Young Musicians at the Brink - June 2014

I'd been doing ambassadorial things in the morning for IFB and CityStars so a quick change of clothes out of "wheelie bin purple" (although I've just noticed I'm in Liverpool Pride purple instead) and down to the Brink for this month's Young Musicians Showcase.

To kick things off this afternoon we had Joe Abraham with some of his own compositions. A talented young lad, I couldn't tie down his style, the first which came to mind briefly was Noel Gallagher, but Joe has really got his own style, with a clear singing voice - yes I could hear the words, and that's a good thing when a story is being told. One to look out for as he gets more gigs.

Next up, a duo, Jess and Shannele, with some class cover tracks, leading off with Cher's "Believe". The girls have strong, clear and distinct voices, and great harmonisation.

They continued their set with "Don't You Worry Child" then "We're In Heaven". Three well chosen tracks which showed off their vocal talents well. You can check the latter two tracks out here on their Soundcloud page.

 


Back to our "Solo Male" category - actually we don't have categories, I just made that up.Sam Caldwell who is a 16 year old singer/songwriter.

Sam's first song, they were all his own material, was about growing up - didn't we all want to be a pirate when we were 8, (well actually I wanted to work on the Dublin ferry - I knew my sailing limitations). His lyrics have good stories and contain a fair bit of humour too - I loved it!

Next was, as Sam put it, a cheesey love song piss take; again a really good song which doesn't take itself too seriously, its a style that suits Sam well, he then finished with the song which got him a gig at the O2 arena in London last year "Myself". Check out his Facebook page and download the Myself EP.

First in our newly formed "solo female" category (this category thing isn't working is it..) Zoe West with her slightly out of tune guitar (her words not mine) whether it was just the heat this afternoon, but I was getting great Glastonbury vibes from Zoe. Good selection of 3 very different songs of her own today. Check her out online, she is well worth a listen

Time for a new category, although I don't whether to make this "group" or "male trio"... I might just stop this category nonsense cos I'm confusing myself, besides "band" is better. Anyway enough of me waffling on.Intoxicated are an electro/acoustic band consisting of John Roberts on Vocals/Rhythm Guitar; Kieran McTigue Lead Guitar and Sam Burke Bass Guitar.

The boys including in their set John's own songs "Time Will Tell" and "Day Off", which was written on a day off, hence the name. If those of us a bit older had written it it would have had the far less catchier title "working from home"

Back to the solo artists with Dan Astles (check him out on Facebook or Twitter. This was Dan's first gig in Liverpool, having travelled in from the wilds of Southport (a seaside resort where legend has it the tide once came in as far as the pier..)

Dan,who I think is only 15, has a very distinctive style, which I liked but wasn't expecting at first. Here's a clip from his YouTube channel - have a listen for yourself

 

 

Dan sang a couple of his own songs, then a slowed down version of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" before continuing with a couple more of his own compositions, leaving the audience perfectly chilled out, just right for a summer's evening


Last up for the Showcase for this month was John Riley - a rapper with a guitar - that's like actual multi-tasking. John gave us a mix of covers and original material. A pretty cool guy and I liked his rapping. If you look back over the last few blogs, you'll see my steady conversion into the world of rap and grime. Amongst his set this evening was "Run Away" a new song and this was only its second performance. He gave a boss version of Oasis's "Maybe" before rounding the show off with his own rap track "Forever Begins"

Another superb selection of new and emerging artists that we are fortunate to have in and around the city, brought together by Dominic Dunn. Pictured back stage (well in front of it actually) with Sam Caldwell (he hates me putting up sneaky pics but it was either this or the one of him demolishing a dirty big burger)

Thanks to the Brink as usual for hosting and James for doing the techy stuff on the mixing desk. Follow Dominic or Brink and look out for details of the next Showcase.