Words by Andre Van Wyk, Sam Rees, Alex Wright, Alys Clark, Emily Shankland, Sophie Carter, Laura Thomas, Darcie Vincent, Stephanie Hewitt, Alex Short, Kristian S
Get Involved
GetInvolved is an attempt to harness and direct the volunteering spirit of young people into creating a music industry revolution starting in their own community. For too long the perception has been that the ‘Industry’ dictates what happens and when. In fact the landscape has changed so much in recent times, due to the explosion of social media and online sharing, that young people are realising more and more that it’s not something out there out of their reach. Still, one of the biggest obstacles to prevent anyone from taking those firsts important steps is not knowing where to start — simply having contacts for the right people and information regarding opportunities can easily solve that problem. Now, via the GetInvolved website, you can link up with like minded people and businesses that are here to help. As an example of this partnership working, take a look through the pages of this magazine. Thanks to Media Machine workshops facilitated by PLUGGED IN with Buska Promotions and Unit 15 Productions, based out of Hobos in Bridgend and funded by SONIG, young people on this pilot project gained experience in writing reviews, interviewing skills, photography, film & editing. After creating questions they went on to interview many local artists, recordings of which appeared on the internet-based Bullet Radio, and summaries of which are highlighted on these Rising Talent pages. Also within this magazine you’ll find the Media Machine live performance they were part of, the reviews they wrote of those gigs and a selection of the photographs they took as well. And to top that, you can find their names on PLUGGED IN’s CD Reviews pages as well — invaluable experience indeed! See how you can link up with your local music scene. Visit GetInvolved.co.uk and be a part of YOUR music industry revolution today and make it YOUR future!
Follow Suit
Follow Suit is a five-piece band from Bridgend, with a recently released EP. “We try and make everything our own to stand out from the crowd so it’s all our own stuff on there.” Every member of the band gave ideas towards lyrics and music, and they all worked on everything together to produce the best recording possible. The rock band intend “working hard and taking every opportunity they can” and the hard work that they have already put in should be worth it. The boys are a boisterous lot who clearly share charisma and most certainly talent!
A Thousand Fingers
We started with four mates having a drink in a pub, sharing their passion for music and deciding to put that knowledge into practice, and basically we’ve carried on from that point. Thousand Fingers describe themselves as a bit like the Deftones, with a melodic influence of U2 thrown in for good measure — highlighted by their track Veins Of The Earth, a real crowd mover as it’s full of energy. In five years time they want to be making a living from the business and touring everywhere, but of course they understand the realities of the music business today. So why A Thousand Fingers? “Well this guy was walking down the street with this really weird suit on which had loads of fake fingers attached to it. He told us he had exactly 999 fingers attached. So we just added one more and said A Thousand Fingers, what a cool name for a band!”