Young musicians and renowned music industry figures are coming to Exmouth for a day of rehearsals, performances, forums and workshops taking place across six venues, as part of the fourth Music Comes To Town event organised by DMS. Young people from all Devon schools are invited to take part.

In addition to performances from Devon’s County Youth Ensembles, there will be a performance by renowned professional percussionist Pete Lockett.

Furthermore, young people interested in forming and promoting their own band, or making it as a singer/songwriter will be able to attend a Music Industry Forum where a panel of well-respected music industry experts will be on hand to answer questions and give advice about band promotion, marketing, music law, organising gigs, and songwriting.

Music Industry Forum Members

Paul Gray has over 30 years worldwide experience in the music industry, primarily as bassist / songwriter for teen rockers EDDIE & THE HOT RODS, punk legends THE DAMNED and stadium rock giants UFO. He has had more record deals that he can remember, and has also been a session bassist and band manager. Paul is now the Musicians’ Union Regional Officer / Music Business Adviser for Wales and South West England. The MU represent over 35,000 musicians in the UK covering every style of music, assisting in protecting their rights, offering free contract and legal advice, collecting royalties, negotiating rates, chasing up unpaid fees and advising their members in all aspects of their careers within the music industry

Rick Rogers started his career in the music industry with his own PR company, Trigger, in the late 70’s, guiding the early campaigns for both Stiff and Chiswick Records.  He quickly expanded in to Management with The Damned and launched the career of The Specials, taking responsibility for running Two Tone Records with their astonishing succession of Top Ten hits. He has since guided the careers of The Fun Boy Three, The Soup Dragons, Right Said Fred and The High Fidelity. He also spent time as Marketing Manager of Big Life Records and masterminded the campaign for De La Soul’s platinum selling debut ‘3 Feet High and Rising’.  Rick was also at the front of the Comedy Boom for several years and was also responsible for launching the theatrical career of Lily Savage.  He currently runs Rick Rogers Management Services and is a Creative Enterprise Fellow (Music) at the Centre for Dartington Creative Enterprise at Dartington College of Arts in Devon.

Matt Booth joined Dartington Creative Enterprise in the summer of 2005 as Creative Enterprise Fellow for Music. He is Chair of the Bristol Music Foundation and the South West representative for Generator NE.  Matt previously worked as a musician, and as a live promoter in Bristol putting on around 200 shows a year, including Coldplay, Travis and many others. He was Music Coordinator for Ashton Court Festival, an artist manager (Lupine Howl and others) and ran labels through Vital and Universal.  Matt was also Senior Manager at Crazeltown Ltd with a particular aim to expand the company’s base in the US between 2002 and 2005.

Paul Giblin is the founder of the St David's Ambience Society which became the Future Sound of Exeter.  A non-profit collective promoting local music in particular the innovative and the exotic by putting on big names as platforms for local support acts. Since 1996 FSOE has released 11 albums and put on countless events, ranging from small underground experimental sessions to running the dance stage at Beautiful Days Festival. Paul is also main co-ordinator of Exeter Respect Festival, the city's annual celebration of diversity, and a Director of Vibraphonic FM the city's annual festival radio station. When he's not running around organising events he also spins ecclectic sets under the name DJ Ambiessence. Please visit www.fsoe.org for info.