Blast

Organisers of tonight's awards catch me snapping Subtone's exterior and eventually unlock the door and usher me in.

I begin to feel more than a little anxious. This is more professional than I anything I have encountered on tour where I tended to identify the bands at the bar and conduct interviews in the alley.

Through the white doors in the back stage area, I find several bands milling around together, pulling beers from the special band mini-bar.  

Subtone, Cheltenham

Divine Secret

I spy the luscious dreadlocks of Joe, the Divine Secret's main singer. I encourage the band to sit down with me and talk into my microphone. 

Ben, the drummer, starts recounting a recent Redding episode where the band inadvertently generated a crowd in the 'camps'.

I am delighted by the bubbly humour of this group who tell me about 'Chantelle' their old tour bus and their up and coming tour.

Ezekiel Butler

I find the whole of Ezekiel Butler seated in a corner. Singer and songwriter Pete Sen, ex-music manager of Gifford's circus, tells me that the band is still relatively new.

The band was formed in 2007 but the new drummer has only been playing with the band for three weeks.

The members came together from newspaper ads and acquaintances made in record shops.

This rock and roll convergence looks set to continue; the band have been recently been signed and are being targeted at an American audience.

We chat about prospects of an American tours and motor homes before I leave them to prepare for their performance.

Midnight Mile

Before I flee to meet the last train (which I actually ended up missing by five seconds) I have the pleasure of listening to all of Midnight Mile's set. 

Romy Quinnen's vocals are smooth and soulful; her stage presence is arresting. 

She sits for the majority of the songs behind an organ covered by two fluorescent M's.

Between songs she tells everyone flippantly that she brought it for seven pounds on ebay and hasn't learned how to play it yet.

Nicked

I wander out on the dream of Romy's voice to the empty rack where my bicycle should be. 

The wire cutter's tooth marks on my discarded lock breaks this dream.

I walk to the train in drizzle.