Music
Meet the A Shot at Discovery finalists: Glasgow
Meet the Glasgow 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 Glasgow finalists, who will take to the O2 ABC on Thursday 9 March. You can grab tickets here.
Black Cat Bone
Describe your sound and how you formed.
We are an alternative blues rock n roll band with a lot of soul. The four piece come equipped with a pounding rhythm section, layered vocals, catchy guitar riffs, heavy distortion and hollering harmonica. The band formed through various local open jam sessions at the end of 2013.
Why should fans come and watch your band?
Fans should come to our live shows because we have a definitive sound and showcase a true passion to what we love to do in our live shows. We also just want to see our audience get loose and have a good time.
Schnarff Schnarff
Drawing inspiration from Nirvana, Pixies, Taking Back Sunday and Biffy Clyro, alt-rock band Schnarff Schnarff have set out to create a memorable and diverse sound. Marrying hooks and choruses with face-melting guitar riffs and metronomic drum fills, the band has been described as “staccato grunge pop” by BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway. Other than touring, the band also released The Evil That We Do… in September last year.
The Violet Kind
![THE VIOLET KIND - WALK AWAY [LYRIC VIDEO]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qXzhWj535qE/0.jpg)
Describe your sound and how you formed.
The Violet Kind are an exciting indie rock trio, playing catchy melodies entwined with bright chords and an experimental rhythm section. Influenced by Foals, Alt J and Death Cab for cutie, the band produce memorable songs with clever musicality.
After performing at Hard Rock Rocks, a music festival held in 2015 by Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh, Liam Duffy joined forces with Katya Mansell and Kyle Grieve to form The Violet Kind. The band played a successful stream of gigs, appearing at venues across Edinburgh and Glasgow such as The Mash House, Electric Circus and Ivory Blacks before recording their debut single, Walk Away. The song received critical acclaim and was included in the Best of British Unsigned podcast in 2017.
Why should fans come and watch your band?
Come along and see The Violet Kind captivating their audience, connecting honest lyrics with a real sense of joy, all the while rocking out.
Thula Borah
Describe your sound and how you formed.
The foundation of our sound is a mixture of the alternative-rock from the 90s such as Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana combined with the post-rock of the likes of Mogwai and Sigur Ros. We have also been described as genre hopping as we incorporate anything from acoustic, to prog and ambient amongst many other genres.
We formed when our bassist, Matt, learned to play to help flesh out some demos I had been recording. After initially playing with a drum machine and friends helping out, when we got our first gig we knew we had to expand the line-up. Our natural choice was to add Kevin on guitar as he had jammed with us before and we eventually added Mikey on drums in 2012 to complete the band.
Why should fans come and watch your band?
Fans should come to watch us to get the visceral experience of us playing some of our most immediate, impactful songs with passion and intensity.
The Bar Dogs
Formed in 2015, these rock ‘n rollers spent the following year recording their forthcoming album, which is set to be released this spring. Drawing inspiration from titans such as Frank Sinatra and Tom Waits, The Bar Dogs’ sound is taken to another level at live shows as they marry soulful keys and sax with their already booming rock ‘n roll sound.
Real Life Entertainment
Describe your sound and how you formed.
We’re currently producing psychedelia soaked pop songs wailing with the cry of disenfranchised youth. Dual fronted, drenched in overdrive with hooks, grooves and riffs we’re sure to steal your girlfriend.
The name Real Life Entertainment was adopted in December 2015 with the band playing a couple of gigs under different names that summer. First formed by members Rick, Ross and Cammy in July 2014 after coming back from London’s British Summertime Festival the trio started practicing at Perth’s Clearwater Studios. It wasn’t until June 2016 Steven joined with Simoniacs officially coming to an end re uniting the brothers in rhythm and allowing Rick to become frontman.
Why should fans check you out?
Whatever your into you’re likely to dig something that’s going on in our music, we provide the tunes and you provide the boogie. Come down and see why you should come see us yeah?
Panic Anchor
Describe your sound and how you formed.
I picked up a guitar relatively late on compared to most people I know but as soon as I knew a few chords I started writing my own tunes without much agenda at the time. After playing them with some friends I was encouraged to put them up online and started playing some small shows shortly afterwards and been carrying on ever since. I’ve sometimes played with a band for certain gigs due to knowing some fine musicians but I tend to play mostly solo nowadays due to the logistics of touring.
Why should fans check you out?
I think this particular show will be a great night due to the line up of great bands playing and the ABC has always been a favourite venue of mine to play in Scotland. As for on stage, a lot of sad drinking songs played with a bit of heart. There’s nothing too complicated going on, I try and write simple tunes that are pretty accessible to anyone who is a fan of folk or country rock music.
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.
