Kingswood pupil, Will Cross’s band Trenchard has been selected for the national final of Rock the House. The final, which will take place in Balham on 31 May 2016, consists of two sections – a closed element where the band play an original song to a panel of industry professionals including record labels and signed artists and then a second section where the band plays another original song to a live public audience at a venue in London.
To get to this stage is a great achievement as thousands of bands and solo performers entered the competition in 2016 and only 12 have been selected for the national final.
The winner of the competition will perform at the Houses of Parliament and win an array of prizes from equipment, live music slots, exposure, recording sessions and radio and TV airplay.
All the recordings are undertaken by Will at his home where he records each instrument one at a time with the band playing along during live gigs.
Rock the House is one of Parliament’s largest competitions and aims to raise awareness of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights among legislators and the general public. This year the competition is headed up by Nigel Adams MP and Lord Tim Clement-Jones.
One music blogger commented that Trenchard: “has the skill and nuance of a musical combo twice their age. ‘Stubborn’ has a steady build with the disparate instruments threatening to pull the patchwork quilt of sound apart at any given moment. That’s half the charm however and with a singer whose vocals are both odd and compelling you’re left with a unique offering that’ll lift Trenchard beyond the sweating and indistinguishable sound of a thousand other bands.”
Said Head of Kingswood Foundation, Simon Morris: “I heard Will sing Mac the Knife at Green Park Station in Bath last Friday at the launch of the Bath International Music Festival and was really impressed by the quality of his vocals.
“Nurturing musical talent is very important here at Kingswood and we have a number of bands who perform regularly at school and encourage our students to record their music. There has been some real talent appear which is very exciting and quality of the production is tremendous. We all wish Will tremendous luck next week and hope to hear more of his music in the future.”