BY GUEST CONTRIBUTOR CHAS DE WHALLEY
And if you tune into ‘Round And Round’, this year’s SSC entry by Slad’s top tunesmiths The Many Coated, then you’ll hear some palpable pop sensibilities at work too. By ‘pop’ we don’t mean ‘smooth’ and ‘sweet’ and ‘safe’ since the sound this harmonising duo (or Dan and Robbie as they will be better known down The Woolpack) serve up is far too raucous for that. Rather this song weaves its particular magic out of a simple 8 bar melody underpinned by one fundamental chord change. Repeated again and again and again without outstaying its welcome. Hope you’re as impressed as we are.
And then there’s seasoned singer/songwriter (and extremely accomplished acoustic guitarist) Dave Pilla who told us he’d never entered a song contest before when he made his first submission to SSC last year. Quite what held Dave back, given that he moved to Stroud from Leeds in 2021 with a couple of EPs to his credit, is a bit of a mystery. But if enough folk fans vote his rolling ‘Take The Boat In Style’ into the top ten, he’ll be at The Crown & Sceptre on September 2 to perform it at the Grand Final. So we can ask him then…