The winners of 2019’s RSD Unsigned competition, Heavy Rapids, will release their debut EP ‘Cash in Hand’ on Friday 19th July.

The Glaswegian indie-punk band consisting of Antony, Dillon, Jamie and Johnny, were handpicked as winners by BBC Radio 1’s Phil Taggart, Dirty Hit’s Jamie Oborne, Resident Music’s Natasha Youngs and Sound Performance MD Chris Marksberry.

The competition, which sought out to find the best of the UK’s unsigned talent and offer a prize of their music pressed onto 500 vinyl records, had hundreds of entrants from across the UK in the run up to Record Store Day 2019.

The Heavy Rapid’s winning record will be available to buy in indie record shops around the UK and via the band’s website courtesy of Proper Music Group. Natasha Youngs, owner of the independent record shop Resident Music in Brighton said “I love their energy, the delivery, the video – these guys definitely sound like they are the real deal. I can see them all over festival stages very soon”. Phil Taggart also added “It’s pure garage rock and it’s done well’.

On winning the competition, Heavy Rapid’s member Dillon told us “It’s a real buzz! We feel so privileged to have this opportunity and are excited to have our music pressed onto the old faithful of music formats. We applied last year and made it through to the final but to win this year, perfectly coinciding around the release of our EP, is perfect. Everything happens for a reason we guess. Total fate. We are big fans of bands like IDLES, Shame, Fontaine’s DC, The Blinders, The Orielles, Fidlar & Viagra Boys and aspire to play with at some point.”

A resurgence of post hardcore punk over the past coming months has enabled Heavy Rapids to gain support from radio including Amazing Radio, Radio X and BBC Radio 1’s Tune Of The Week on Jack Saunders’ Indie Show.

Heavy Rapids have seen a steady progression into the UK Music scene, previously having played at Live at Leeds, Camden Rocks, The Great Escape, Electric Field and Stag & Dagger, as well as supporting Cabbage back in May. They’ll also be on the Festival Circuit too, including Y Not (28 July), Neighbourhood (12 Oct) and even their first ever headline tour around their homeland of Scotland starting in September.

20 Sep – Aberdeen – Tunnels

21 Sep – Dundee – Beat Generator

26 Sep – Edinburgh – Sneaky Pete’s

27 Sep – Glasgow – Stereo

Chris Marksberry, MD of Sound Performance who sponsor the competition said, “Congratulations to Heavy Rapids on winning the competition. They are an exciting band, really driven and passionate in what they do, I love the EP and the cover art is fabulous. I hope this EP will be an important step on their road to greater recognition and success”.

“The dream is to make music people can relate to, make life's work out of the band and hopefully see the world in the process.” – Heavy Rapids

Tracklist:

1. Going Down

2. Infected Nightmares (Frankenstein)

3. Hurricane E

4. Paisley Patter