The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Sunday 8th August 2010

One time solo singer/songwriter Charlie Rivers has witnessed a truly organic growth in his music which has slowly but surely taken on a full band sound, spurred on by Steve McCormack (guitar), Steve Bassett (bass) and Ash Rushman (drums). In the space of only 16 months, The Charlie Rivers Band has morphed from the 'hear-a-pin-drop' sounds of one man and his guitar, to an uncompromising full band musical experience. 2009 saw the guys play at the "Busking Cancer" launch event alongside "Madness," and attained duo slots at Hyde Park and Wireless festival. Last year the band launched their much anticipated debut album 'Tender Chaos,' playing a host of sell out shows both in the UK and abroad including a storming headline set at the the Local & Live Music festival. Their single "Crazy" received a great deal of local radio play and recent support sets have included Newton Faulkner, Matt Berry and Toploader. The band are currently working on their follow up album, having previewed some of their new material throughout the course of 2011, set for a release in early 2012.

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Walking On Sunday are Henry & Nick, who have been writing together for 10 years and have played, busked, and recorded their way across Kent and London. Their unique mix of acoustic mellowness and insightful lyrics has helped them establish a solid and ever increasing fan base. The duo's take on their music is as follows "The first song that really got us noticed was ‘Camden Town'. This started out as a story about one of our favourite places to see live music and grew into a song about their own experiences there and hopes about performing there in the future. Shortly after writing Camden Town we were asked to join a band called C7. Nick as the main vocalist and me as the drummer and though this band we headlined Maidstone river festival for 3 years in a row. Although mainly a covers band C7 allowed us to play our own tracks for a 20 minute slot in the middle of the set which increased our fan base and gave us the boost in confidence we needed to write more of our own music. One of our favourite things to do is to busk. It gives us a chance to try out new songs on people wandering past and gives us a really good idea on what sort of music people enjoy and what works".

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Singer-songwriter, Paul Dunton leads his own unique cross-over orchestra providing an atmospheric fusion of alternative and pop with a classical twist. Paul & his Orchestra take influences from varying modern day artists such as Pink Floyd, Elbow, ELO, Turin Brakes, Massive Attack, Damien Rice and contemporary composers such as Samuel Barber, Ludovico Einaudi, John Barry and Hans Zimmerman. The Orchestra performs Paul's own compositions and a varied selection of uniquely arranged standards from a wide range of artists. The line-up of 8 violins, 4 cellos, guitar, flute, bass and percussion accompanies Paul on vocals and piano, joined by his lead vocalists, Charlotte Andrew and Poppy Raine. Paul and his Orchestra regularly perform at concerts, festivals and private events throughout the UK and internationally, including headlining the Theatrium Wilhelmstraße Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany and an 8 state tour of the USA which culminated in a spectacular roof-top performance on top of the New York Strand Hotel. Increased attention and success led to the orchestra being featured on BBC Radio 2 by Joan Armatrading with interviews and airplay of one of Paul's songs, 'Don't Forget'. This led to Paul supporting Joan Armatrading on five occasions during her recent UK tours.

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Zoe is a singer songwriter from Kent, currently studying English and Creative Writing at Reading University. She has been performing live for the past six years and has been writing her own material since the beginning of secondary school. In the past, Zoe has sung for Jazz Orchestras, choirs and musicals and continues to perform her solo sets in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells. Influences include – Elbow, Tracy Chapman, Birdy, Fleetwood Mac and Sia. Zoe has also been performing while at University in music societies and local and live gigs and continues to compose her own material with a unique and affecting style.

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