Singing Competition Glasgow – Feedback from Live and Unsigned Glasgow Auditions!

Glasgow auditions for the band and singing competition Live and Unsigned, took place on Saturday 18^th February at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow! Over 450 unsigned musicians turned up to audition for the band and singing competition in Glasgow in front of the judging panel of music industry specialists.

Judging the unsigned musicians for the singing competition at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow were EquityChairman of ScottishVariety Branch Eva Lorraine, Gordon Johnston from music website Glasswerk, Ryan Cook from Bfest, vocal coach Tom Bathgate, Jamie Cameron from Glasgow’s Riverside Music Complex, Claire White from the music website Love Music Love Life,and Head of A&R at Future Music Ben Price.

Well done to all those who auditioned for the band and singing competition in Glasgow especially the few who made it through to the Live Regional Final shows on Saturday 31^st March at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow.

Find below feedback from the audition day, unfortunately with so many acts auditioning it’s impossible to give every act feedback. However, please find feedback for a selected few who stood out for both the right (and sometimes wrong) reasons!

Please be aware views expressed by judges are opinions and subjective to that particular judging 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 auditioned. We ask you to please take the feedback onboard with a view to helping acts improve.

Singing competition Glasgow – Audition Feedback!

Emily Middlemas – Excellent audition. Well performed to the judges. Image spot on. Confident and strong.

Stuart Manson – Voice a little drowned out by the musical backing. Interestingly different.

Morgan Cairns – Not ready yet. Needs work on range. Watch the American accent. Good confidence.

Paul Brand – Decent song. Well performed. At times a little flat though.

Jimmy Moffat – Powerful voice but needs to work on control.

Sunflower Tuesday’s - Simple song. Good sound and well performed.

Emma Brocket – Good original song. Needs more animation and needs to engage with the audience. Good song, good voice.

Act Natural – Good energy throughout. Good song. Like the female lead full of charisma. Good performance.

Ettrick Blues – A little static. Frontman is starring at one spot when singing, needs to engage with the judges/audience more. Original song is decent. Like the lead guitar.

Chloe Noble – Struggled a little to reach the high notes.

Low Key – You need to project more we need to hear your voice. You need to engage more with each other. Feels like the act lacks confidence.

Nick Morgan – Good solo performance. Could engage more. Great voice.

Bay Bryan – Wow. Love the voice, full of soul. Really nice song. Just open your eyes to engage with the judges/audience. Watch the big notes more control needed.

Bassment – Felt a little empty at times but got better as the audition went along. Song stopped and started and lacked continuity.

Jake McGarry – Strong performance and a great song.

Dominic D’Coco – Never stop and start in an audition, keep going the judges don’t know the song so won’t notice. Vocals a little flat. Love the drumming.

Melissa Duthie – Good mic control. Good voice and well performed. Good cover, hope her original material is good too.

Gabbi – Vocals almost spoken. Interesting effect but needs some emotion.

Alice & the Rampant Trio – Good combination of two vocals. Drums a little overpowering at times. Catchy song!

Alex Duncan – A good intensity about the performance. Well performed and a good voice. Like this girl.

SINGING COMPETITION GLASGOW – FURTHER FEEDBACK

Evan Gallagher – Vocals were a bit tight.

Katie Mullen – Piercing tone but tends to be a little nasal.

Ruth Hamman – Nice vocals but you played it a little bit safe.

Graham Hardy – Wasn’t crazy about the song but good vocals.

Calm as the Colour – Lacked impact and dynamics. Needed more energy from all band members. Vocals need work maybe drop the key.

Bright Young Nights – Different but it needs more energy from all members. Vocals need to be a bit clearer work on diction and mic technique.

Crazy Alice – Need to work on the vocals.

Ten 84 – Need to work on the vocals and the vocal harmonies.

Gabby – Haunting voice, love the natural accent coming through. Polish up the guitar playing and you can be really good.

Misty Pop – Needs more chemistry. Harmonies are good but keys player needs to be softer on the vocals. Lead singer take the mic off the stand.

Foundation – Nice feel to the band. Different to others we’ve seen today. Very tight which is vital for reggae. Suits the female vocals.

June Bug – Lead singer a little lifeless during instrumentals, but a good audition. Add a bit of life to it!

Japan 4 – Amazing. They can go VERY far in this competition. Tight as anything and the song was great.

Ian Jarvie – Decent original song. Vocals very fast paced and could perhaps have slowed down a little.

Forever Rivals – Good energy but a lack of coherence between vocals and the band. Need to work on timing and stage presence.

Fox Force Five – Good combination of male/female vocals. Something to build on.

Andrea Gray – Need to bring in more original elements for it to work. Female acoustic is a massively over-subscribed field.

Steph Hay – Like it, but be careful of the American accent creeping in.

Fire in Effect – More polished that they were last year. Good energy throughout and they’re very tight.

Rhiannon Garrity – Nice take on your original song. Would be better without a music sheet in front of you, this would help you engage more.

Graham Hardie – Great image, good song, well performed. A strong act all around.

Inari Kolu - Good potential. Nice song and well performed to the judges. Watch top noted and slight mid-Atlantic accent.

Feather Man – Very engaging. Nice gritty voice. Guitar playing is exceptional. One of the best solos of the day so far.

SINGING COMPETITION GLASGOW – FURTHER FEEDBACK

Bruce Fitzpatrick – Bruce not a bad audition but come dressed to perform. Take the coat off and feel the performance more.

One Love – Don’t like the band name, but like the sound the acoustic brings through amongst the electrics. Needed some backing vocals felt the other members were a little detached at times.

Campbell Considine – Nice to see an act of this ilk, but vocally not quite there. Needed to act it out more. Entertaining nonetheless.

Kirsty Lloyd – Nice vocal and a delicate guitar but could be a little more expressive. Guitar and vocals are well suited.

New Love – Good basic rock sound but perhaps needs a little more flair. Good energy but need to work on timings.

Naledi Herman – Beautiful voice. Good keys playing. Strong song. Could go far in the competition. Great image. Interacted with the judges at all times. Strong performance.

Mena – Good timings and well performed. Keep the crowd involvement for the shows not really appropriate for judges so be singing along!

Gabby Humphries – Infectious smile, very endearing. Would have liked to have heard one of your original songs.

Carolanne – Not ready just yet. Let nerves take over. Made a good effort with image.

Greg Pearson – Strong vocal!

Long Forgotten Sons – Interesting guitars. Need to work on drum parts and vocals.

Adam Smith – Needs work on dynamics but a very strong performance.

Where’s George – Good performance. Good instrumental skills.

Gems McAdam – Pleasant but needs more of an edge to stand out from an over congested genre.

Phlight – A little messy. Needs more practise to become tighter. Felt like you were playing against each other at times but there is definite potential there.

Saints of Bliss – Need to work on vocals at the beginning of the song. Got stronger as the performance went on though.

Scott Pizarro – Good performer and a good song, but isn’t it a Plan B song? Nice strong vocals, good top notes.

Fraser Stanton – Good vocals. Watch for being nasal and larynx.

Karen & Johnny – Like the vocal, very individual. Maybe take the mic off the stand. Could be more chemistry between you.

Julez – Great performer can’t wait to see him on a bigger stage. Good energy and vibe.

Heather Tweddle – Pleasant voice. Needs more performance and more image.

GLASGOW SINGING COMPETITION – FURTHER FEEDBACK

Gemma Stevenson – Strong vocal. Would have liked to have seen you use more range.

Raw Stereo – Image is good but I expected more energy. Band members should be jumping all over the place with this kind of music. Original song is ok.

Sixth Avenue Traffic – American sounding band in title and accent. Good band though quite tight.

Mizzie – Good that you’re writing original material but the act needs more originality. You need to perform more you’re staring in one spot.

The Boo Skins – Nice tone to your voice but would have like to have seen more range.

Kirsty Wood - Nice song. Nice gentle vocals. Good guitar playing she has ability.

We Used to Call This Summer – Liked the 3 songs in 1 audition. Good sound!

Sarah Swire – Intro was too long should have hit the vocals earlier. I like this girl though she is unique and will bring variety.

Shoogar – Great bass and drums unit, very tight. Drummer is a decent singer and the music is good, but you could do with bringing a lead singer on board.

Tacado – Great original elements. Good sound but make sure it doesn’t get too busy. Good image, a strong act. Not much live vocal though don’t rely too heavy on the backing track.

Stone House Violets – Sounds ok but it’s lifeless visually. Please inject some energy! Get a backing vocal on the chorus.

The Risk – Good performance!

The Waves – Good energy to the band but it sounds a little empty and at times messy. Just too soon I think but the potential is there.

The Kicks – Good start to the audition but song never really went anywhere.

The Last of the Free – Great, tight sound. Good vocals. Solid band.

The Wee Band - A bit of a slow start to an audition track, no vocals in the first 1 minute 30 seconds of a 2 minute audition!

Ben Doherty - Work in progress. Guitar playing needs polishing and the act will come together.

Blind Dog – Keyboards are completely overpowering it. A strange mish-mash of sounds that didn’t quite work. Needs to be simplified.

Catherine Thompson – Good edge to her. Female with attitude. Just watch the American accent creeping in.

Fox Beef – Good polished sound. Great vocals. Great end to the day!

Singing competition Glasgow

Acts that make it through to the Live Showcases will be in with the opportunity to win a multitude of prizes. The winners of both the Blackstar Exposure Award, the award for the act with the largest quantity of submitted publicity material in relation to the competition, and the Extreme Exposure Award, the award for the act who performs the most high publicity stunt, will win a free day in a local recording studio worth up to £250, or if the winning act is a band, they’ll win a brand new Blackstar amp. The Live and Unsigned studio partner for Glasgow is the Riverside Music Complex. Runners up for the Blackstar Exposure Award will receive free music lessons worth up to £125, courtesy of vocal coach Tom Bathgate.

In addition, acts that make it through to the Live Showcases will be given a chance to win festival slots, with festival organisers selecting acts to perform at their 2012 festival at each stage of the competition. Glasgow acts will also be within a chance of being selected to perform a slot at over 13 festivals on the Live and Unsigned festival tour, and exclusive to Glasgow our Regional Festival Partners Bfest& The Big Stooshie.

If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it through to the Glasgow Regional Showcase Finals on Saturday 31st March at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow click hereto go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets or if you want to get involved for next year then click here to enter.