A rock group based in the Burnham-On-Sea area has won national acclaim on BBC Radio 2 this week.
Men In Spex won Patrick Kielty’s Last Chance Saloon competition on BBC Radio 2 with their original song ‘Say What You Want’.
The group – comprising Neil Richards from East Brent, Nick Grimsley from Brean, plus Robin Gordon-Stables and Martin Gibson from out of the area – only entered the competition at the last minute.
Neil told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We almost didn’t enter at all – it was only because my wife was listening to Patrick Kielty’s show and said ‘your music is better than that’ that we decided to submit a last-minute entry.”
“Initially, it was great to hear that our song, Say What You Want, had been selected to be played on air, but it was an incredible shock to find we’d won and would have to play live in the BBC studios!”
“We had just five days to prepare – it was a rush to get everything ready. Unfortunately, our dummer Martin was on holiday last week and even though we tried to get him onto a plane it wasn’t possible, so another drummer, Dan Reynolds, stepped in and did a superb job. It all came together really well and we are absolutely delighted to have won.”
“Clearly, Patrick Kielty enjoyed our performance as he ran into the studio and joined in at one point!”
Neil said that the group has already had four bookings since last weekend’s broadcast and is hoping the radio performance will be the start of bigger things.
You can watch the whole of the band’s performance on the BBC Radio 2 Patrick Kielty Show by clicking here.