Meet the Glastonbury first-timers

By Kev Geoghegan
Radio 1 music reporter

Golden Silvers headlining the Introducing Stage at Maidstone

Glastonbury boss Michael Eavis has compared Golden Silvers, the winners of this year's New Talent competition, to Oasis and Coldplay.

It's worth pointing out that they sound very little like either of these bands but there is a similar buzz surrounding the north London trio.

Singer Gwylim Gold and mad haired drummer Alexis Nunez have known each other since they were about 13, moustachioed bassist Ben Moorehose is the group's recent addition.

"We'd met Ben through playing at jams, because he used to play guitar", explained Gwyl.

He continued: "We said to him he had to learn the bass if he wanted to play with us."

Ben added: "Actually this 'tache is Gwyl's fault. They teamed up and made me look like a Mexican porn star."

Golden Silvers have supported Mystery Jets and The Wombats on tour.

With fans including Radio 1 specialists Huw Stephens and Zane Lowe, Golden Silvers headlined the BBC Introducing Stage at Radio 1's Big Weekend in May.

Competing with the Enemy and The Zutons on the other stages, the band drew a small but enthusiastic crowd.

Defining their sound

Describing their music is a tricky thing to do. It mixes synthesizer pop with elements of psychedelia, new wave and even Beach Boys-esque harmonies.

They teamed up and made me look like a Mexican porn star Ben Moorehouse

Turns out, even the band struggle to define their "sound".

Nunez said: "I couldn't describe it like a genre of music.

"I couldn't say it's like rock or pop."

Frontman Gold agreed the band defy most traditional musical genres.

He said: "Most people say we're pop and I'm not ashamed of being pop but I think that's just because we have some tunes.

"We prefer not to say what it is."

But the band freely admit that having such artistic freedom has come at a cost.

Moorehouse said: "That may be part of the reason why we haven't been signed because people come to our gigs and expect the new Klaxons and we don't fit their model."

Golden Silvers are also missing a key component of most young bands, a guitarist.

They're painfully aware of how close that brings them to a certain Sussex three-piece.

"We're Keane's evil cousins," cackled Nunez.

He continued: "The fact that we haven't got a guitar isn't, like, a big statement or anything.

Gold added: "When we first started the band, I just played the keys and I liked experimenting with different sounds.

"I can get the same sounds as a guitar, so it wasn't really a conscious decision."

Moorehouse added: "Gwyl's got a sound on his keyboard which sounds like Jimi Hendrix so we don't really need a guitarist."

New Talent

Golden Silvers recently won a search for an unsigned band to play this year's Glastonbury. It will put them in front of the biggest crowd they have ever played for.

The New Talent competition's past winners include Liz Green, The Deadbeats and in 2004, The Subways.

Gold said: "It's exciting that we're playing on the Other Stage. It's quite weird that a band like us is playing on one of the main stages.

"We're playing about three other gigs over the weekend.

Nunez laughed: "I've already thought about what I'm going to wear. It's going to be awesome."