“That’s the last competition!” says Mark Lawrence, front man of the Southampton alternative rock trio Broken Links.
The prize was an all-expenses festival gig in Canada, and although they made the London final thanks to their loyal fans voting online, they didn’t have much chance of winning as Mark explains: “it’s down to a popularity contest in the city the final is held in. They’re always decided on audience votes and everything was stacked against us.”
But Broken Links crashed in style “we just went up there, rocked it out and went a bit nuts on stage.”
Unfortunately this week brought more disappointing news with the cancellation of three gigs: two due to “riot revellers” and one to the recession.
However the good news is that Mark did have a rather nasty accident involving a tray.
Thankfully it was all due to make-up and special effects: he’s a lead zombie in “Resurrection” the new indie horror film from Hampshire based Charmed Apocalypse.
Rather than spoil the action we’ll leave the gruesome details to the cinema but Mark is a good friend of Jake Hawkins, one of the directors, and can’t praise them enough:
“I know how much effort and passion he and Andy [Phelps] have put into it from the very start. It’s a huge achievement and they’ve got a great team pulling this movie together.”
So it might be death to competitions for Broken Links this week but with a new album and promo video coming out soon, things don’t look too grave.


