Tommy Reilly

You may recognise Tommy Reilly from Orange Unsigned Act, which was a TV programme on T4 based on the idea of battle of the bands, in which unsigned artists battle it out, musically, to win money -£60,000- and basically try and become the next it band or as always referenced the Arctic Monkeys. Tommy gripped the audience and judges from his first performance in which you watch a spotty, timid teenage boy say his going to sing, and you expect him to be mediocre and have traits of other artists running through him, but when he sang he was passionate and had no show pieces to sell himself, it was just him and his guitar. When you watch him sing, he seems to become transfixed into a world of his own, in which there is heart break, awkward happiness and the insecurities of a teenager. I think it’s his simplicity and emotion that won the hearts of thousands and why he won the battle by a land slide majority. May I also add his romance with his guitar is not just dual, he can also play the drums, harmonica and piano. I would advise you to watch him play a cover of Mr Brightside by the Killers, in which he majestically transforms the song into a teenage heartbreak master piece that rendered the judges (particularly Alex James from Blur) and me speechless; was there anything Reilly couldn’t do? One of his influences is Jeff Buckley, who I think would applaud him for his uncanny emotion and lyrics, that perfectly capture the heart and mind of a teenager; ‘Am I suppose to be young, because young means fun’, ‘Gimme a call, you’ve got a phone don’t you turn it on cause I need to hear from you.’ He is definately on my must-see list for Dot to Dot festival, which I'm going to!