Here & Now Issue 34 | July 2019

MUSIC
SKOOLFEST 2019 BILLY COCORAN, WINNER
Make me famous, baby!
There are many good reasons to pick up a
musical instrument or start singing beyond
becoming famous, baby.
BUT MAKING MUSIC in the Worthing area
might actually make you famous too.
Let’s start with a review of S’koolFest at
Pavilion Theatre last month. I’m going to
confess my complete lack of journalistic
impartiality here, because I put on S’koolFest
for Northbrook MET, and it’s my favourite
gig of the entire year. We invite local schools
to send us their up-and-coming bands,
songwriters and MCs, and we put them
onstage with a great PA and lights. For
many, it’s the first time they’ve ever played
in public. For some, it’s a life-changing
experience.
Collette Wade, who brought the choir from Thomas A Becket
Infant School, told us, “It was fantastic to see all the talent
there is coming through in Worthing. It was inspiring for our
children too!” Her 60-strong choir of six-year-olds took the
‘Cutest Ever’ prize (invented by the judges for this occasion).
Other prizewinners (of which there were many) will spend
summer playing new instruments, thanks to generous
donations from We Have Sound guitars in Worthing, Andrew
at Salvage Sounds (makers of unusual stringed instruments),
and the Guitar, Amp and Keyboard Centre in Brighton. Some will
be recording their first EPs at Northbrook MET studios, after which
we start the countdown to the 10th S’koolFest next May.
RUSSELL, CHRIS, DAVE, NATHAN &
JOHN FROM HOST RECORDINGS
Host, a record label for homeless
or insecurely housed people to
write, develop and sell their own
music. “It’s me making an effort to
go back and give these people what
I would’ve liked to happen to me,”
he explains. Their latest release is
‘Richmond’ from John Gailbraith,
who was originally referred by local
homeless charity Turning Tides. The
single came out of weekly recording
sessions at St Clare’s Day Centre in Worthing – with centre
manager Russell Gallagher on bass.
Get it at johngailbraith.bandcamp.com
Watch out also all over Worthing for the Turning Tides Big Summer
Busk on Saturday 6 July.
KIDEKO, CREDIT: GEORGE POWER FINCH
ACROSS THE SEA, CREDIT: THE MIC MEDIA
Duo Across the Sea is Hannah Katy Lewis on vocals and Pete
Ferguson on guitar and pedals, who met and developed their
unique sound while studying for a BA in Music at Northbrook
MET. “We’re inspired by the location of our hometown, looking out
to sea and wondering what’s beyond the horizon, hence the name.
Our videos and artwork were shot on Worthing Beach, Durrington
Cemetery and Cissbury Ring.”
Behind the Looking Glass is
released across all streaming
platforms on 28 June.
acrosstheseauk.com
Fame is not the main aim for
Host Recordings’ director Dave
O’Connell. Now a successful
musician, Dave was homeless
for a time before founding youth
group Shoreham Allstars ten
years ago. Now he’s launched
So let’s talk about fame. Sompting resident Ryan Hurley, aka
UK house artist Kideko, has 1.1m monthly listeners on Spotify
worldwide and, since graduating from Northbrook MET in 2015,
has worked with the likes of Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal.
We asked Ryan: why Sompting? Is it the music scene? “It’s near
Northbrook and Brighton. I like Worthing
because it’s close enough to go to
Brighton for nightlife and inspiration but
you can come away from it all when you
want to get creative and really zone out
in the studio.”
Ryan’s time living in Sompting is soon
coming to an end, but he’s not moving
far – just to Shoreham, still close enough
for us to continue to count him as one
of our own. His most recent release
‘What Is It?’ is out everywhere now. n
Mike Pailthorpe
Mike runs Music
Degrees and the
Artist Development
Programme at
Northbrook MET
28 | July 2019 | HERE & NOW ADVERTISE NOW 01903 686100