Well, it’s been a few months since the launch of blastbeat.tv and we are simply overwhelmed by the support and praise we have received. The Blastbeat team have been working around the clock to bring you the best quality original content from some of our youngest and brightest stars of tomorrow. 

So we are proud to announce we have now uploaded our 100th video to the site. And what a video it is!!

Kwamz & Kamahl Kelly smashed it our xmas party upstairs @ islington o2 last thursday with an incredible collaboration of ‘Barricades’. View it here: http://www.blastbeat.tv/video/238

We have also recently uploaded our debate from The Tabernacle, Notting Hill on the London Riots and how it affected young people. Have a look here: http://www.blastbeat.tv/video/237

Thank you to everyone who continues to show us support in what Blastbeat aims to achieve. 

Blastbeat Team

In addition to that the website has been designed and is now being tinkered and tweaked by our programming nerds in the Blastbeat basement. See the above image for a sneak preview complete with Bentley Park logo.

Stay tuned for more updates or ‘like’ Bentley Park’s facebook page.

Lineup:
Kwamz
Kamahl Kelly
Demo
Find Me Next Fall w/ Jermain Jackman
So’Fly

And the show will be MC’d by everyones’s favourite comedians Don & Bowaa.

At this show, Kwamz will be releasing a brand new EP and video called ‘Best of Me’ along with playing a full set with new merchandise available.

Doors 6.00pm and its strictly 14+

Feel free to ask any questions on the event and someone from Blastbeat will get back to you as soon as they can.

See You There!

The Blastbeat Team

The Blastbeat with O2 Think Big UK Final took place on Tuesday 25th October. The show was a great success, featuring 12 excellent competing acts, 5 guest bands, a spoken word artist, a dance troupe and our resident hosts.

The line up was as follows:

• Don & Bowaa (Hosts)
• Martin Powell (Spoken Word)
• Lab Ratz (Dance Troupe)
• Diffuse
• E.L.K.
• Amethyst Tetra
• 14 Car Pile Up
• Mammoth Sound
• In Dante’s Eclipse
• Dae La Ruse
• The Soulfly Music Group
• Hot Fudge
• Feird Wish
• Find Me Next Fall
• Demo
• Bentley Park
• Just Me Again
• Kamahl Kelly
• Kwamz
• Kindest Of Thieves

Blastbeat is planning to make a DVD available of this fantastic concert, available in time for Christmas. We would like to know if you would be interested in purchasing a limited edition copy for just £10 for advance orders. We are only going to go ahead with the production of this DVD if there is enough interest to cover the costs.

It is very unlikely there will be any profits from this DVD, but if there are any profits 100% will go towards the Blastbeat Education UK charity to help us continue in our work. The finals cost us a lot as we gave the tickets away free to give as many young people as possible the abilitiy to attend.

If you are only interested in the band that you support we are thinking of a download version of that available for £5 per download

So, if you are a friend of any of the bands, or would just like to enjoy this selection of cutting-edge emerging talent, head over to our Facebook page application “Blastbeat DVD” and let us know. Don’t forget to give us a like, if you havn’t already.

Take care!

Here are the award winners in full from the Blastbeat Finals 2011.

Find Me Next Fall                 1^st Place Band

Demo                                     Runner Up

Mammoth Sound                Runner Up

Rooks Beat                          1^st Place ESE

EQ Events                             2^nd Place ESE

Semi-Tone                            3^rd Place ESE

Live Breathe Music            Judges Award

Danielle Stackhouse         Best CEO                              Break The Silence

Karolina Boguszewska     Best Business Team         Rooks Beat

Mackenzie Jamieson        Best Business Team         EQ Events

Jessica O’Brien                  Best Business Team         Semi-Tone

Benjamin Jogee                  Best Events Team               Semi-Tone

Jodel Coleman                    Best Events Team               Gates To The Industry

Rajid Ahmed                        Best Events Team               Equality

Eddie Okutu                         Best Creative Team                        Maestro Music ENT

Daniel Clarke                       Best Creative Team                        Break The Silence

Stefan Lazic                         Best Creative Team                        No Limist NWD

Sachini Gamage                 Best Ecology                                    No Limits NWD

No Limits NWD                    Best Community Outreach

EQ Events                             Best Video

Epic Events                          Best Event

Patrick McLernon              Best Teacher                                    Northwood School

Paul Gilbert                          Best Teacher                                    Highbury Grove School

Neil Everson             Best Teacher                                    Dormston School

Kevin Anderson                  Best Teacher                                    Haringey 6^th Form

Graeme Atkins                    Best Head Teacher             Northwood School

Cathy Girvan                        Spirit of Social Enterprise  Rooks Heath College

Keeran Shah                        Best Mentor

Nick Hurd MP                       Best Mentor

Helen Parker O2                 Inspiring Business Partner          

Jamesy Ellett                       Best Alumnus & Promoter

What a great day, and a fantastic way to finish the Blastbeat year! We hope that you all had as much fun as we did. The 12 performances from the competing acts were absolutely superb, and this could have been the most high-quality Blastbeat competition ever!

The line-up of artists, and the schools they were representing, was:

• E.L.K.                                              (Brampton Manor Academy)
• Amethyst Tetra                           (Priestley College)
• 14 Car Pile Up                              (Northwood School)
• Mammoth Sound                        (Bridge Academy)
• In Dante’s Eclipse                       (St Edmunds School)
• Dae La Ruse                                 (Brentside High School)
• The Soulfly Music Group           (Haringey 6th Form Centre)
• Hot Fudge                                      (All Saints School)
• Feird Wish                                   (Hillcrest Community School)
• Find Me Next Fall             (Northwood School)
• Demo                                             (Rooks Heath College)
• Bentley Park                                (All Saints School)

The competing acts were joined by spoken word artist Martin Powell, musicians Kamahl Kelly, Kwamz, Kindest of Thieves, Just Me Again, and Diffuse, and West Midlands Dance Troupe Lab Ratz. Once again, our resident MCs Don & Bowaa hosted the show and it all made for a really exciting and diverse afternoon.

It must have been one of the toughest judging decisions ever, but after deliberation, Find Me Next Fall were crowned Blastbeat Winners 2011. Demo, and Mammoth Sound were named as the 2 best runners up.

Congratulations to the winning bands, and also to all the other artists that performed at the Final.

Alongside the music competition, the best ESEs (Event Social Enterprise Companies) were showcasing their work in the VIP lounge to a panel of judges. ESEs were competing for one of 3 Think Bigger awards from O2 Think Big. The standard of work was very high, and it was great to see a culmination of the hard work that these very talent young people had put in. The winning ESE was Rooks Beat, from Rooks Heath College in Harrow. EQ Events from the Bridge Academy in Hackney, and Semi-Tone from St Edmunds School in Wolverhampton came second and third respectively.

Live Breathe Music from Brampton Manor Academy in Newham took the Judges Award on the day in light of their fantastic work since September. Congratulations to all the young people who formed an ESE and took part in the Blastbeat programme this year – without you, none of this would be possible. You are the real stars of the Blastbeat programme.

Blastbeat would like to thank Helen Parker, and all the team at O2 Think Big for their wonderful support over the past year, without which none of this could have happened. If you were lucky enough to stay on for the Think Big Gig on Tuesday evening, you will have seen what fantastic work they have been doing. For more info on O2 Think Big, please visit www.o2thinkbig.co.uk

Blastbeat Winners 2011

Find Me Next Fall                             1^st Place Band

Demo                                                 Runner Up

Mammoth Sound                            Runner Up

Rooks Beat                                      1^st Place ESE

EQ Events                                         2^nd Place ESE

Semi-Tone                                        3^rd Place ESE

Live Breathe Music                        Judges Award

Click the link to view!

The winners were as follows:

1. Find Me Next Fall

2. Demo

3. Mammoth Sound

Congratulations to Find me Next Fall and thank you to all the acts who performed, you made the night superb.

Stay tuned for photo and video uploads of the day itself.

Second place was Game Over with 238 votes or 37% of the votes. So well done E.L.K you will be in the Finals of Blastbeat on Tuesday, we have 50 tickets set aside for their fans who support them.

We will need the band to give us a list of names and email addresses. We may have some more tickets on the day – all those who have a booking will have to get there before 1pm to collect their tickets – otherwise they will be given away to those who are there looking for tickets.

Welcome back to our new look Blastbeat website.

Today, we’ve got some brand new content for you; The Blastbeat UK Finals Press Release, which can be downloaded by clicking ‘Press Release’ button at the top of the page or by clicking this button.

Here is a small extract from the press release itself,

“Blastbeat and o2 Think Big , through their community programme Think Big, have joined forces to find the best Musicians and Social Entrepreneurs in the UK – that’s two competitions in one, the first about music and the other about social enterprise. The National Finals of the competition culminate on the 25th October, bringing together cool, fantastic young people from all over the country to celebrate their various achievements at the Indigo2. 12 bands from all over the country who have been victorious in regional heats compete for the chance to win a management contract and recording opportunities via Blastbeat and assistance to further their burgeoning careers in the music industry. The acts will perform 2 self-penned original songs in an afternoon exploding with music talent, a totally different proposition from many other talent contests. ”

Read more.