The Lottery Winners

Formed of longstanding childhood friends Roy Stride (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Greg Churchouse (bass, backing vocals), and Pete Ellard (drums, backing vocals), Stride and Churchouse began playing gigs together at the age of 15. During their time at university, the pair formed the band Cape, before playing shows as Scouting for Girls in a room above a pub in Harrow, London. Scouting for Girls significantly raised their local profile during this time, later utilising MySpace and Pulse Rated to appeal to a national audience.

After hearing the group’s demo CD featuring the single “Heartbeat”, Epic Records signed Scouting for Girls in 2007. Soon after inking the deal the band headed to East Sussex to record their debut. Prior to a full-length LP Scouting for Girls released the EP “It’s Not About You” in June 2007, which became the highest-charting limited edition EP in chart history. Subsequently released in September 2007, the group’s debut, self-titled album topped the UK Albums Chart for two weeks, selling close to a million copies. The record’s success was strongly aided by the radio-friendly singles “It’s Not About You”, “She’s so Lovely”, “Elvis Ain’t Dead”, and “Heartbeat”, all of which charted within the UK Top 20.

In support of the record, Scouting for Girls embarked on an extensive UK tour, including a host of sold-out shows, and ending with two sold-out nights at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. In 2008 the band performed shows in Europe, Japan, and Australia, before heading to the U.S. to play the year’s SXSW Festival and New York’s CMJ Festival.

The band released their sophomore album “Everybody Wants To Be On TV” in April 2010, led by the No. 1 single “This Ain’t a Love Song”. The singles “Famous”, “Don’t Want To Leave You”, and “Take a Chance On Us” were subsequently release, following which the band undertook a full UK tour in April. Scouting for Girls’ third full-length “The Light Between Us” arrived in August 2012. Spawning the singles “Summertime in the City”, “Rains in La”, “Without You”, “The Light Between Us”, and “Snakes and Ladders”, the record peaked at No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart.

Hurtling out of the same Sheffield indie rock scene that brought the world Arctic Monkeys, Reverend And The Makers were formed in 2005 by Jon McClure, one of the true movers and shakers of the whole scene and a truly gifted musician and songwriter in his own right. After the aforementioned Monkeys became the biggest band in Britain for all intents and purposes after the release of their debut single, many record labels pounced upon McClure to produce a similar sounding record as McClure and Alex Turner were close friends. However, each of them underestimated McClure and his drive to do things his own way. In his defence, his way was working out incredibly well for him, as shortly after the band self-released their debut single they sold out two nights at Sheffield's 1000 capacity Plug venue without a record deal to speak of.

In fact, it wasn't until 2006 that the band signed to Wall Of Sound Records after the head of the label, Mark Jones saw them perform live and decided that they were the “best band in the world”. In April 2006, the band supported the all-conquering Monkeys, on their first tour of the U.K, and all seemed set for the band to follow in their friends' footsteps and become one of the biggest bands in the country. As it turns out that wasn't to happen, but what would happen would mean that Reverend And The Makers became a far more interesting band than the alternative possibility. It started out promisingly, with their debut single release “Heavyweight Champion Of The World” storming into the UK charts at number eight on its first week of release in May 2007, but the band, and McClure especially, had far too much personality to fit into the mainstream.

Their debut album “The State Of Things” was a top five hit on the album charts on its release in September 2007, and thanks to McClure's wit, wisdom and commitment to his fans, the band have gone on to become one of the most enduring groups of the mid-2000's indie rock revival. With a further three top twenty albums to their name, support slots with the likes of Kasabian and Oasis, and one of the most accomplished live shows in indie rock, Reverend And The Makers come highly recommended.