Bradford band wows crowds at Glastonbury

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 4th Jul 2003.

THREE Bradford on Avon teenagers who planned a weekend off at Glastonbury Festival found themselves taking centre stage instead after impressed music bosses asked them to give two live performances.

St Laurence School students, Sam Nadel, 17, Joe Taylor, 18 and 17-year-old Adam Newton formed BlackBud six months ago, and were invited to play after the festival radio station, Avalon, picked up their CD.

Band manager Grant Newton said: "I took loads of demo CDs to Glastonbury and just went to hand a few around in the Radio Avalon studio. The guy there asked straight away if we would play on the acoustic stage for the organisers."

Mr Newton had to drive back to Bradford on Avon to pick up the group's instruments and then had trouble getting back through the festival security gates with the sound equipment.

He said: "I had managed to track the lads down and get them to say yes to doing the gig, and luckily we managed to commandeer a police car to take us across the festival site.

"It was a ridiculous sight, us getting escorted across the festival with all our instruments in a police car, with the boys handing out flyers from the back of the car as we went."

Friday evening's gig was a hit with festival staff, and the band quickly ran out of demo CDs to hand out.

The band's reputation soared as the festival continued, with numerous interviews and an invitation to play another gig at the radio station on Sunday.

The exhausted team returned to Bradford on Sunday after very little sleep, but with everything crossed for future Glastonbury success.

The band will now have a well-earned two-week rest before beginning a packed schedule playing gigs at universities and major venues in Bristol and Bath.

Their blend of funk, blues, and reggae has already earned them a faithful following in west Wiltshire.

Mr Newton said: "The guys have worked so hard, I'm just really proud of them, and their talent really shone at Glastonbury.

"When we first went on the acoustic stage, the guys blew the place away and were being watched by a lot of very influential people from the music industry, which we're hoping will really pay off in the future."

Another Bradford band, Akabella, was also invited to to play a gig on the Avalon stage on Saturday.

The group was asked by Rebecca Eavis, daughter of festival organiser Michael Eavis, after she spotted their talent at the Bath Festival.

Band member, Ruthie Alexander-Morgan said it was their biggest gig so far.

She said: "We play a mix of world music, jazz and soul, and although we are more used to playing in pubs and bars.

"We had a great weekend and the audience seemed to love it."

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