Student Success round up – April ’18

BIMM alumni and under-graduates are doing great things within the music industry. So much so that we’ve decided to start a regular news round-up to highlight the many successes happening across all of our campuses all of the time! Check out these summaries along and click the links for further information.

Brighton

Folk troupe Paper Hawk will soon be releasing their highly anticipated debut EP ‘The Tide’. Lead single ‘Trails’ has been causing quite the stir online, with an incredibly positive review in Clash Magazine.

Indie pop sextet Jumanji recently released their brilliant debut EP ‘For Now’ along with the announcement that they’ll be playing Joefest alongside fellow BIMM Brighton graduates Fickle Friends. Check out the new EP here.

BA (Hons) Songwriting graduate Joe Dolman has been continuing his steady upward trajectory with a string of live dates across the UK. Most recently, Joe announced on his social feeds that he’ll be playing BBC Biggest Weekend for BBC Radio 2 in Coventry on May 27th. Grab yourself a ticket while you still can!

Only last year we saw melodic fuzz-pop quartet and Brighton performance graduates Penelope Isles play a brilliant Magic Numbers cover version at Arctangent festival’s acoustic stage. Fittingly, the band just announced on Twitter that they’ll soon be joining the multi-platinum folk-pop quartet on their upcoming tour of the UK and Ireland!

Brighton grunge rockers Atlas Wynd released their latest single ‘Helpless’ this month. The visceral track sees them purveying a distilled mixture of wiry guitar riffs, pummeling drums and gritty vocals echoing the likes if BRMC and Arctic Monkeys. The brand new track was premiered on the ever-popular Huw Stephens’ show on BBC Radio 1.

Bristol

BIMM Bristol songwriter Harvey Causon recently supported underground New York art-pop sensation Porches at Rough Trade Bristol. The news comes in the wake of his own recent video release for the brilliant new single ‘Worn You’, which has been broadcast from the big screen in the city’s Millennium Square throughout April.

London

Creative Musicianship graduate Andrea Di Giovanni recently made it all the way through to the music round final of the Pride’s Got Talent competition 2018. The recent semi-finals took place at Two Brewers in Clapham, where Andrea impressed the judges with a fantastic performance of Dua Lipa’s smash hit single ‘New Rules’. The grand final takes place at Charing Cross Theatre on April 29.

Nadine Benjamin graduated from Tech Music School shortly before its merging with BIMM London. Since then, the vocalist has been described in the press as a rising star of London’s opera scene, appearing in shows such as ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ and ‘Isabeau’, and will soon be releasing her debut album ‘Love & Prayer’.

Manchester

Live Sound and Tour Management diploma graduate Rory Wynne released his eponymous debut album this month. It was selected by BBC Introducing as their ‘pick of the week’ by broadcaster and friend of BIMM, Huw Stephens. NME has hailed him as a ‘prodigy’ and he was even dubbed ‘a kind of modern genius’ by TMRW Magazine.

 

Music Business student Miriam Rahimov and her three female comrades pulled off yet another successful instalment of their very own street-level music festival ‘When in Manchester 4#’, which featured a host of BIMM bands and artists performing across various venues in the Northern Quarter. The festival has been hailed as ‘one of the most exciting and diverse urban festivals in the country’ by independent music blog Even The Stars.

Songwriting student Izzie Walsh has been building a strong reputation as a live act to be reckoned with lately. This month saw the Americana songsmith and her band undertake a brief UK tour which saw them performing in London’s Slaughtered Lamb, Manchester’s Deaf Institute and Henry’s Cellar Bar in Edinburgh. The dates came in support of the band’s brand new EP ‘Take Me Back’, which has received rave reviews since its release this month.

Music Business student Jess Kemp will soon be playing a joint headline show with David Gorman at Manchester’s famed Deaf Institute. The doubleheader show will celebrate the release of her brand new singles ‘No Shouting’ and ‘On The Ground’, which will be available to stream and download on all good digital platforms.

Indie-rock four-piece JEKYLL recently announced plans to perform at The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City Festivals in May. The band will be appearing at both events in association with End Of The Trail Records and Fierce Panda, two independent labels with a combined history of releases from the likes of Coldplay, Placebo and Supergrass.

Birmingham

Ambient pop duo Hunger Moon have been steadily building a name for themselves on the local scene and just supported London-based singer songwriter Adam French at the Hare & Hounds on Kings Heath. The bill also featured the aforementioned BIMM Bristol songwriter Harvey Causon, proving that quality music is prevalent across all of our campuses. The pair also recently received airplay on BBC Introducing West Midlands.

Songwriting student Felix Shepherd recently released his brilliant debut EP ‘Polar Points’, which comes hot on the heels of his recent support slot with BIMM Birmingham Artist Development tutor Pete Williams.

Dublin

Vocals Alumna Ciara O’Connor scored herself a massive win recently when she began touring with double Brit Award winner and British pop sensation Dua Lipa. The Akora singer and session vocalist joined Dua during her recent tour of UK and Ireland, racking up some serious bucket list venues including Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, Glasgow’s SSE Hydro, Manchester’s o2 Apollo and London’s Alexandra Palace.

BIMM Dublin pop songstress Laoise recently supported R’n’B/pop trio Wyvern Lingo and Britain’s Got Talent winner Tokio Myers at their respective live dates this month in Dublin, and even sold out her very first headline slot at Whelan’s. She also just featured on the IMRO showcase as part of the Music Cork festival and just announced that she’ll appear on the main stage at Liverpool International Music Festival this July!

Indie punk rock quintet Fontaines DC and electronic world-pop performer AE Mak will both be making an appearance at The Great Escape Festival, Brighton next month. The bands will both be featured on the Music From Ireland showcase, which will take place at one of the city’s best-loved small venues, the Prince Albert.

AE Mak will also be featuring on the line-up at upcoming Bulmers Forbidden Fruits Festival on the June bank holiday weekend alongside fellow BIMM acts DAYS, Erica Cody and Fontaines DC. The gig will see the groups sharing a line-up with some of the biggest live acts in the business, including Warpaint, Justice and The War On Drugs.