COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coventry five-piece Shockparade have been selected to play at the hugely popular Reading and Leeds festivals, a mammoth achievement considering their set at Leeds on Friday, 27 August will mark their fourth live performance.



The indie based dance quintet consists of Myke Grimes, Patrick King, Matt Fisher, Joel Laight and Mark Rigby.

The band is set to play the BBC Introducing stage at Leeds on Friday, 27 August and will then be ushered to Reading to play the same stage the following day. When asked if he was looking forward to it, Myke said, "Oh yeah we can't wait, we've been looking forward to it for a good month now. When the news came through it was just unbelievable".

Their track Sunshine made its BBC Radio One airplay debut on Monday on Scott Mills' show, and the band responded, "It's pretty amazing really; it's something we've always dreamed of happening."

Hundreds of local bands are considered for the BBC Introducing stages at the major festivals in the UK. BBC Introducing is a format that allows only the best local talent to filter up to the BBC's national radio stations and festival stages.

The band formerly consisted of members from Coventry and London that used to perform under the moniker of Trailer, but after a line-up shakeup, they felt a name change was needed as Trailer was unsearchable on the internet.

Myke's personal e-mail address featured the word Shockparade and it's something he has always been fond of, however fellow band member Patrick was not so keen and needed some persuading, and since the name change, they have experienced a turn in luck, which is something Myke isn't going to let Patrick forget.

Full band line-up

Shockparade have recruited Matt, Joel and Mark to ensure the live performances will be something special; this will free Myke up from an instrument so he can concentrate all of his energies into being a front man.

The album also features a female vocalist, which the band normally digitally program into their live set; however the band are whisking her to the festivals to perform with them live.

Synth player Mark Rigby used to perform in Echo Empire, a local band who has recently split up.

The band has been signed with US label Morrison Records to release their first single Breathe in late 2010.