Madmanmoon

Who’s who in the band?
Alex Cutts (30, vocals and keyboards), Tom Williamson (25, guitar, backing vocals), Nathan Weanie (19, bass),
Drummer to be arranged,

How did you get together?
I [Alex] write songs as madmanmoon and entered the competition using my own self-produced CD. After being shortlisted it’s been a question of getting a band together sharpish especially for this gig! I knew Tom was a guitarist, and met Nathan after hearing about him from a friend of a friend.

Have you been in any other bands?
We’ve all got plenty of live experience from performing in various bands in the past. Being used to playing live has been very important in putting this band together, as we’ve needed to hit the ground running. Fortunately everyone seems to know what they’re doing and I’m sure it’s going to sound great on the night!

What sort of studio work have you done?
I write and record all my own material in a home studio. It gives much more scope to get things exactly as you want them and obviously you also have much more time in which to work. You can listen to more songs at www.madmanmoon.com and instrumental stuff at www.madmanmusic.co.uk.

If we win the competition it will be great to get the chance to record with a full band. It’s really positive to have other people’s creative input in addition to your own too.

Who are the bands/artists who inspire you?
I’m sure they’re too numerous to mention, and we’ve all got varying influences. The important thing for this gig is to throw all that out of the window and make our own sound – after all it’s about being the Next Big Thing, not the Last Big Thing.

Tell us about your chosen songs…
1. This Is Not the End. It’s an interesting song I think because it doesn’t really sound like anything else. It begins like a ballad, but then opens up into a much more energetic style, which will hopefully work well live. I think originality is really important if you’re trying to get more people to listen to your music, and this song is definitely that.

2. The Saddest Words. This is a very simple song that has power purely because it’s got feeling. When there isn’t much instrumentally on a track you rely heavily on getting the emotion across, and I think it really works here. Let’s hope other people think so too.

What’s been the highlight of your musical career?
We’ve all had our own highlights but Sunday is definitely going to be up there!

What’s your number one ambition in music?
To keep playing and writing and getting better, to keep enjoying it and to move people.

www.madmanmoon.com