London, UK. (Top40 Charts/ Virgin Records) - This year's Road to V competition has been bigger and better than ever. With over 3,000 bands to choose from, it has been a tough decision but experts have finally whittled it down to the lucky 14 finalists who are confirmed as Bo Pepper, Dylan James,
India Mill, Johnny Foreigner, The Jubilees, Kagura, Maxfield, New Cassettes, Our Fold, The Outside Royalty, Rosalita,
Seven Heroes, The Brightlights and The Guests.
It is now up to the panel of expert judges who have been selected to send two bands to victory as winners of Road to V 2007. The panel is made up of the infamous 'Mags' from Metropolis music, top label executive James Endeacott and top pop/indie front man of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells.
The final 14 bands will be performing a series of live gigs at Carling Academy Islington (15/16/17th May) and Carling Academy Liverpool (9/10th May) in front of the expert judging panel and filmed by Remedy Productions for a 10 part series that showcases the 14 brand new bands, concluding with the 2 winners' performances and experiences at V festival.
As one of the music industry's leading promoters, Mags knows exactly what he's looking for when it comes to Road To V. After serving as one of our trusted experts last year, the Metropolis Music man has since taken winners Bombay Bicycle Club under his wing as a direct result of their success in the competition. He also boasts the likes of Hard Fi, Editors, The Fratellis and The Twang on his roster.
James Endeacott is best known as the man who discovered The Libertines, The View and countless others, it follows that the qualities James looks for in any band are 'attitude and a beating heart'. Having gone on to found 1965 Records, he has recently signed up the likes of Ripchord, The Metros and, of course, The View. When asked recently what a band should do to get signed, he simply replied: "Surprise me."
Dan Gillespie Sells is the enigmatic front man of top pop band The Feeling, who's top hits include 'Sewn', 'Fill My Little World' 'Never Be Lonely' and 'Love It When You Call'. He is delighted to be involved with Road to V and he tends to favour great big no-nonsense, hook-filled, giant-chorused pop music – music for the masses, only intelligent, with sunshine hooks and killer choruses that everyone can hum, from plumbers to professors.
He says: "There are no guilty pleasures anymore. You're allowed to like Andrew Gold, ELO, Supertramp or 10cc. It's really liberating." So Dan will be looking for catchy, larger than life poppy tunes that will really get this years V festival off to a rocking start.
All you need to do to get your hands on free tickets to Carling Academy gigs is simply text the date you would like to attend, followed by the number of tickets you would like (e.g.'15x3') to 80150.
Line up as follows:
WED 9 MAY - LIVERPOOL: SEVEN HEROES / THE BRIGHTLIGHTS / INDIA MILL
THU10 MAY - LIVERPOOL: OUR FOLD / THE GUESTS / KAGURA
TUE15 MAY - LONDON: AMY BULLMAN (RESERVE) / THE JUBILEES / BO PEPPER
WED 16 MAY - LONDON: JOHNNY FOREIGNER / NEW CASSETTES / ROSALITA
THU 17 MAY - LONDON: THE OUTSIDE ROYALTY / MAXFIELD / DYLAN JAMES
