For me, last Friday has become ‘unsigned Friday’.

In the morning we held meetings about a compilation CD full of unsigned artists, the evening’s task was judging five unsigned bands in the ‘Southampton Takedown’ at the Talking Heads and between those events I was invited to present a radio show on a national DAB station that only plays unsigned music.

The winners of ‘Southampton Takedown’ were ‘Plastic Toys‘ and they’ll now be supporting ‘YouMeAtSix’ when they play The Salisbury Takedown on July 26^th.

‘Plastic Toys’ narrowly beat deep grunge rockers ‘Burn The Fleet‘ who win the unofficial runners-up prize of an acoustic set at ‘Showcase UK’ in the Soul Cellar on Monday 20^th.

Meanwhile the CD is a collaboration between ‘Showcase UK‘ and ‘Angry Badger Records‘ and titled “Showcase Sett“.

Julian Aplin’s label is fast becoming a feature in the South’s music scene and this album will give 16 acts from Southampton and Portsmouth a great boost.

We’re also using Southampton artists for the cover and sleeve design and with one glimpse you’ll understand why the first collection is called ‘Propeller‘.

It’s released on Saturday 1^st August with a four band show at the Soul Cellar featuring ‘Dlugokecki‘, ‘The Queue‘, ‘Moody Tuesday‘ & ‘Thinking For Tuesday‘.

And finally the radio station is ‘Amazing Radio‘ which I believe is going to shake up both the radio and music industries.

It’s a great thrill and honour to be asked to join them and I’ll only be playing music from the South coast.

First published in the Daily Echo, Friday 10th July www.dailyecho.co.uk/leisure/music/news/4486773./

Unsigned music received a massive boost today with the launch of Amazing Radio on the UK’s DAB network.

Possibly the bravest radio launch in recent times this station will be playing music that has been uploaded and recommended at www.amazingtunes.com.

This hand-in-hand approach will definitely benefit both bands and their fans but, as I have been finding at the Soul Cellar, keeping people interested is the hard part.

However the concept is fantastic and hopefully the enthusiasm of the presenters will encourage people to stick with the station.

The mix of music for the current test transmissions is great and we look forward to the opening day.