Nikita and school pals get behind our Air Angels appeal

Feb 28 2010 by Rob Pattinson, Sunday Sun

Guitar very much

A ROCK band which is battling it out with other musicians to win a top recording contract has also raised more than £2,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance.

Rayne, from Sunderland, are vying for a place in the finals of the Live and Unsigned Festival at the 02 arena in London to perform in front of a celebrity judging panel.

The three-piece won a place in the regional finals after impressing judges with their alternative rock sound.

Although all three band members are from Sunderland, they are popular in Weardale where they regularly go down a storm at the annual Stanhope show.

And it was following a chance meeting at a gig in Stanhope with a member of the Air Ambulance crew that they played two sell out shows for the campaign.

Lead guitarist and keyboard player Adam Dagg, from Town End Farm, said: "We were delighted to play. The Weardale Inn was packed out and we raised money for a very good cause."

Adam, 24, will be joined on stage by lead singer and bass player Ben Potts, 26, and drummer Steven Naisbet, 25, when they perform at the regional finals of Live and Unsigned at the Journal Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, on March 14.

They will be alongside 44 other acts from the region who made it through to this stage after initial auditions held last weekend.

Rayne, who have been together for eight years, have honed their sound on stages across the North East, but are hoping this contest will throw them under the national spotlight.

Live and Unsigned is one of the UK’s biggest competitions for unsigned bands and artists.

Attracting more than 30,000 entries in the past three years, the competition prides itself on promoting original music.

Rayne also played benefit gigs to raise money for a stone memorial bench on Town End Farm in honour of former roadie Richard Owens.

Richard, from Blackwood Road, Town End Farm, was only 19 when he died in June 2004 after his off-road bike collided with a friend’s on a dirt track in West Boldon.

Adam said: "The stone bench with a guitar engraving reminds us all of Richard, who was a loyal friend to the band. We only wish he could be with us at the Live and Unsigned final."