Music

Ben Tipple / 3 March 2017

Meet the A Shot at Discovery finalists: Birmingham

Meet the Birmingham finalists for The Pogues Irish Whiskey Presents: A Shot at Discovery ahead of the regional heats.

The Pogues Irish Whiskey have teamed up with Academy Music Group, the people behind all of those iconic live music venues across the UK, to award one unsigned band with a huge prize. The national winner will enjoy £3000 towards new instruments, studio time with The Pogues as guest producers, live opportunities and management services, plus much more.

With the regional finals kicking off on Sunday 5 March, we’ll be bringing you an introduction to each of the bands scheduled to play.

See all of our A Shot at Discovery coverage here.

Here are the Liverpool finalists, who will take to the O2 Academy 2 on Monday 13 March. You can grab tickets here.

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The Borgais

Formed in 2012, The Borgias are a fusion of indie, alternative and dance, which creates a sound that’s really unique to the Birmingham trio. The band describes what they’ve created as a fresh sound that’s somewhere between Kasabian, Massive Attack and Happy Mondays. If that isn’t enough, they do come with a warning: contains head nodding.

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Speaking In Shadows

Midlands five-piece, Speaking In Shadows, proudly opted for “music and a haggard old van over mundanity and a Lamborghini.” It’s that amount of commitment to what they do, that have seen them touring the UK and mainland Europe. The alt-rock band also released a brand new EP without any fuss or frills. It’s taken the band back to their roots, which is really just music that excites them.

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Mr George’s Famous Last Words

You may feel like you’re in the midst of rock legends when you’re watching Mr George’s Famous Last Words knock out stadium anthems when in reality, the band is relatively undiscovered. Despite that, Mr George’s have been touring the UK whilst promoting their debut EP, Young Man. Taking inspiration from the likes of Springsteen and The Killers, the band will have you captivated from start to finish.

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Big Ginger Kid

Hailing from Birmingham, Big Ginger Kid are an indie band infused with Brit pop. With four members as the driving force, Big Ginger Kid are playing gigs around the UK. The band consists of Luke Pritchard on lead vocals, Alex Williams on bass and backing vocals, Matt Hayman on lead guitar and Adam Rollinson on drums.

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Charles Dexter Ward and The Imagineers

Welcome to the dimension of Charles Dexter Ward and The Imagineers, prepare yourself for a sonic odyssey. Following the release of their 2016 album, Love, Death and Time Travel, the band have been playing headliners, festivals and have also supported The Pretty Things and The Slaves. The band describes their sound as, “A mystery trip of red-raw rhythm, oozing blues from the sky, bruising the complexion of your psyche with huge fuzz- laden licks and puppeteering your limbs with razor-sharp hooks as you submit to the searing echoes of Captain Beefheart wrestling Deep Purple, John Barry scoring The Stooges and John- Lee Hooker giving T-Rex scrubs.”

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Find out more about the Pogues Irish Whiskey: A Shot At Discovery competition over on the Academy Music Group website.

Grab tickets to all of the A Shot At Discovery regional finals through our friends over at TicketWeb.