Music students from New College Lanarkshire will showcase their talent at what promises to be a dynamic evening of entertainment at Glasgow’s iconic King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut next Friday.
This year’s HND Music Showcase features four bands put together to demonstrate the growing skills and abilities of the 18 students as they prepare to launch themselves into the fiercely competitive music industry.
The bands - CURAHO, VALVES, Passenger People and Electric Funk – will perform new material and cover a range of music genres from rock, pop and indie to jazz, funk and country.
Each band will perform 30 minute sets in the venue which regularly hosts some of the most promising up-and-coming acts in the UK and is famous as being the place where 90s rock giants Oasis were talent-spotted.
The promising potential of this year’s Showcase performers has already come to the notice of industry observers.
The students were praised at the 2015 World Skills UK competition final in Birmingham’s NEC arena – the only Scottish band to enter the competition.
Key to the success of the course are lecturing staff who have worked in the music industry.
Lecturer Yvonne Tipping – known to fans and friends as Tippi – was lead singer/rhythm guitarist for all-girl Glasgow rock band The Hedrons who have toured internationally and have been special guest openers for bands such as The Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones and 90s grunge sensations Alice in Chains.
As a solo artist, Tippi has also toured with Paul Weller, and supported Iggy Pop, James, Taylor, Tom Jones, Lionel Ritchie, Joe Walsh and is currently doing backing vocals for critically acclaimed duo Hue and Cry.
Another lecturer, 27-year-old Tommy Reilly is a singer/songwriter who gained attention after winning Channel 4’s talent show Orange UnsignedAct in January 2009.
His first single "Gimme A Call" reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release and more recently, he was nominated in the composer category of the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards 2016.
Darren Paramasivan, Curriculum and Quality Leader: Music and Sound Production at New College Lanarkshire, said: “The Showcase is now in its fifth year at King Tut’s and it’s proving to be a highlight of the year for students as well as audiences looking to tap in to Scotland’s new and emerging contemporary music talent.
“It’s quite something for people at the start of their career to be given the chance to perform in public in a venue so closely associated with some of the industry’s greats.
“New College Lanarkshire has a great reputation for nurturing musical ability and we hope people will come along to hear just how good out students are.”
Courtney O’Neill from Coatbridge, one of the performers on May 20, said: “We’ve learned so much and taken a lot of confidence everywhere we have performed. This will undoubtedly be a great end to an amazing time at New College Lanarkshire.”
The event – which starts at 8.30pm - will be broadcast live over New College Lanarkshire’s student radio station Radio Active Scotland http://www.radioactivescotland.com/
Tickets are £5 and are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk.
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