Music

The Performing Right Society (PRS) selected Nottingham's Huw Costin from over 700 unsigned artists to perform on the New Music Stage in Edinburgh on 12 August. Huw says about the gig:

"[I'm] happy because I really wanted to go to Scotland this year. Albeit I'll drive for eight hours, play for half hour and drive back for eight hours...! I'm just really hoping it will be a really sunny day."

Huw is also the lead singer with Earth the Californian Love Dream. The band were getting many plaudits and were tipped to take off but despite their achievements, like doing one of the last ever Peel sessions, it didn't happen.

"Like all great cliches it got so close and then all crumbled: all the usual rock 'n' roll cliches of madness, insanity, over indulgence and boring business decisions!"

In 2005 he released a white label version of his LP 'Regrets' - receiving critical acclaim in the NME yearbook. But despite the attention Huw still hasn't got the deal he deserves:

"It takes a lot of banging heads against walls forever and ever... I have some interest and I'm very hopeful there will be a release later this year... saying that I've been there before."

To many there would seem to be a history of 'nearly-but-not-quite' with Nottinghamshire bands and artists, but Huw disagrees:

"There's a lot of great [local] artists that have travelled all over the world, maybe they're not living in castles, but they've made a living from making really unique music."