The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 8th February 2012

Sidestepping the customary blues-clichés, David Migden & The Twisted Roots – their name accurately reflecting the melting pot genre – perform unique material in a genre-busting crossover of blues, rock and American roots music. His range and tone astonishing; David Migden is regarded as one of the best male vocalists of contemporary Blues music!

David Migden was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, moving to the UK as a teenager. After playing and touring around Europe, initially in the Lee Sankey Group with Matt Schofield and Ian Siegal, he then teamed up with (the then) Dirty Words, releasing “Second Hand Tattoo,” their debut album, to an excellent response from critics and fans alike. David Migden and his band, by now renamed Twisted Roots  released their follow-up album “Killing It” in 2012, once again receiving lustrous reviews in the relevant media and radio play across the globe.

David Migden & The Twisted Roots won the prestigious New Brunswick “Battle of the Blues” competition and appeared at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Canada in Sept 2013,. They were nominated in the British Blues Awards for best original song (“Shel”), and twice in a row, 2013 and 2014, in the category best singer. The band also won both Best Band and Best Newcomer in the “Blues Matters“ writers’ poll of 2013. As a result they were chosen to represent the UK at European Blues Challenge 2104 in Riga, Latvia in April 2014, where they won third place. In Riga they were noticed by Alfie Falckenbach of Blues Boulevard Records, and in the following months an agreement was reached for worldwide release of their third album of self-penned songs: “Animal And Man.”

The band’s reputation has been growing with radio play across the UK, Europe and the US.‘Animal & Man’, recorded at Rimshot studios in Kent, has the sound and songs the band have always wanted. 

The members of The Twisted Roots have each individually played with a host of internationally renowned artists including Robert Plant, James Brown, Matt Berry and Corinne Bailey Rae, and have gained a reputation for playing exhilarating shows.

David Migden – Vocals/Trumpet/Piano

Phil Scragg – Bass

James Sedge  – Drums/Percussion

Joe Gibson  – Guitar/Backing Vocals

Graham Mann – Keyboard/Trombone/Backing Vocals/ Percussion

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Emerging on the local singer/songwriter scene over a decade ago after a number of years playing in cover bands, Chris was quickly hailed as “an inspiring modern day troubadour who pens lyrics of real substance and meaning.” His music was described as “touching on themes and experiences that people are genuinely able to relate to and which capture the attention of his audience from the very first note, whether listening to him live or on one of his recordings.”

10 years later despite a long battle with tinnitus, the above remains as true as ever but with the added depth and insight that another decade of life experience brings. He has played regularly in the UK as well as at the fringe at SXSW and a number of venues in around Dallas and Austin. He is also one of the very few artists to have been played every Local & Live festival.

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Based in Tunbridge Wells Monica and the Explosion is a two-piece band consisting of Monica Welander, a Swedish punk rock singer songwriter, and bassist Paul Slack (original member of the UK Subs and the Flying Padovanis). Monica and Paul started touring together in July 2010 after they released her second album ”Shut Up!” (joined by drummer Rob Baylis). Since the album release they have been touring constantly around Europe, Ireland, Sweden and Australia as well as gigging extensively around the UK. Having toured around the world as a solo artist for a couple of years, Monica finds the two-piece line-up retains the original concept of the songs whilst adding a new layer of complexity to the over all sound best discribed as ”jukebox punk”. The latest album "Shut Up!" received a great review in SO Tunbridge Wells September issue last year, and the duo has just completed the recordings of a new album that will be out this year (2012).

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Until fairly recently Luke sang and played guitar in local band ‘Tehillah Commission’ who over a six year period performed throughout the South East (and occasionally further afield). Since their final performance in the summer of 2009 Luke has taken time working on new material, collaborating with a number of local artists and also writing songs to perform as a solo artist. Drawing from extremely diverse influences (from John Mayer to Usher), Luke sets out to write songs that interrogate the highs and lows of life, often imbedding insightful questions within carefully crafted toe-tapping melodies.

Luke is accompanied by Barnabus Shaw on piano.

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