The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 29th May 2013

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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Liverpool born songwriter Mark Chase was the leader of the notorious 90's band World of Leather, who released 2 albums and 7 EPs through Sony. They toured extensively in the UK and Europe and sold respectably in Japan & Scandinavia, whilst skilfully avoiding the UK charts.

Prior to this, Mark had been a successful session musician & session singer, working with numerous artists including Belinda Carlisle, T'Pau, Taylor Dayne and Julian Lennon. He also worked as a commercial session vocalist, recording ‘sound-alike' tracks for TV shows and adverts.

After seeing Beck perform a solo gig a few years ago, Mark altered his approach to music, favouring the ‘stripped down' acoustic style of Neil Young, Damien Rice and Rickie Lee Jones. He continues to perform live regularly, both with his band and as a solo performer. Four of his songs have been used in movie soundtracks.

In tandem with his music career, Mark has also been a TV Presenter on a variety of shows, including; The Survivors Guide, Sextalk (both C4), Breakfast Time, Going Live! (BBC1), Wideangle, Country File (ITV) and Toyah & Chase (VH-1).

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Aaron has been involved in musical ventures ranging from bands and singer/songwriter projects to collaborating with DJ’s in the world of EDM. He has gigged and toured extensively. His journey has included supporting Bob Geldolf, playing at the Glasgow Barfly (to just three people), selling out the London Water Rats, and singing lead vocals on a Radio 1 premiered dance anthem by Sander Van Doorn (released 10th Feb 2014). He has also busked the streets of Chichester, supported Athlete, played Brixton Academy, played Church events around the world, spent time session singing, had a dance collaboration remixed by legend Dennis Ferrer, played Shepherds Bush Empire, written an XFM song of the week, and created three singles and one full length album.For the near future Aaron is looking to write more for the EDM genre and collaborate with DJ’s. He is also currently writing and recording an EP to be ready later this year.

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Fighting for Alpha are a hard hitting acoustic duo from Tunbridge Wells. Members Tomas Clarke (Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar) and Richard Thomas (Backing Vocals and Cajon) met at college where they studied music. When nearing the end of their final year they began talks about creating their own band. Different ideas were thrown around but in the late summer of 2012 the act was created.

Fighting for Alpha’s style is a mix of indie, rock and pop with influences from the likes of Bon Iver, Laura Marling, The Rolling Stones and the Hives all wrapped up as a highly original two-man band.

Although Fighting for Alpha are acoustic and have some slow, emotive songs, do not think that this is what defines them. For the most part they like to work up the crowd with high energy, beat-driven anthems with catchy lyrics and melodies to send any onlooker home with a tune in their head and a smile on their face.

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