A group of Lanarkshire school pupils rocked out last week as they triumphed in a Battle of the Bands contest.
Lazuli are made of five teens - Freya Talbot, Katie Hare, Lily Findlay, Sarah Dunn and Karolina Skynderskyte - from Stonelaw High in Rutherglen, and they wowed the audience at the Hamilton Town House with their version of rock classics from the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Rage Against the Machine.
That impressed the judges enough for the girls to walk away with top honours at the event, organised by South Lanarkshire Council.
Proud mum Debbie Talbot was among the proud parents watching the bands play, and she was delighted at how successful her daughter and her pals were.
She told Lanarkshire Live: "They all take music at school and they're good friends, so they thought last year they could form a band and i just went from there.
"Their music teacher at school was instrumental in getting them to enter the Battle of the Bands and they put in a lot of practice over the past couple of months,t s looking at what songs worked best for them.
"They didn't have any expectations though, as they knew there were 13 bands entered and they just thought it was going to be fun and they'd just for it.
"There were some fantastic bands there and they just clicked onstage, they were really great and loved being up there. They even had a mosh pit going at one point, although the parents weren't in it!
"The whole night was was such a friendly environment and that really helped them as well, the bands all seemed to be cheering each other on."
The Instrumental Music Service were proud to host former pupil Broghan as the Battle of the Bands guest performer, fresh from her debut gig at Glasgow’s Hydro where she supported the incredible Lewis Capaldi in January.
Lead singer Mike Baillie from the popular post-indie group ‘The Lonely Together’ had the difficult job of selecting the winning group and most outstanding performer - an unenviable task as all of the bands performed brilliantly with so many stand out vocalists and instrumentalists.
However, the decision was made and all girl group Lazuli from Stonelaw High School were not only crowned the winning band but their lead singer Freya Talbot was named as most outstanding performer with her impressive performance of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ and ‘Killing in the Name Of…’ by Rage Against the Machine.
Larkhall Academy and Duncanrig Secondary School took runner’s up places and the supportive crowd made every band feel like winners with their cheering and chanting throughout the whole event.
Stewart Nicolson, South Lanarkshire Council's Head of Education, who was at the event, said: “Battle of the Bands 2023 was the most exciting yet with 13 amazing bands, encompassing multiple genres of rock and pop and surpassing all expectations.
“What a night it was... it was thoroughly heartwarming to see so many pupils from across South Lanarkshire’s schools perform to such a high standard to the 700 strong audience of adoring fans. It was everything and more that you would expect from a rock gig.”
Next year’s Battle is already in the diary. To find out more, follow the IMS on Twitter @MusicSlc
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