Amateur musicians hope to strike a chord
Some people may have initially been surprised to see
UK’s Best Part-Time Band (Saturday, BBC2, 10pm)
crop up on BBC4, mainly because it sounded more like a primetime, Saturday night BBC1 sort of show. But then, as host Rhod Gilbert has been keen to point out, this has been no ordinary talent search. He explains:“These are people who write their own music, they’re out there gigging. It’s not a karaoke show trying to find something that fits some preconceived idea, someone that will slot into a pre-arranged commercial plan. There’s no prize, no recording contract, no Christmas number one, nothing.” In fact, it seems the comedian is reluctant to even think of it as a contest.“Essentially, it’s a documentary exploring the amazing passion, hard work and diversity of part-time bands across the UK. I headed out on a road trip with legends of the music industry to see what we could find. “And what we found was thousands of incredibly talented people doing music in their spare time - just for the love of it. Some of them might be kids who got together in school and rehearse on the weekend, and others might be family bands that have been going for 50-odd years and may have flirted with success and fame, music labels and charts, and are still going after all this time. “It’s a competition, but actually the competition element isn’t the main driver of the series.” However, it is at the heart of this finale, which has made the leap to BBC2 especially for the occasion. If you missed the earlier heats, Midge Ure hit the road with Rhod to select two acts from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while former New Order bassist Peter Hook was responsible for finding representatives for northern England and Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B did the honours for the south. Now the search reaches its conclusion as the six finalists perform in a ‘battle of the bands’ concert at the Ritz in Manchester. Each act will perform an original tune and a cover song, and members of the audience will then vote to determine which of them should be named Britain’s Best Part-Time Band. Rhod admits he’s relieved the decision isn’t up to him.“Even though we tried to play down the competitive element, it was a competition. And that did give it a bit of an edge. The bands clearly were excited by that idea and did get a bit competitive. It was heartbreaking to see some of them go out. I got a bit too emotionally invested in them to be honest.”