The South, music talent showcase – Southern England Area Final – Feedback

The south, music talent showcase saw the hottest unsigned acts take to the stage in Portsmouth, as The Guildhall welcomed the best unsigned talent for the last round of the Live and Unsigned Area Finals. 

The venue provided a great atmosphere for the live shows on the 21st May, with guest act hip hop star Fdot1 who put on a great show and really got the crowd moving! Also performing was singer/songwriter Danica Hunter who treated the crowd to her unique and captivating voice.

Judges presiding over the Southern England Area Final music talent showcase included; A&R for Future Music Benjamin Price, Radio One’s Tom Deacon, Gareth Henderson Director of Riverside, Rosalind Fountain International singer and Vocal Coach, Lucy Soal Organiser of Butserfest, Matt Hooper presenter from The Coast FM, Chris Grayston, Head of A&R at Future Music and Darren Ashford drummer from the Dub Pistols and Black Eyed Peas.

Lucy Soal, Butserfest Organiser judged the Area Finals in Portsmouth and was so impressed with the talent that she has chosen The Dirty Tricks, The Fringe and This Way Up to play the festival. Butserfest takes place on Saturday 17^th September 2011 at Queen Elizabeth Country Park in Hampshire and we wish the selected artists the best of luck.

Music Talent Showcase

The competition was fierce and the standard was extremely high, well done to all the acts for putting on a great show! Congratulations to those that made it through to National Grand Final at Live Fest in London’s O2 on the 23^rd July.

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

Tommy Eye- Cool vibe, performed well but vocally a little flat and too much shouting in places. The key didn’t do the singer any favours during the hook in either register but overall good variety. They made the cover song their own and had great energy

Nick Tatham- A mesmerising performance and a lovely voice, beautiful on the guitar, good original and looks the part. Cover choice was a little obvious. The original song didn’t show off Nick’s more unique qualities

Silcstone- Nice moody blues feel to the band, with a very powerful lead and well co-ordinated timings. Need to move away from sounding a little like a function band by finding an edge away from the obvious

Shanay Holmes- Good stage presence and expression, cover at times ran away from her vocally. Original was nice, but needed to be more distinctive- with a little more work this could be achieved the potential is there!

Cymbeline- Good performance, original was strong, lovely voice and a moody presence. Guitar was a little muggy sounding. Why not have a drum box to make the beat a bit more subtle?

David Campbell- Watch the mic control when moving around, good idea to play around with the tempo but don’t forget dynamics within the tracks to give it that extra dimension. Good guitar work with a smooth transition

The Blackwaters- Great sound, however needed more depth to the performance to hold the interest more. Needs more energy added to the performance. Great guitar playing, but they didn’t look like they were having a good time on stage

Will Hawkins- Nice tone and dictation, but watch mic control as affected the volume coming across to the audience. Lyrics were lost when the singer was looking down at the guitar neck. Nerves were noticeable, which will only be resolved through more performance. Keep practising and you will develop into something interesting

Forever Summer- Very confident on stage with a nice tone and harmonies these girls can only get better as they have huge potential. Need to spend some time gigging and step up the act if they want to go further

Charlotte Cobb- Talented girl, but needs to work on dynamics and performance. Also some pitching issues which can easily be resolved with more practice and performance. Need to get over the nerves through more gigs and practice

Forgetting Yesterday- More energy needed from the whole band especially the singer. It’s an upbeat song and she needs to feel it more. More practice needed, not tight in areas, although Darren Ashford loved the drumming!

Chantelle St Clair- Nice and polished with good interaction with the crowd. Nice spin on the cover too. Good stage performance, she has belief in her songs, which is good to see. Good image but need to be clever to stand out

Into Tomorrow- Front man looks good but hasn’t got the strongest range in his voice. Vocals override the rest of the performance. The bass player needs to take off his shades when performing. Need to put on a show to impress. More live experience needed to improve overall performance     

Graham Russ- Good original, very easy to listen to, and strong guitar playing with a complimentary voice. Original is not bad but the cover could have had more original spin

The Dirty Tricks- Good cover choice. The front man is the best performer of the day. The rest of the band could have put more energy in it. Electrics from laptop were a bit harsh on the original. They offered something different

Burn & Magz- Original was good but think about what you are wearing - don’t miss an opportunity to impress on every level. Vocally need to give each other space. More chemistry needed. Didn’t feel as coordinated as it should be

Birds in Flight- Good voice but make sure you control it. Maybe put more style into the vocal rather than trying to be as loud as possible. Band members all enjoyed the performance with lots of energy. Good original song. Could do with some development of vocal harmonies from other areas of the band

The Jammin Dodgers- Very energetic and looked like they were enjoying it! More vocal impact from the band would be achieved with more distinct harmonies to give greater depth. Very entertaining overall

Eva B- Lovely angelic voice, very confident. Second song was so much sweeter. Try to add more rhythm to your guitar playing. Wonderful musically, but take your voice from girl to young woman

Cultural Underground- A bit of a static performance. Image is also a bit dated. Nice take on the cover. Need more original elements to stand out. Vocal support in the band was not the strongest, again this can be worked on

The Fringe- Very enjoyable performance got the crowd going with an engaging cover and strong performance. Good mash up of original and cover at the end but perhaps relied too much on the cover to carry their performance

This Way Up- Band members work really well together, but harmonies were out of tune in places. Good choice of cover and these guys will improve as they perform more, just need to look at themselves from the footage

Show 2

Blue Room Baboons- Funky vibe and such a better performance than the regional finals, really stepped up. Overall very professional as a band, however the performance was missing a hook, and needed something to make it stand out

Emily Denton- Nice voice with a sultry performance. Could have engaged with the audience more. Vocally more interesting than the guitar part. Perhaps get some additional musicians involved and this could get interesting!

Jessica and the band- Created a great atmosphere with a powerful, exciting and interesting performance. Strong raspy voice, well supported vocally, but could have seen more performance from the other acts on stage. The original material needs some work and vocals need volume control in places, but keep going!

Rich Maya- Lovely guitar playing and an extremely engaging cover! Didn’t see too much potential of a single in the original, other than showing us what a fantastic voice Rich has. Need a stronger hook in the original material

Six Shooter- Image was well thought out and guys were all performing with great energy and passion. Great live performance, but not sure there was potential to sell. Not original enough overall. You clearly have great fun on stage, so keep performing!

Electric Monk- Very powerful lead vocals. Good original song, but cover choice wasn’t the best as it vocally didn’t suit

Kirsty Fallowfield- A much stronger performance than Brighton Regional finals, you’ve improved a lot and seemed more comfortable on stage. A few pitching issues in places, try not to force your voice. Don’t forget to use the stage to add to your performance. Keep going Kirsty!

Backhand Saloon- Great energy, and good choice of cover, good front man backed up by all the chaps who performed on point. Not original enough overall, need something to make them stand out more

Liveo-Good originality and good image! Good vocal hooks with an original sounding rap, was a good blend. Cover song was a great choice, but original material needs a little reworking. Patchy performance at times, but really had chemistry

South Finesse- Great vocals overall. Heavy reliance on the cover, although they made it their own with a strong performance. Original material needs some work, and make sure you are all performing together as one

Ten Zero One- How cool is this for 13 year olds to play at the Guildhall in front of Radio One’s Tom Deacon -and they took the opportunity with both hands. Very impressive. Fantastic drummer and great vocals, keep it up! A few timing issues but definitely something there, a work in progress

Ellie Campbell- Loved her tone and a real distinctive voice! Very likeable performance, nice voice and well written song. Needs a killer tune that stands out! Keep writing and things will improve

Tequila Dealer- Good strong song to start with. High impact performance and really good musicians. Could have had more energy from the bass player. Really tight band. Great choice of cover well carried out. Would have liked to have seen a bit of madness using the stage, performance was a bit static

ASP- Tight professional band who used the stage and crowd well! Guys backed up the lead singer well on stage. The style was quite old fashioned, needs something new and interesting to make it stand out

Emma Lauran- Nice tone, lovely voice. From experience she will gain the ability to engage the audience to have them eating from the palm of her hand. Keep performing in front of crowds

New Royalty- An explosion of quality sound! They had the audience with them the whole way. Cover was performed with more confidence. Loved the synth element!

John Wilson- Nice voice and good cover choice. As a solo would have kept it musically more simple, playing guitar and singing over backing tracks rarely works.

The Jesse Dansons- They went for it with a smile on their faces. The act could work if they make it feel more integrated, the overall performance felt a little loose. Watch tuning in places, don’t force your voices. Great version of the cover song

The Roulettz- An uniform image needs looking at along with more performance. Don’t over push the vocals to a well crafted song. You work well together, but not all voices were of equal quality. Embrace that! There’s nothing wrong with being a good backing singer. Nice simple arrangement worked well

Stricken 22- A strong overall performance with great energy and warmth on stage. The performance of the cover track was better than the original. Develop your own material and this will improve you as a band

Denai Moore- Has a lovely voice but it was a little shaky at times maybe down to nerves. Would have been good to see more of her stamp on the cover as it needed more of Denai’s personality in it, it went on for too long

The Monitorz- A great performance to end the show. Performance had a good festival groove and they had their own sound. The performance needed a fresh twist to make it different, and a little more energy as it was quite static

Show 3

Pates Desabiy- Good sound to the band and solid front man, other members of the band could have performed more. Nice arrangement of the KOL track. All played their instruments well. Good lead man

The Rising- Didn’t stray too far from the U2 sound, even with the cover but the band excited a good full sound. Get a snappier hook to the song and there’s a hit in the making. More impact would have won over the crowd quicker

Currently Unnamed- Very sassy female lead, didn’t always flow as well as it could. A drum box might have filled out the act a little more. Not sure how sustainable this would be as a two hour live act. Good original song

Shock Contender- Very funky and original, great voice too. However, not much movement and animation with the stage performance. Excellent choice of cover and a very talented front man

Waking Athena- Need to look at their footage looked like individuals all performing rather than a band performing as one. Good voice but she looks too angelic to pull off the style of music. Good musicians, could work on their image

Dan Breen- Original was good and better than the cover. Perform more on stage to win the audience over. Voice doesn’t feel natural, more forced. Work on vocal techniques to improve the overall sound

Fight Like Kids- More movement required on stage, make full use of the space you have. A bit messy at times and lacked fluidity. Cover could have been a bit spicier as it was a bit plain. Keep practicing

Slick Minded Individuals- Nice balance of instruments. Vocals work well together. Original song could start better. Feels like it’s going to be a simple song, then develops into much more. Much better than I expected them to be based on the first few lines. Perhaps vocally could get support to harmonise the vocals ,which would improve the song

The Tiny face Experience- Front man worked it well. Split the Judges, some feeling it was awesome others feeling it was dated and been seen before. Maybe leave the shades behind. Musically good, but we needed to establish if you are a band for the future

The Confused- Good musicianship, the original could benefit by a slight reworking to be more dynamic as it was a bit karaoke. Good energy and stage performance. I think the band is one for the future rather than now

Clare Sawyer- What a strong and confident performance. Nice original song although with the cover it became one a little too easily

Lyrical Monsoon- Some really clever ideas sometimes too many tripping over each other. Original was good with Beethoven sample. Devalued their performance with the cheap plugging at the end. Decent performers, although can work on harmonies a little more to improve

Gweido- Great band name, one of the best front men of the day. Good energy and stage performance but rest of the band could have done more. Original song a little non-descript

Reece Lake- Felt a real connection to the music, quality keys and vocal. Only disappointment was the reliance on the cover rather than the original. Mic technique could be worked on a couple of early issues

JAG- Original was great and made an impact with the sound straight away. What was pleasing is the confidence they have with their own song! Good stage performance from the band and they feel their music. Difficult to see how they would be successful commercially in today’s market

Epilogue- Used the stage well, front man put in a good performance but his voice is straining he needs to stick to his limitations. At times felt like they were playing as individuals

Penance- Good original song, much better than the choice of cover. Good vocals and energetic display. Is easy for metal acts to just scream but he was constructive in his growling

Shirin- Very now and a hit single, instantly likeable and an original song too. Uses the stage well and has a strong image. A couple of timing issues early on which need to be worked on to improve the performance. Really good voice with a great vocal range

Factory Dolls- Only trouble with the drummer being lead vocals is it’s not that engaging especially if the guitarists aren’t very animated. Felt like the act was missing something. It’s not easy to drum and sing

The Paisley Strays- Liked the idea of the flag, interesting choice of cover, which they made their own but vocally didn’t always get the pitch. Very static front man, could have put more of himself into the performance. Played well and he sang reasonably well

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

For information on the Grand Final and to purchase tickets visit the Live and Unsigned Live fest page. Or for further details of guest acts playing the London’s biggest indoor festival “Live Fest” incorporating the National Grand Final visit www.LiveFest.co.uk