Highlights from BBC Introducing in Kent's sixth birthday party
Abbie McCarthy
BBC Introducing presenter
Tom Williams and The Boat... and the beard
Some of you may remember the Kent team hijacked the BBC Introducing twitter account at the end of last month and were posting pictures of a huge chocolate cake and 5 acts performing on stage, and this was because our show turned the very grand old age of 6.
BBC Introducing in Kent started back in March 2008 and since then we have been discovering and supporting under the radar musicians and those 6 years have included some very proud moments and success stories... *weeps*
Here’s just one of those highlights:
For our birthday bash we picked 5 acts we believe are going to go on to massive things in 2014, and what a line up it was (even if I do say so myself…)
First up was Tunbridge Wells MC Ophelia, making a name for herself with her unique sound and articulate lyrics. Ophelia performed songs from her debut mixtape Get What You Need and in between tracks she had plenty of stories to tell her about ex-boyfriend. As I once said to her, I think she’s the Taylor Swift of Kent music…
Our reporter Jamie caught up with her just after she’d come off stage, listen here.
Ophelia taught me how to hula hoop and we chatted about her getting played on the BBC Introducing show on Radio 1 and future projects…
Next on to perform were the delightfully noisy and catchy racket that are Get Inuit. They performed a couple of never-been-heard-before-blimmin’-amazing-songs, including this one.
The band are from Sittingbourne and they recently supported PUP on their NME tour and they make songs with really fun names like Cutie Pie, I’m Bloated above and Dandruff. Everything else you could possibly need to know about the lads can be heard here.
Third on the bill was a young singer songwriter from Tunbridge Wells called Will Joseph Cook. By the end of his set every female in the room had developed a bit of a crush on him and lots of people were coming up to me like, ‘IS HE REALLY 16?’. Yes he is and he’s incredible, look:
If this lad doesn’t become like well famous, I’ll eat my hat (maybe).
Shy Nature were the next band to grace the stage at The Marlowe Studio in Canterbury. They’ve all got very good hair and a fantastic live set as well, packed full of ridiculously catchy songs and lots of jumping around.
Their latest single Lie Back has been given airplay by the likes of Steve Lamacq and Radio 1's Phil Taggart and Alice Levine and they are performing at a whole heap of festivals this summer, a very busy but very successful year ahead for this lovely lot methinks. I had a chinwag with them about their recent tour and new recordings.
And last but not least were our headliners, Tunbridge Wells' Tom Williams and The Boat. As a band we’ve been supporting since the beginning, and who are now back with a remarkable new album, they seemed the perfect fit to top the bill.
As anyone who has seen this band will expect their performance was perfect and slick from beginning to end. Lots of people were just mesmerised by Tom’s magnificient beard. Our reporter Jamie asked Tom for his best beard tips and they chatted all about their new album Easy Fantastic.
If you didn’t make it, I hope to see you there next year because it really is all the fun.
Oh and while I’m here, it’d be rude not to plug my show wouldn’t it? Every Saturday night come join me on BBC Radio Kent from 8pm. Thanks, bye!
For more clips and highlights from the birthday bash, head to Abbie's BBC pages and visit their YouTube channel.
