Bridgebound in battle of the bands semi-final

A ROCK band that formed while at Havering College have made it through to the semi finals of an international music competition.

BridgeBound – Adam Skolfield, 19, on lead vocals/guitar, Mike Bowley, 20, lead vocals/guitar, Kieron Johnston on bass and Charlie Knight, 18, on drums – sailed through to the semi finals of the Maldives Breakout Festival.

Kieron said: “We feel pretty good considering we were the youngest band in the competition and we were actually the ones to get the most votes.”

The group, who describe their music as “rock with a fusion of pop” and cite influences like James Morrison, Bob Dylan and Arctic Monkeys, entered the competition in July. In August they found out that they had made it through to the first stage of the competition.

They competed with five other bands to make it through to the semi finals in the London region of the competition.

Kieron said: “It is quite a shock.

“We thought that we would not have a chance because the other bands had been together for longer than us and had more experience so we were just over the moon.”

The group formed in January while they were all students at Havering College in Ardleigh Green Road, Hornchurch, when Adam, and Mike got together because of their mutual love of the band Alter Bridge, to form their own group.

Over the next couple of months, Charlie joined on the drums and then last to join the band was Kieron who had already known Adam from a musical project at the college called Crossover.

The group are now set to compete in the semi finals of the competition tonight (Tuesday) at the O2 Academy Islington for a chance to perform at the festival in the Maldives.

Kieran said: “For us to win the competition would be great, because it would lead to a lot of publicity and we would be able to get our names in different places and by playing such a big gig it would give us the chance to be noticed.”