Glastonbury Band Competition Finals

As the fog descended over Somerset and night drew in we arrived again at the friendly hall for the night’s band finals, this time for the acoustic stage. Once again the standard was high and no doubt two or three of these acts will be playing a festival or two this summer. Although a few of the bands were we felt more suitable or should I say easily able to play the John Peel Stage.

Jim Moray 4
We’d seen him before at WOMAD and it was just as well because we arrived late. Presumably the four is because he now to accompany his guitar he has another guitarist, a double bassist and a drummer. They play with depth and certainly sounded a lot more full than the light strings of his first album Sweet England. Infact it was captivating and much preferable to his more restrained folky stuff, the album. Infact we have the album and it gives wholly the wrong impression of the sort of sound they generate live. The songs may be traditional but they sounded much more modern and rocky feel to them. We only caught the last two tracks but they sounded terrific. I thought he’d win it and wondered who else could possibly match this confident start.

Scouting For Girls
Were up next and the five piece started well enough with a light catchy little tune that reminded me of The Las and kept it up with another tune like the Thrills. The lead singer Roy Stride also on keyboards had a lot of confidence and certainly appealed to some. But I felt the singer’s sister on supporting vocals was a bit nervous and it seemed to spread. The musical styles also appeared to zig zag about and I’m hard pushed to find a musical box to put them in. Still they performed admirably though it was clear they weren’t in the running tonight.

Second Person
A fantastic four piece with an accomplished bass player, a great drummer and a guitarist who could easily glide into Pink Floyd. Their trip hop was very reminiscent of Portishead and her vocals of Julianne Reagan from All About Eve. As well as looking lovely, singing beautifully Julia Johnson is also a pianist of delectable talent too. They did a fantastic slowed down, trip hop version of The Cure’s Boys Don’t Cry and another gem of a song in Too Cold to Snow. Truly fantastic and all of a sudden Jim Moray was looking less likely to win. My daughter and I rushed off to press the band for their 13 track album.

Red Hand Band
Tall and entertaining to watch, they start off on Franz Ferdinand look alikes on full throttle, with added tambourine! They’re certainly easy to sum up they’re a Pink Floyd/Franz Ferdinand fusion with added keyboards at one point three sets of keyboards were being played at once. Polished and immediate I quite liked them, however my daughter hated them.

The Deadbeats
I wasn’t expecting this lot to be anywhere near as good as they were. The music was infectious. I tried not to dance and I failed! Shot through with blues the five lads from Manchester clearly had a fan club and by the end I wanted to sign up too. Laid back acoustic guitarist and singer Sam Hammond reminded me of a young Black Crowes. The sound was fantastic but then I am a Grateful Dead fan and once Sam pulled out his harmonica I was up and jigging. Great country music played with style and likely to get much further than Gomez. With one act to go Jim Moray was a distant memory.

Whalebone Polly
Three young women dressed in stripy sock with no backing band, the only truly acoustic band of the night. Sadly they proved the point that truly acoustic music can only be played in small venues. Hampered by tuning and level setting up to start with and having to retune between songs, they were none the less fantastic at harmonies and the playing of acoustic guitar, banjo, violin and a harmonium. With the only percussion being a small shaker they’d be terrific at a small folk festival but would struggle on the Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury. A shame because they were clearly talented but true acoustic music works better in small intimate venues. They should consider doing OTT or a smaller stage like the Tadpole at Glastonbury.


Shortly afterwards the winners were announced – The Deadbeats (yay) and definitely if you like Bluesy Country music played at a canter then The Deadbeats are for you. I’ll see you at the Acoustic Stage for some foot stomping and a swig of moonshine.


winners: The Deadbeats
Though many of the other bands are sure to be playing at other festivals and elsewhere at Glastonbury. Overall the standard of music was terrific and it bodes well for the future that so many new good bands are coming through. Well done to GFL for encouraging all these new bands.

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