone must've just uppercut Father Time and while he was picking his dazed self off the canvas we were watching the watches slowly increment.

Eventually, an official came through the doors. Third time round, I had experience in this. He started reading through a list of names, my name was in there. At this point I was used to the well-tried-but-unfortunately-you-haven’t-made-it speech. Not today. That list was the group who'd gone through. Finally, I had slayed the proverbial dragon.

Post Audition Day

The metaphorical hurdle I had just cleared was a mere speed hump compared to what I had coming. The celebrations didn't last too long because all the effort I had put into the previous show had be multiplied by a number directly proportional to how much I wanted that prize. I knew the further I went into this competition the more rabbits I'd be pulling out of hats so even though I was doing all I could I knew I had to somehow top that.

I spent many nights lying awake running through potential performances, what would work, what wouldn't. All the next-rounders had to showcase a cover track and while you may be thinking that's easy, I think everyone performing knew they had to bring more to the table.

I eventually came to the conclusion of doing "I Love College" by Asher Roth. It had a decent amount of rotation on radio stations and was often showing on MTV. The song had to appeal to a large audience. I also like what Asher Roth believes in and the message he sends out. The days of the gangster rap are limited because anyone with a peripheral vision can see that it's an unsustainable genre. Someone once said rappers these days are trying to "rap their way into the streets instead of out of them" and right there the entire ethos of gangster rap has been soiled. But I digress. Asher Roth believes in positive vibes and enjoying the life we...what better song to perform for a patriotic crowd travelling from all over London.

After that it was into the bedroom studio and time to put together more than just 2 tracks...this had to be a performance. During the day it was about practicing and in the evenings it was about perfecting the track. I had each iteration of the track on my iPod and I'd go over it a few times a day making it second nature.

As the days grew less I started feeling the pressure. I had come this far so I should be happy, but there is always going to be that voice whispering 'what if'. What if you make it through? I had every potential of doing this, I just had to focus, concentrate.

When the day arrived I was ready, but I didn't believe it.

Area Finals

As the de ja vu settled, and I walked up those familiar red brick stairs the first thing I noticed was the silence. There bustle of people was gone, and all that was left was a quiet auditorium with people slowly feeding into the theatre. They were here to support a friend or maybe a loved-one, how was I going to win their votes as their second favourite? I was lucky enough to sneak into the second final of the day and watch the acts. I've always found it helpful to, before a show starts, go sit in the audience and feel the energy that the venue creates. So far I was impressed. Having grown up in South Africa, where the level of technology at gigs is still quite limited, to see a stage, that I was going to perform on, use the calibre of lights and sound...I was champing at the bit to get up there.

I saw Base Mosquito, who I thought were amazing and brought something really unique to the event. And the best part was how polished they were, that's something that sells an act for me.

After the second final was over we all fed into the empty venue, had our sound check then headed back stage for the wait. We were led down a staircase and through a corridor with dressing rooms on either side. We made ourselves at home until we were each called up to show the crowd what we had brought.

My turn eventually came round and while waiting in the wings for the performer before me I was pacing. A few last minute stretches and the time had come. "...Twig!" and I was out, on one of the biggest stages I had ever performed on. The first half of my show was ok, but in the second half I relaxed and really started getting into it.

And again, like the audition, it was over before I could realise. I went downstairs to wait with my fellow hopefuls, some showing relief, others showing fear. After all the acts we were led back upstairs to wait in the wings while the guest performance played a few songs. From where we were it felt like they did an entire set. But eventually it was over and they started calling the names. All I could here was band, band, band. At this point I was resigning to the fact that if guys like Cryptic hadn't made it through I was never going to.

Then the last three people were called out as a group and only one was going through. I was one of them. "...and the last person going through is..." anticipation, anxiety, these are man-made words that didn't come close to describing the emotion..."Twig!". I was through. It was made even sweeter by the fact that I had not expected it. Due to some communication blip Ashley Dawes also went through, which was completely deserved.

After that it there was jumping around backstage amongst dropped shoulders. We signed all the appropriate paperwork and it was over. The train ride home was a mixture of elation and contemplation; I had 2 months to come up with something spectacular, now was the time to start brainstorming.

It appears the story isn't yet over...

If you like Robin Lewis’s blog, you have a week to vote for them on our Facebook page  by pressing the Like button! Watch out throughout the week ahead for more blog entries from bands and acts sharing their experiences from Live and Unsigned 2011.