About The Festival
The Surface Unsigned Festival is an annual music industry event providing a gateway for artists to perform on international stages in front of industry representatives. The Festival brings together all aspects of the UK music industry and is a major event in the unsigned music calendar.
Surface Unsigned 2008 has kicked off in style!!
The Surface Unsigned Festival 2008 is now in full swing across the UK. Industry so far have included Flat Cap Promotions, Alan McGee Management, Carl Barat from Dirty Pretty Things, Paul Tipler producer of Idle Wild and Placebo, MTV2, Steve Kent producer and mixer, Equator Music, Tap n Tin Records, M20 Records, BBC Essex, The Rage, Rockbottom Promotion, HeadSpace Events, Surface Management, Surface Magazine Journalists and more individual A&R and journalists.
Bands from the 2007 Festival continue to have amazing success. Surface 2007 band The Arcadian Kicks played an overwhelming gig at the Isle Of Wight Festival this year on the Big Top stage alongside Feeder and The Stranglers. The Arcadian Kicks got snapped up by Jon Brookes from The Charlatans as he was judging one of the heats in the Surface Unsigned Festival 2007. Jon saw enough potential to sign them to his management company One Beat Media. Also check out 2007 winners The Brascoes who are playing the Hide and Seek Festival this year. Congratulations also to Long Day Gone for reaching number 27 in the Radio 1 UK charts.
We have some amazing bands of all ages and genres lined up for you across the UK. Feel free to come down to any of the events, tickets are available from the bands involved or on the door. For full band line ups please visit our website www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk.
Surface Unsigned Festival 2008 Text Voting
If you are not able to make it to the date or the venue when the band you wish to support is playing you can text vote. To vote for your favorite band simply text SURFACE followed by the number of the band (for example "SURFACE 009") to 83149. Please remember to include a space after SURFACE otherwise we will not be able to use your vote. All band numbers must contain three digits (i.e. 009). 10 (ten) pence from every text will go to Oxfam. Voting is available each day starting from February 01st 2008 until August 08th 2008. 16+. Texts cost £1.00 plus standard network charges. Please get permission from the bill payer. Customer services: info@surfaceunsigned.co.uk or contact us on 0800 434 6076. Terms and conditions: www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/termsandconditions.html
To find band numbers, results and write ups please check out the regional mini-site in your area: www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk/regionalMinisites.html
How can my band take part in the Surface Unsigned Festival?
To sign up to Surface Unsigned please fill in the application form which you can find on our website www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk
Industry Panel
Our industry panel is headed up by Jon Brookes, the founding member and drummer of ‘The Charlatans’. Since forming the world-famous band ‘The Charlatans’ in 1989, Jon Brookes and his band have released 14 albums and 31 singles. In 1990 the band put their first single, ‘Indian Rope’, out on their own label Dead Dead Good records and promptly sold 20,000 copies, which is enough to get a number one even nowadays! Soon after, they were snapped up by Beggars Banquet. Since then The Charlatans have released a series of enormously successful albums. Instead of releasing their latest album ‘You Cross My Path’ through a record company, as one would have done traditionally, they instead have decided to sign an exclusive deal with Xfm to give away their album as a free download at www.xfm.co.uk, along with exclusive interviews with the band and Alan McGee management. As well as still going strong with the Charlatans (their upcoming UK tour has already sold out) Jon Brookes has been busy drumming on some Chemical Brothers tracks and is also working as a band manager, managing unsigned bands.
As well as an industry showcase our sponsors are on hand to award the best bands endorsements, prizes and recording time. In 2008 every band in the National Showcase will receive the following: 5 x sets of D’Addario XL strings, 2 x sets of D’Addario Bass strings, Planet Waves S.O.S. Guitar Tuner, Planet Waves S.O.S. Bass Tuner, 2 x Planet Waves Instrument Cables, Planet Waves Capo, Evans Tom Pack (3 tom heads), Evans Snare Head, Evans Drum Key.
There are prizes and endorsement deals from Marshall, PMT, Dawsons, Univibe Audio, Zildjian and Kerrang on offer also. The total prize fund totals tens of thousands of pounds.
Music Live @ N.E.C. 2008
Surface Unsigned has teamed up with Music Live to give a chosen National Final band the opportunity of playing the main stage at the N.E.C. (National Exhibition Centre) at Europe’s largest music event. The chosen band will perform in front of thousands of people including music fans, journalists, trade manufactures, PR, music celebrities, A&R and music industry legends; i.e. Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Dave Kushner (Velvet Revolver), Kerry King (Slayer), Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour), and many more.
Win a pair of tickets to the National Showcase
We are giving you the chance to win a pair of V.I.P. tickets to this year’s National Showcase at the Birmingham Academy 1 on 13th September 2008. The Showcase will feature the 14 bands from across the U.K. that have shown they have what takes to be the headliners of tomorrow. To enter simply tell us who won the Surface Unsigned Festival 2007 last year. Was it:
1) The Brascoes
2) Regis
3) Clout
To enter simply text SHOWCASE followed by your answer (1, 2 or 3) to 83149. Please remember to include a space after SHOWCASE otherwise we will not be able to use your vote. The vote will close at 12.00pm on 10th September 2008 and the winner contacted via phone. 16+. Texts cost £1.00 plus standard network charges. Please get permission from the bill payer. Customer services: info@surfaceunsigned.co.uk or contact us on 0800 434 6076.
Regular updates
Surface Unsigned is constantly looking for new ways to promote unsigned bands and musicians to the people that matter. We continuously work alongside music industry experts to develop new ways to advocate unsigned music, so keep an eye on our website www.surfaceunsigned.co.uk for the latest updates.
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