On a barmy, summery, Saturday night the Keighley Cougars venue was lit up with some of Yorkshire’s best unsigned talent. The band headlined on a night which saw support acts ‘The Capo Amnesty’ and ‘Cotton Club’ impress the audience.

It was perhaps the perfect end to a perfectly beautiful day. Scorching temperatures gave way to soulful tunes as all three acts hit-the-spot for the discerning Keighley crowd. At the end of the night it was clear the crowd was ready for the headliners as they lapped up the band’s distinct and original tracks.

The night was sold out however those who couldn’t make it didn’t miss out. The set was streamed live to faithful fans via Ustream.

The increasingly popular ‘Superman Song’ [fast racking-up Youtube plays] brought the evening to a close and the crowd to their feet.

Next the band journey to the south of the county and bring soul back to Sheffield.

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We launched the new EP Roots on 26^th June at the 360 Club in Leeds (the EP was mixed by Roni Szpakowski of Peak USA…in Chicago) and then played a load of gigs around the UK over the next two weeks on our “Get Out of Bed” tour.  We then managed to sell over 250 EP’s (which certainly helped the finances…mixed in Chicago) We’ve since sold over 150 songs on itunes and had a couple of tracks played on a Canadian radio show. (Chicago…huh?)

Then, you know, casually, we went to the O2 for the Live & Unsigned Grand Final, didn’t win but had an amazing time.

The next Friday Dave, Jamie and me received our degrees, Jamie from Hull Uni, me and Dave from Leeds College of Music. Had lovely day with our families, not forgetting Dave (Thad), who is probably a better musician than the rest of us, or at least he thinks he is, who is still working towards his forthcoming engineering degree. Multi-talented ba*%&rd.

Starting to book gigs for September once the August holidays are over. So keep your eyes peeled for new songs, new gigs and new band members! That’s all I have for you now.

Love and thanks for all your support. Let’s keep it going.

TG

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So we rocked up on the day of the audition, cranked out What’s She Gonna Say and got told to stop playing half way through. Not the best of starts. We went to wait outside and watched the organisers come out one by one to explain that various bands hadn’t got through offering feedback on their performance, things they can change and improve on. To be fair we were relaxed, didn’t really expect anything to come of it. “Tom Gee?” We all looked up. “Yeah you guys are through well done.”

So 2 months later there we were in the Regional Final on the 27th March at Dewsbury Town Hall. Lots of fans turned up to support us, people were nervous, still practicing before they went on. We were relaxed. Again. It’s not that we didn’t care I guess we just didn’t expect anything to come of it. So you can imagine our surprise when our name was called out saying we were through. I think that’s when it hit me that we were one step from the O2. That was a good feeling.

Sunday 8th May arrives, The Willows in Manchester. Again a huge crowd there to support us. Cracked out a Beyonce cover before the opening track of the new EP Roots called Little Late. Video here! (http://youtu.be/LZ_2s-nlbY4) And the final act going through to the Grand Final of the Live & Unsigned competition 2011 at the O2 Arena is….Tom Gee. Get out. No it’s not. No it really is. Wow.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us along our journey and thanks to those who are coming down on Saturday to see us. For those of you that can’t make it you can still show your support by texting unsigned62 to 84222 or watching the youtube video! http://youtu.be/LZ_2s-nlbY4

It’s Wednesday for God’s sake, the gig is on Saturday and it really hasn’t hit me yet. One thing for certain though; I can not wait.

See you Saturday.

TG

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Everything’s hectic at the moment, been some fantastic performances by LCM students as part of the ensemble unit down at the Wardrobe all week, great to see the talent I’ve had the priveledge of performing and learning with for the last 3 years. Can’t believe it’s over to be honest. I’ll be doing my solo performance, joined by my 3 best friends (Dave, Dave and Jim), on 10th June playing a bluesy Clapton-Mayer-Me set, should be a good laugh. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in Bridie Burkinshaw’s performance and David Levi’s, both are sounding great.

So everybody’s busy rehearsing, revising, organising, breathing, the whole shebang and I heard in the news that Sean Kingston crashed his boat into a bridge, it was described as a watercraft accident. Not to be confused with a witchcraft accident as I thought it said at first sight. Obviously it’s terrible news and everyone wishes him a speedy recovery but somebody posed the question what would you do if you had as much money as Sean Kingston?

So what would I do? Well, it’s easier to say what I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t buy a boat, well I might but I wouldn’t buy a boat that I was going to control; I’m a nutcase. Don’t give me a high speed boat and a stretch of water, something’s going to go wrong. I think the main thing is that I’m a bit of a wimp, I’d be way too scared of damaging myself, pathetic I know. I think the fear stems from having to explain to my girlfriend/parents/sisters that I’ve hurt myself. Because even if I survived a tragic watercraft accident, I wouldn’t survive the absolute bollocking they’d give me!

Playing a gig tonight at The Fenton as part of Something In The Loft, a good night in Leeds supporting unsigned bands and artists. David Sudall is joining me on percussion so even if you don’t like me, it’s worth coming down to see a masterful musician at work! We’re on at 9pm.

There are a few exciting things in the pipeline, keep posted for all the updates, you’ll get them here first!

TG

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