Glastonbury winner

An up and coming band, The Fayre, from Oldham and Saddleworth in Manchester are the lucky winners of the nationwide competition run by CLIC Sargent, to find a young talented band to perform at this year's Glastonbury Festival.

Not only does the four piece indie/funk band, get to perform at the UK’s biggest music festival but they will also get to share a stage with the critically acclaimed electric violinist Linzi Stoppard - one half of electric violin duo FUSE and daughter-in-law of the celebrated Sir Tom and Dr Miriam Stoppard.

The aim of the Share a Stage competition is to raise awareness for Practice-a-thon, a CLIC Sargent initiative designed to encourage young people to practice their music and raise money for children with cancer. All schools and groups taking part get to keep 25% of any money raised; the other 75% goes to CLIC Sargent.

The band, made up of singer Matthew Austin, guitarist Chris Stockton, drummer Eoghan Clifford and bass William Lees, fought off tough competition from a host of budding musicians, aged from 13-24.  All bands and musicians were asked to upload a performance of themselves onto YouTube to be in with the chance of snagging their place in the limelight.

Entries were from a variety of music genres ranging from rock, indie, pop and hip hop to folk and funk.  But, it was The Fayre who caught the eye of the panel of judges from Glastonbury's very own unsigned talent judges, of previous years.

Rachael Groom, National Events Manager for CLIC Sargent, said:  “Not only has this competition been a dream opportunity for up and coming artists of the future, but it has also played a key role in raising awareness of the work CLIC Sargent is involved in to support the families who lives have been turned upside-down by the unimaginable.

“For The Fayre this is the chance of a lifetime to perform at one of the most popular music events in the world, and there may be talk of some cultivation into the music business with the help of our industry professionals.”

Some of the band’s last gigs include supporting major signed artists including Unklejam, Twisted Wheel, Northside and Glasvegas. The Fayre has also secured airplay on XFM radio, The Revolution, BBC Manchester and Radio 6. They also recently won XFM's unsigned band of the month competition giving us the chance to record an In-Studio Session with DJ Clint Boon.

The Fayre will be taking centre stage at Glastonbury Festival at 5pm on Friday June 27 2008 on the Late ‘n’ Live stage.

ENDS

• The Share a Stage performance will take place on the Friday of the festival on the Late ‘n’ Live stage and is not connected to the Glastonbury New Talent Competition.
  
• For any media enquiries please contact Suzanne Palmer in the CLIC Sargent press office on 0117 3148621 or 07876 352544, or email: suzanne.palmer@clicsargent.org.uk