The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 29th September 2010

Born on the 17th January 1988, Alex Beharrel has always been somehow involved with music. From the young age of 8 he was singing in the choir as well as taking part in the Beckingham festival with his classical guitar. From there Alex has always experimented with different genres of music from classical to rock to blues but then found a neutral divide with acoustic music. Taking part in a two-year music course at west Kent College, Alex boosted his knowledge of music and improved his performance skills and to this day is still performing and trying to adapt to the ever-changing world of music. His influences (to name some among many) would include the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Herbie Hancock, Barenaked ladies, Elliot Smith, and Daivd Bowie.

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Bea Everett is a 21 year old singer songwriter from Tunbridge Wells. She completed her BA Hons in Professional Musicianship at BIMM Brighton in June 2015, and has since been travelling, busking, and started her own Personalised Songwriting business (Beaspoke DesignerSong).

Bea started writing music at the age of 12 and has been performing at The Grey Lady and other venues since the age of 14. Her main musical influences include songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, KT Tunstall, Norah Jones and Katie Melua, but her music is mostly inspired by the people she meets and revelations that come from everyday life.

Bea’s first EP, “The Woods” is available to stream and buy online from various stores such as iTunes and Spotify.

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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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What started as a crazy idea in an attic space in September 2005 quickly became something beard-strokingly serious for four teenagers with delusions of grandeur. Mashed Potato, a musical alliance between two best friends, soon evolved into Icarus, and from the sweaty depths of boys’ bedrooms came a unique sound, a blend of their love for artists ranging from Radiohead to Robert Johnson and Focus to Foals.

The band continued to grow, through members gained and lost and through taking the ultimate step of committing their collective noise to tape, at that time using a cheap mic in those same bedrooms. But via tenuous familial connections this music, self-produced in every sense, found its way into the ears of a very appreciative listener and soon enough Icarus were invited into the studios of Blizzard Records for what proved to be a very successful trial.

Now signed, cravats were tightened and scotch sipped with a new found vigour, as the glory days beckoned. They changed their name once more to ZIGO, they matured in their approach to writing music and most crucially, they pored over their expansive catalogue from their four years together to choose only 12 songs with which to populate their debut album – only slightly ironically titled This Is How It Ends.

Initially in the running to be the Tunbridge Wells Forum’s house band (despite no one knowing who they were) ZIGO have moved on to playing venues around the country, in the slums of their separate university towns. They continue to push themselves, their potential as a band, and their presence both on stage and off.

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