Last weekend on the 21st of May, four of our year 9 students made the 50-minute drive to Buntingford where they were to compete in the final round of a ‘battle of the bands’ competition.

After seeing an advertisement for the competition in the BMS music block, Toby Prosser (9 Willow), Jake Kijewski (9 Ash), Sam Harries, and Luca Irimia (both 9 Elm), who together, make up the band ‘Fused’, entered the competition by sending in a video of a live performance of one of their self-penned songs “All for you”.

This video led them to be shortlisted for the final round in which they would have to perform live to a panel of judges and they wasted no time in preparing for the occasion, writing a brand new second song “Don’t follow me” and arranging two cover versions of popular songs.

They arrived at the venue on Saturday to find a stage that had been kitted out with everything they needed including a full drum kit, guitar amplifiers, and a sound system that was operated by in-house technicians.

Some last-minute pullouts meant that they were only competing against two other bands but that did not make the task any less daunting as not only were they due to perform last but one of the other competing bands was comprised of college music students that were 19-20 years old!

After watching the other two bands perform, the boys took to the stage to do what they do best, beginning with a cover of ‘Arctic Monkeys’ popular hit ‘R U Mine?’. Next was another cover, this time with a different flavour, ‘Take on The World’ by Surrey-based rock band ‘You Me At Six’.
With the obligatory cover songs out of the way, it was time to show the judges what they were really made of by showcasing their own songwriting skills. They launched into “All for you” before finishing with their freshest offering “Don’t follow me”.

A tight and assured performance, coupled with the raw talent that they demonstrated, saw them crowned as the victors of the competition, bagging themselves prizes that comprised of:

– A full day’s recording in a state of the art studio
– The opening slot at the upcoming ‘summer of arts’ festival in Buntingford

In addition to these, Luca himself was hailed as the ‘standout vocalist’ of the competition and he was personally awarded a brand new AKG C7 microphone worth over £150.

Be sure to give your congratulations to the four of them when you next see them, they worked extremely hard on writing and rehearsing. There isn’t a day that goes by where you can’t hear them plugging away inside the hallowed walls of D block. A block, which I will remind you, has a plaque commemorating George Michael’s time here as a student.

Perhaps we will see a plaque for these guys one day? Now wouldn’t that be something!

In the meantime, you can find out more about their band by following them on Instagram @fusedband.

You can also show your support by buying a ticket and making the journey to cheer them on at their very first festival gig in Buntingford on Friday 17th June 2022. Use the following link to secure your ticket: https://summerarts.tcket.co.uk/ticket/54487

Congratulations to the four musicians, you have done yourselves, your friends and family, and the school very proud. We eagerly await the finished product of your full day in the recording studio.