Offbeat South win The Big Audition, judged by Jamie Cullum
15 Aug 2013
Three 3rd year BA(Hons) Digital Music and Sound Art students from the Faculty of Arts have won a national music competition judged by international jazz star Jamie Cullum.
Ken Daniels, Anton Denny-Brown and Dan Griffiths entered the Pizza Express, Big Audition, with their band Offbeat South.
Following in the footsteps of Jamie Cullum and his contemporaries like Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones and Sting, Offbeat South will perform a special three-night residency at the iconic PizzaExpress Jazz Club in Soho during January 2012. They will also receive £5,000 from competition supporters Barclaycard Freedom.
The band beat-off some stiff competition from over 7,500 hopefuls, winning the regional heat and then the final held at Pizza Express, Kensington Olympia in front of a celebrity judging panel.
The panel backed the band for success and Jamie Cullum, who also gave them advice in a special Masterclass, commented: “They show a real joy in music making. We felt they had raw talent and would put the money and the opportunity to good use to help further their career."
The competition put a call-out countrywide to musicians, singers and bands aged 18-21 from all music genres, to find young talent and give them a chance to launch their music careers.
For the three students from BA(Hons) Digital Music and Sound Arts the band gives an additional outlet for their musical creativity. During study time, the unique course at the University of Brighton provides them with the opportunity to combine music and sound art practices with theoretical concerns of their artistic, cultural and media contexts, and their aesthetic implications. Whilst the Digital Music and Sound Arts focuses more on production than performance, it emphasises creative applications of sound, and places students in contexts where they have to be innovative with attention to detail. Group member Anton Denny-Brown says, "The course encourages collaboration and provides a very creative environment for us to develop our ideas."
