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Surface Unsigned National Showcase
Sunday July 15th 2007 at the Custard Factory, Digbeth Birmingham
Words by Stephen Hudyba. Photography by Woody Tripp and Vikki Cobain.
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 Sunday July 15th saw the culmination of 56 excellent nights of live music across Birmingham in the Surface Unsigned National Showcase. Sounds and styles ranged from Thrash Metal, Jazz, Funk, Latino, Reggae, Indie and Rock n Roll; proving a testament to the diversity, originality and quality of the bands, and (combined with the torrential rain!) gave the event a memorable festival-feel.
A grey and wet day at Digbeth’s Custard Factory; yet any worries about the weather were soon forgotten as first band Rockstone & The Y2K Band kicked off the event with their uplifting and thoughtful Folk-Rock Reggae. A great band with a great sound; they are one of the most exciting acts on the flourishing Birmingham Reggae scene and where unlucky not to be placed on the day.
Next up were the unique ‘Cowboy Rock’ soundings of Carousel Circus. Country and Western influenced Rock, all done with supreme confidence and a dark, strange sense of humour. Making it through to the National Showcase on a back-up slot, the band showed why they wholly deserved to be in the Final Showcase with a strong, convincing performance.
 Rock n Roller’s The Dirty Riffs also made it through on a back up slot. A fantastic, raw energetic sound and an enthusiastic performance saw them excel on the Custard Factory stage. Excellent guitar work all round, in particular Dan Riley who was named Best Lead Guitarist of the Festival and walked away with a brand new Marshall AVT-150.
 Brit-Mod Indie-rockers Black Pearl have got a great, contemporary sound packed into their sharp, catchy tracks. Only young lads they’ve got enormous potential, already displaying a talent well beyond their years, it should be interesting to see what they come up with as they develop as a band. They didn’t get placed on the day, yet showed they’ve got huge potential and are definitely one to keep an eye on.
Faith inspired Pop-Punk band Where on Earth injected some real energy and showmanship into the proceedings. Throwing themselves around stage, they put everything into their music (as did their balloon and streamer wielding fans), and it made for an excellent show.
Strangle Kojak were one of the youngest bands performing, yet more than held their own against the opposition. They’ve got an innovative punk/rock sound that’s already won them a small army of fans and will hopefully see them go far, and special mention must be given for Ashley N who won Best Rhythm Electric Guitar Player.
 Jazz Thrash Assassin create a unique and exciting sound that picks n’ mixes musical genres with surreal and inspired results. Thrash Metal and Psychedelic Jazz make up the majority of their sound yet describing at such hardly does it justice; and with their original and slightly scary stage show, they really have to been seen to be believed. On the day they were placed a worthy 4th and proved quite the discussion point amongst the crowd.
 The next band to perform was Wolverhampton’s Clout. It was a standout set of strong, intelligent material, delivered with charisma and a no-nonsense attitude which impressed the crowd and judges alike and saw them finish in 3rd place!
The White Room nearly didn’t get to perform after a few problems before the gig. Luckily it was all sorted in time to play their slot, and the added drama seemed to crank-up the intensity in their performance of their edgy blues-rock.
One of the most exciting bands in this year’s festival, Regis have gone from strength to strength throughout the rounds and as such expectations were high for their National Showcase performance. They didn’t disappoint, it was another storming effort from a band with first-rate material, a distinctively British-indie rock sound, and a mesmerising stage presence. Having already attracted label interest, on the day they finished in 2nd place, further raising the profile of a band that deserves to go far.
 Undoubtedly one of the most exciting bands on the Birmingham unsigned music scene, The Brascoes seemingly came from nowhere (the first round of this competition was their second ever gig) to quickly establish themselves as a band with serious potential. An innovative, contemporary sound, they have written some superb material in the six short months they have been together and seem to just keep getting better. An excellent performance on the day saw them crowned winners of the 2007 Festival and hopefully now the band will start to receive the much greater recognition they deserve.
Bringing to a close an excellent day of music, One-Eye dazzled the crowd with their intelligent mixture of sounds. Latino, Reggae and Hip-Hop blended seamlessly into a compelling whole; they are truly exceptional musicians (they picked up Best Drummer of the Festival), with a great direction, it proved the perfect end to a first-rate day.
 All this couldn’t have happened at a better time. With local bands like The Twang, The Ripps and The Enemy all breaking through to the mainstream, record companies can no longer ignore the wealth of talent that’s emerged from the Midlands music scene in the past few years. There has never been a more exciting time to be an up and coming act in  Birmingham, and the National Showcase proved the perfect platform for these bands to get recognised by both a greater audience, and people involved in the industry, and hopefully we will see many of these bands go on to realise their exciting potential.
The Surface Unsigned Festival would like to send out thanks and praise to all 12 bands that showcased themselves on Sunday 15th July 2007 at the Custard Factory. Having played in the top 12 bands out of 1,184 applications we believe you have the potential to achieve great success. All parties that were involved in making the event come about (sponsors, judges, management, staff, fans) have all responded very positively. You should all feel extremely proud of what was achieved and be optimistic about your potential and future achievement! We will be featuring all 12 finalist bands in the Surface
Magazine, which will be launched at Music Live at the NEC from 2-4 November.
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