21st February 2016: Holly and The Boatmen / Sam Holmes / Abi Miller / Jess Davis / Thomas Dunleavy
Holly-Jean started performing at local festivals when she was 11 with her brother playing guitar and her singing. Since then she has taught herself guitar and now at 15 plays all around Cambridgeshire. She loves to sing all kinds of genres from rock to classical. She has recently released her own ep of self written tracks called "14 miles to midnight". Through collaborating with Steve and Dave at various open cic events formed the acoustic rock trio for festivals / events & is performing as Holly and the Boatmen as well as solo gigs.
The Boatmen (aka) Dave Bailey and Steve Gibbs, two seasoned singer songwriters who have notched up quite a few years performing both as solo artists and in various bands, festival and event organisation and hosting local open mic, most recently with the Islanders and now working with the talented Holly-Jean on the local music scene.
Abi Miller was introduced to a local festival a few years ago and went on to win Norfolk's Got Talent. She taught herself guitar and loves to play pop and rock. She has recently started to write her own tracks and is a regular on the local festival circuit.
Sam Holmes comes from a family background of acoustic music and song writing and is the youngest so far to grace the stage. Having taken up percussion at the age of 12, he progressed to keyboards, guitar and eventually found a soulful vocal keen to present itself. He tried his hand at open mic sessions and gained enough experience and confidence to form a band called Bar98 that won the school talent contest, following in his brother's footsteps before him.
Keen to pursue a musical related career, Sam secured a place at Stamford College where he is studying to be a sound engineer and utilising the facilities and leisure time to perform and continue writing his own material. He cites his influences as extremely varied from old school rock and roll such as The Kinks, The Beatles and Bob Dylan through to Arctic Monkeys and the Foo Fighters. However, the acoustic influences of Ben Howard, Passenger and Jake Bugg have helped to mould his song writing.
Jess Davis from Chatteris is a young solo singer. She began singing with her school rock band in 2013, and performed solo in 2015 at the Chatteris Festival. She regularly plays at open mics and other local events. She recently started to learn the guitar to aid her performance . Singing mainly Rock/Pop covers she has also started to write her own material and travelling to new venues to gain experience and confidence.
Thomas Dunleavy is a 10 year old singer/songwriter who plays acoustic guitar.
He has been playing gigs for just over a year now from open mic/support slots and festivals.
He first E.P has just been released and is called "Just me and my Guitar"
You can see him play songs from it at this performance.
