Ellen And The Escapades picked to play Glastonbury 2010

Could Glastonbury be the launch pad for their career?

by Kate Prothero

Leeds-based folk-pop band Ellen And The Escapades will be playing at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival.

They claimed their spot after winning the prestigious Emerging Talent competition.

The competition takes place every year at the festival's home in the village of Pilton, near Glastonbury.

It's judged by Michael and Emily Eavis, the father and daughter team behind the festival, along with BBC Introducing's Huw Stevens and other esteemed judges.

Hundreds of bands entered the competition, hoping to win a spot on The Avalon stage, and the opportunity to play in front of tens of thousands of eager music fans.

Although Ellen And The Escapades are very at home at festivals, after playing at last year's Leeds and Reading Festivals on the Introducing stage, and at various other events, Glastonbury is the big one!

I caught up with Ellen And The Escapades, as they took time out of their busy rehearsing schedule.

The five piece band, fronted by the lovely, although terribly shy, Ellen Smith formed roughly two years ago after several members met as students.

They are a hard working band, playing very regularly in and around Leeds. Their single 'Without You' was well received and is a must for any fans of the current folk revival sweeping Britain's airwaves.

There are obvious comparisons, and their music is clearly influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan and Carole King, but they are quite unique and have managed to stamp their own brand on the folk genre.

In the current age of mass musical cynicism, it's such a refreshing change to hear a band that don't really care how cool they are, but instead focus on writing what are beautiful, well-crafted songs.

I asked the band how it felt to be picked out of so many bands to play at the festival.

Ellen Smith - mixing folk and pop in a way that's interesting plenty of industry bigwigs

"It is a massive achievement, and we are all really excited to be there. We'll be playing the Acoustic stage and the Avalon stage. It will be a bit different to playing Leeds festival, the Introducing stage was really nice to play, it had a homely feel, but I imagine that Glastonbury will be a different experience."

Since winning the competition, they have had a lot of interest from record companies and agents all wanting to get there hands on the 'next big thing'. For now, at least, they are very wisely playing their cards very close to their chest, and appear quite stoic and businesslike about the interest.

"Winning the competition has helped get our name out there, a few more people outside Leeds know who we are now, it's helped us focus on what we want to do with the band."

The band will also be appearing at this year's Live At Leeds events on Saturday 1 May 2010 at The Brudenell Social Club.

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