I was only thinking the other month that it’s been a while since I went to a BBC Introducing showcase event and a week later, an email dropped into my inbox, inviting me to Exeter Phoenix to check out four incredible acts who ‘the Beeb’ consider as the creme de la creme of the flourishing Southwest music scene.
I arrived at the Phoenix at 7:30pm to find a packed house, the queue was out of the door which was amazing to see on a damp and cold Thursday evening in February and proves that despite the day of the week and weather conditions, people were hungry for a great night out, maybe they were just glad to see the back of January!
I met with Daniel Pascoe from BBC Introducing and chatted to him about the success of the event and this year’s festivals, I also bumped into the lovely Lucy Williamson from Whisper Magazine and Becky Grinham from Powderham Live to chat about a workshop I am running for a number of acts that they are helping along the way. It’s great to see that there are so many people out there who are giving their time to maintain the flow of talent in the local area.
I’ll admit that owing to me networking and shmoozing, I wasn’t able to catch the full sets of Saff Juno and Liang Lawrence but I was told that they performed brilliantly to an eager audience who were behind them throughout. I did manage to catch up with Saff and her guitarist (the uber-famous Josh DC) after their show and chat about their plans for 2024 which sounded very exciting (keep an eye on their socials for more) as well as their TIKTOK videos which always make me smile.
I managed to catch Liang Lawrence at the end of the evening to say hello and chat about the ‘introducing’ feature we wrote for musomuso.com a few weeks back, whilst I was catching up with her manager, she chatted to a musician who is studying in London and thanked her for her performance and commented on her lyrics and how thought provoking they were, this was amazing to see and clear that Liang is on the right path, allowing others to tune into her thoughts and take influence that hopefully they will apply to their own work.
Pattern Pusher performed an uplifting and ‘sunny’ set which included tracks from their forthcoming album ‘The Great Letting Go’ (set to land on May 3rd) along with a few classics which had everyone up on their feet, getting down low and leaping about like loons, celebrating the joyful din created by these super-talented musicians from Exeter. They will be playing 5 dates (London, Falmouth, Newport, Exeter and Bristol) following the release of the album, and I hope that Ben G (bass/guitar) will be going for a wander around the audience at these as he did this evening in Exeter.
The last act on stage tonight was TORS, a band that I have received information from their PR company in the past but never got round to engaging with them, why have I not done that yet? watch this space as I will be hosting an interview feature with them soon. Watching this trio perform, I was spellbound, their fusion of indie and pop was incredible, and it looked like they had invited their fan club along as the entire front row were singing along to each and every word that came out of their mouths, very impressive!
Having recently returned from New York where they were recording the tracks for their new EP which lands in Spring 2024, they thanked everyone for their ongoing support and reminded the room that “Devon was Heaven”. They are off on a 27 date tour of Europe’s arenas which kicks off in February where they’ll be supporting James Blunt. The tour will see TORS closing in on their mission to craft “intimate, personal songs written to be played in stadiums”. They’re no strangers to large stages, having played other big gigs with artists including Sam Ryder, Freya Ridings and Tom Walker, as well as selling out their recent UK headline tour and have also just announced they will support Cian Ducrot in London at Eventim Apollo on 21st November.
To say that the future is bright for this lively and lovable trio is somewhat of an understatement, remember, you saw them in Exeter, alongside a few hundred music lovers courtesy of the BBC Introducing showcase event.
To finish off the evening, TORS called out Daniel Pascoe, a long-time fan of local music and host of many radio shows in the local area, without Dan’s ongoing support and drive to help put local acts on the map via his shows and BBC sessions, the world would be a much quieter place.
A massive thanks to everyone involved, the sound and lighting people, the security team, the good folk at The Phoenix, the bands and their teams and of course, the lovely folk that purchased tickets and dragged their backsides off the couch to come and support on a cold and moist February evening.
Words by Steve Muscutt
