Mega Music Talent

Archive for the ‘Talent Showcase’ Category

Who would have thought a few months back that this 18 year old fresh faced singer from South Shields would win the 2009 X Factor final? Not me anyway. After the auditions I sort of favoured Jamie Afro, that was based on his great performance of Sex on Fire. Problem was that Jamie never set the stage on fire again so my attention turned to Miss Frank. This girlband was 3 contestants who were encouraged to form a group after they failed to get through to bootcamp. They were great, original and interesting and I’m sure will have a good future if they stay together.

I always liked runner up Ollie Murs, he is a great performer though I didn’t think that his singing voice was the best. Up until the last 3 weeks I would have chosen Olly over Joe because his performances entertained me more. Then I saw that Joe had constantly improved and that his confidence was growing. Suddenly young Joe McElderry was beginning to look like a contender. His voice is probably the best of all of the contestants with perhaps the exception of Danyl Johnson who came fourth.

In third place was Stacy Solomon, the Dagenham girl with the big voice. She never really did it for me until the last show where she sang the Freddie Mercury classic ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ and performed a duet with Michael Buble. That duet was something else and to me was better than the Ollie Murs/Robbie Williams duet and the Joe McElderry/George Michael duet – to be honest I was disappointed in George Michael and thought that Joe outsang him. 

The final was one of the most entertaining shows that I have ever seen and included a performance by Sir Paul McCartney, the most successful singer songwriter ever. When the X Factor finalists joined him on the stage it must have been massive for them – or epic as Olly says.

Congratulations to Joe, a very worthy winner. Congratulations to Cheryl Cole who mentored her second winner in a row. Congratulations to all of the other finalists who never failed to entertain during the best X Factor year yet.

I love Joe Mc Elderry t shirt

(more…)

November 2008 Showcase – Steven Hitchens

Review Of ‘Whoops’

When I heard the title of talented young singer songwriter Steve Hitchens debut single ‘Whoops’ I thought ‘oh no not one of those naff, catchy songs that are usually released in the run up to Christmas’. You know what I mean – the type of song that gets played for years to come at weddings and birthday parties that gets the grandparents up dancing with the kids. But, I promised to listen to and review Whoops so here goes.

On first listen I was pleasantly surprised. Yes it is one of those catchy songs, but it doesn’t remind me of anything else and has grown on me every time that I’ve listened to it. ‘Whoops’ suggests mistakes and the song is about a guy who cheats on his partner and is caught out and not for the first time. He wants forgiveness from the partner that he loves but you sorta know that it will happen again.

The chorus ‘Whoops did I do it again’ made me think about works Christmas parties and the embarrassing mistakes that happen. Imagine for weeks afterwards your workmates compounding your embarrassment with a rendition of the chorus every time that they see you!

As a debut single I like ‘Whoops‘. It’s catchiness, upbeat tempo and singalongability score in its favour and especially as we are heading towards Christmas when it could become popular as a party livener. As a dance tune it also scores good in my book. I found myself wanting to dance and if a dance craze attaches itself to ‘Whoops’ who knows how well it will do.

Singer Steven Hitchins who comes from Surrey in the UK certainly has the look of a pop star. I’m sure that the girls will love his moody good looks – I know that I do! Whoops is now available from most digital retailers. As Steve will be releasing his first album next year I’m sure that we will hear much more from him in the future.

Competition so far for the Christmas season is Alesha Dixon’s ‘The Boy Does Nothing’. Played back to back with ‘Whoops’ at a club or party – that sounds like a fun time to me.

Exclusive Interview with Steven Hitchens

Whoops the Video

You can buy the MP3 download of Whoops
now at Amazon

Every month we at Mega Music Talent showcase a band or artist who we enjoy listening to and we believe are talented and will do well with their music. Our October showcase is the Norwegian band Toxic.

October 2008 Showcase - Toxic

Heavy rock band Toxic was formed in 2003 in the Norwegian town of Stavanger. The band was formed by two workmates, two brothers of a workmate and the vocalist replied to an advertisement in a newspaper.The complete line up is: Trash Hamer: Vocals, Guitar Geir Ove Bernhoff: Guitars, Backing Vocals Daffy: Guitars Rolf Lura: Bass, Organ, Cello, Double-Bass Kristian Moen: Drums

Order Fear from Amazon Now!

Initially Toxic played cover songs but after a few months guitarist Geir Ove Bernhoff started to put together some songs for the band and now they have their own music for us to enjoy.

After playing together for a year Toxic started gigging and made 2 demo tapes which helped to get them a record deal with the Norwegian company Downbeach Music. Toxic’s first album was called Intoxicated. It was released to good reviews and especially the track Chronos.

Toxic made a video for Chronos featuring bikers as the good guys. The video is great to watch and unsurprisingly earned a gold medal at EuroFilmForum Skandinavia. Although I liked Chronos on first hearing it grows on me every time that I listen to it. You can see and hear the video yourself below.

Toxic – Chronos

After playing together for 5 years the Toxic sound has matured well. When I first heard them I likened them to 70s bands Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and even Rainbow – that’s a compliment for Toxic because I love listening to those bands. Even so Toxic has some exciting originality and that shows on their second album Fear which was released under the UK label Rocksector Records in September 2008 – just in time for their October UK Tour Of Fear and Halloween!

That sounds scary but I can assure you that there is nothing scary about Toxic or Fear. They are a friendly bunch of guys producing a great atmospheric sound with lyrics that have a conscience. The looked forward to UK tour kicks off with a Red TV/Sky 186 TV interview on October 14th.

16th October 8.00 pm Grand Central 80 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH UK With: Killheathen and Propax www.myspace.com/rockcentralmanchester 17th October 8.00 pm Hark to Towler 43 Market St, Tottington, Bury, BL8 4AA UK With: Killheathen http://www.myspace.com/hark2towler Hard Rock Radio Live Chorley, Northwest UK Live live radio interview @ Hard Rock Radio Live With: Killheathen www.hardrockradiolive.com 18th October 8.00 pm Sanctuary Rock Bar 73 Cow la, Burnley, BB11 1NN UK With: Killheathen & more TBC http://www.myspace.com/sanctuaryrockbar 19th October 8.00 pm The Snooty Fox 1 Brunswick St Wakefield, WF1 4PW UK With: Killheathen & more TBC http://www.myspace.com/snootyfoxlive 20th October 8.00 pm Manchester Radio Online Manchester, Northwest UK Live acoustic session @ Manchester Radio Online With: Killheathen www.manchesterradioonline.com 21st October 8.00 pm Yorkshire House 2 St. Marys Place, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, With: Killheathen http://www.myspace.com/theyork 22nd October 8.00 pm Sawyers 44 Montagu St, Kettering, NN16 8RU UK With: Killheathen + more TBC www.myspace.com/sawyersvenuecouk 23rd October 8.00 pm The Racehorse 15 Abington Sq, Northampton, NN1 4AE With: Fury UK, Killheathen www.myspace.com/sawyersvenuecouk 24th October 8.00 pm The Bedford Park 223 Streatham High Rd, London, SW16 6EN UK With: Killheathen + more TBC http://www.myspace.com/theoldkingsheadrocks Total Rock Radio Live interview @ Total Rock Radio With: Killheathen www.totalrock.com 25th October 8.00 pm Hall Cross Rock Bar 33-34 Hall Gate, Doncaster, South Yorkshir With: Killheathen www.hallcross.co.ukPurple Turtle 65 Crowndale Rd, London, With: Killheathen, Sigil, Muted http://www.myspace.com/turtlesmurtle

You can find Toxic at: www.toxic-rock.com MySpace Facebook Toxic Photos Toxic Posing Toxic Chilling Toxic Rocks More Posing From Toxic Toxic Live Toxic Rocks The Stage Toxic Order Fear from Amazon Now!