Pizza Express Maidstone, Thursday 19th April 2012

The Soundcasters were formed in early 2008, when Tom James, 19 (Lead Vocalist/Guitarist) and his long-term friend Scott Russell, 18 (Bass/ and Vocalist), with school friend Simon Watson, 19 (Lead Guitarist and Vocalist) decided to form a band and advertised for a drummer. Matt Gibson, 20 (Drummer and Percussionist) auditioned and joined the band. From the first rehearsal, the boys formed a strong friendship and firm desire to be successful as a band.

Their individual tastes in music range from Punk to Jazz and this is reflected in the diversity of their songs. As young lads, this gave them an edge in today’s music scene and helped them to develop their unique sound. The Soundcasters are influenced by bands such as The Beatles, The Band, The Animals and The Arctic Monkeys. Not only have they been compared to The Arctic Monkeys but also The Kinks and The Libertines.

The Soundcasters began to seriously promote themselves in January 2009. They had a hectic summer, and quickly built up a strong fan base; playing private functions, many local and London venues such as The Fly, Bull and Gate, Hope and Anchor and the Dublin Castle, also performing at festivals such as The Lounge on the Farm, Infest and Togfest, as well as filming for a Documentary for Channel 4.

In March 2009, they produced their first EP which had a 60’s pop feel to it that had a huge response from a mixed audience with such songs as ‘Pauline’ in a blues/shuffle style and ‘French Habit’ with its Russian feel that audiences cannot fail to join in singing and dancing along to. The Soundcasters began the year 2010 with a more mature image, feel and sound and a busy and exciting schedule in place for the forthcoming year with plans to play private functions, charity gigs, festivals and further London venues such as The Half Moon, Putney. In March they successfully launched their second EP ‘Ban the Mind Reader’. The music has evolved into a slightly fuller, darker sound with grit, yet lightened with a little country rock. In May they wowed audiences at the infamous Cavern Club in Liverpool as part of the International Pop Overthrow.

The Soundcasters made their TV debut in August when the Channel 4 documentary ‘Amish: World’s Squarest Teenagers’ was shown. This prompted radio interviews and airplay along with many articles in local and national newspapers and TV magazines including the Daily Mirror and Radio Times.

The Soundcasters episode focused on the experience of a group of Amish youngsters spending a week with an artistic and musical family. During the week of filming, the band took their Amish guests to places of interest in Kent and shared with them their love of music, ending the week at ‘Togfest’, the music festival in Milton Keynes, where The Soundcasters played on the main courtyard stage. Clips of their music featured in the programme, causing a great deal of interest in the band, with much activity on their Facebook and MySpace sites helping to increase their fan base.

Following on from this experience, The Soundcasters look forward to writing and recording more of their songs and to continue performing and wowing audiences in and around the UK.

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Fred Clark is an exciting acoustic singer/songwriter from Maidstone, Kent who performs with incredible energy and writes with an upbeat, vibrant style.

The last 8 years have seen Fred play over 500 gigs including at Maidstone Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone Pizza Express (Headline Self-Run Shows), Chatham Central Theatre, Manchester Hard Rock Café, Lounge on the Farm, Guilfest and many more pubs, churches, theatres, festivals, weddings and other events.

Since the release of his self-produced debut album ‘Open Road’ in 2009 Fred has gone on to release a further 4 albums, various EP’s and T-shirts. The latest release ‘Long Walk Home' came out in June 2014 and showcased a great maturity in both songwiriting and production. Following a successful launch and fantastic reviews including a 9/10 write up from Cross Rhythms Fred has set about gigging extensively around the county at a great array of venues and events, spreading his infectious songs and memorable melodies along the way.

With a path set out in front of him of continued musical exploration and a focus set firmly on gigging as much as possible, the months and years ahead are sure to hold an great deal of memories waiting to be made.

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I am now 18 and about to finish school and I have been gigging for almost 4 years. I began writing songs when was just eight, but hopefully my songwriting has greatly improved since then! Generally I have a very acoustic sound as it’s just my voice and the piano; I like keeping things simple as I want my songs to be about the words and what I’m singing about. I can’t really say that one particular artist inspires me but I love listening to singers such as Eva Cassidy, Birdy and Ed Sheeran. When it comes to writing a song I don’t have a plan, normally a song will begin with me singing a random tune in the shower before running downstairs and finishing up on the piano.

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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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