Member Article

WaterBear Music Students to Take Centre Stage at Freshers Week in Brighton and Sheffield

Landmark music education college WaterBear, has unveiled the highly-anticipated line up for Freshers Week (18-22 September), a celebration of music and creativity to welcome the new 2023 cohort.

The college is also preparing to open the doors to its Sheffield campus for the very first time, bringing new life and sound within the walls of the former Gatecrasher nightclub.

WaterBear’s dedicated events team has worked tirelessly to collate a line-up of over 25 performances and events taking place across its two campuses in Sheffield and Brighton. Throughout the week-long event, the college is set to put students centre stage with the offer of coveted support slots; new, and up and coming artists, will have the invaluable experience to perform alongside guests such as Youngr and Frankie Beetlestone in Sheffield, and with ARXX, Zuzu, and NOISY in Brighton. There is also an opportunity in Brighton to support Grin and Bear It, a collective of WaterBear student artists and bands. Curated by BA Musician Alex Lemondis the line-up includes Polite Bureaux, Divorce Attorney, Frankie LG, Oh Ronni!, Octavian, Hode and Ink McKay.

Kicking off the first night in Sheffield at Sidney and Matilda will be the Manchester-based electropop artist and multi-instrumentalist Youngr, and soulful Doncaster R&B artist Rumbi Tauro. During Freshers Week, WaterBear Sheffield will also be hosting a live Q&A with Jeremy Pritchard, of Everything Everything, a multi-instrumentalist and five-time Ivor Novello winner who will share with students his knowledge and experiences of his life as a musician. Concluding the celebrations on the final night is Sheffield-based Frankie Beetlestone and Luxury Goods, an impressive outfit with a unique alt pop arrangement also from Sheffield.

230 miles away in Brighton the WaterBear Venue will host alt-rock duo ARXX, and Libra Libra who’ll bring a chaotic blend of pop and punk on the first night. Tuesday will welcome singer-songwriter and sci-fi enthusiast Zuzu, alongside Milkshake with their old school R&B. Joe Talbot, vocalist in the British rock band IDLES, will also be sharing his experiences during his Q&A. Wednesday will bring NOISY with their mix of euphoric dance, rap, drum’n’bass, and jungle, with alt-rock trio CLT DRP, and DJ punk collective Tokky Horror. The week will wrap up with a night of students acts from the collective Grin and Bear It.

Several of the events throughout the week will also be live-streamed and students will have access to an exclusive online A&R event with Atlanta Cobb, who has managed artists such as Drake, Becky Hill, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, and Ella Henderson. Students will have the opportunity to submit tracks for feedback on their music prior to the event.

Jodie Amos, Head of Events at WaterBear explains: “We are excited to offer six support slots in Sheffield and Brighton to students to really kick off the celebrations. Fresher’s Week is always lots of fun and there’ll be something for everyone. It is such a great opportunity for students to be able to perform alongside professional acts. Our students continuously blow us away with their talent and creativity, they are just amazing, and we’d love to choose them all.”

Students at WaterBear can look forward to further beneficial experiences in the new term, with the WaterBear careers and industry team working to create a range of opportunities from performing at events and venues, interning at record labels and working at festivals, enabling students to build industry contacts and develop invaluable skills.

WaterBear offers BA (Hons) degree and master’s courses made for today’s musicians, artists and industry professionals. The college has built an unrivalled reputation for its dedication to specialist one-to-one mentoring, focused class sizes, flexible course delivery and exclusive career development opportunities. WaterBear colleges are based in the heart of Brighton and Sheffield, and also offers a range of online distance learning courses too.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Melissa Chawner .