Indie rock dance band Typewriter Radio – who have only been together for 5 ½ months – battled it out with three other brilliant East Anglian groups on Friday 18th February to win the first heat of Band DISScovery 2011 and a place in the Grand Final on Friday 8th April.

Talented young outfit The Easy Brothers, an Indie Blues Rock & Reggae band from Old Buckenham were convincing winners of the Audience Favourite vote on the night. They’re still in with a chance to win the overall competition because the band receiving the most Audience votes over the four heats also wins a place in the Grand Final.

Heat 1 Winners Typewriter Radio are all 25-26 yrs old and are based in Norwich. The individual band members are:
Dan Beddows
Lee Youngs
Ian O’Brien
Gyannis Efrekremidis

The judges, Jono Heale (Access to Music), Jo Bowley (Lead vocalist of well- known Norfolk band The BB’s and youth services worker in music) and Brett Baber (East Anglian Music Promoter) were all astonished at the talent and ability of all four bands. Here’s what they said about Typewriter Radio:

“The front man has great stage presence with a lovely voice – a modern day Brian Ferry.” Jo Bowley
“All really tight as a band but still displaying individuality while performing.” Jo Bowley
“Good voice!!! Good driven solo guitar throughout!” Brett Baber
“The frontman reminds me of Ian Curtis from Joy Division” Bret Baber
“Everything came together in your last three original numbers” Jono Heale

Audience Favourite, The Easy Brothers are:
Joe Burns 16
James Burns 14
Oli Aston 14
Guy Dennis 16
Jessica Murray 15

Judges comments about The Easy Brothers:
“Wonderful guitaring – very creative solos” Jo Bowley
Female vocalist “Fabulous” Jo Bowley
“Charming frontman” Jo Bowley
“Watch this space!” Jo Bowley
“The professionalism for such a young band was outstanding.” Jono Heale
“Great female lead vocals and backing vocals” Jono Heale
“Great drummer – absolutely on the button!” Jono Heale
“I have put 100s and 100s of young student bands on across the UK – AND YOU GUYS HAVE REALLY GOT SOMETHING!” Jono Heale
“Such mature songs for ones so young” Brett Baber
“I haven’t heard such fantastic female vocals in a long time” Brett Barber

The second for four Heats is on Friday 4th March at 7.30pm and features four more fantastic bands with influences as diverse as U2, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac and styles from Indie Folk and Electro Rock. It also includes Bury Sound winners, Twisted Piglet.

Cataclysmics from Roydon
Crumbs For Comfort from Mulbarton
Woodland Creatures: from Norwich
Twisted Piglet from Eye

The four extremely talented bands who fought it out at Diss Corn Hall on Friday night in the first heat of Band DISScovery 2011 were:

The Easy Brothers from Old Buckenham
Fick As Fieves from Aldeburgh
Serious Delirium from Stowmarket
Typewriter Radio from Norwich

Tickets
Tickets for each heat and the Grand Final are £4 advance / £5 door and are on sale now from the Diss Corn Hall box office 01379 652241 or online www.disscornhall.co.uk.

Judging
Each heat will be adjudicated by a panel of three judges – taken from a pool of movers and shakers from the local music industry – who will offer constructive comments to contestants after their performance. Judges confirmed to date include:
Jono Heale (Access to Music), Simon Pickering (organiser of Bury Sound), Jo Bowley (Lead singer of The BB’s and Youth Worker in music), Brett Baber (East Anglian Music Promoter), Ian Elliott (Pyramid Audio), Sandra Robinson (Publicity Officer for Bury APEX & BBC Blast), Terence Blacker (singer/songwriter & Independent columnist), David Stapleton (Manager of LP club, Bury St Edmunds) and Mick Ryder (Tour & Production Manager for Black Sabbath & UB40).

Prizes
Band DISScovery 2011 prizes will include: a 3-track EP professionally recorded at Music Outpost Studios, free state-of-the-art PA hire and services of a sound engineer for a gig in East Anglia, your own gig at the Corn Hall, a live CD of your performance at the Grand Final and the opportunity to perform in front of the crowds at Diss Carnival.

Winners of each heat’s Audience Favourite vote will win a ‘Gig Survival Kit’ courtesy of Sundown Guitars Music Shop in Diss.

Promotion
Band DISScovery will be promoting each heat and all the competing bands via facebook, myspace, press and radio including BBC Introducing who will be attending the heats and the final.

Regular Updates
For regular Band DISScovery 2011 updates including special ticket offers, follow us on Twitter @DissCornHall, go to the Diss Corn Hall and band DISScovery facebook pages or www.myspace.com/banddisscovery

Band DISScovery is organised by Diss Corn Hall, Pyramid Audio and The Music Outpost to showcase the wealth of musical talent we have in the region.

For more information ring Angela Sykes at Diss Corn Hall 01379 652239.