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Exeter band Morning Rush play the Royal Albert Hall

Exeter band Morning Rush are playing at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 9th as part of Music for Youth Schools Prom which features performances from 'some of the country's finest young musicians and singers – the next generation of the UK's musical talent'.

The selection process for this prestigious Royal Albert Hall appearance involved performances at the Music for Youth Regional Festival in Exmouth in February and the National Festival at the HMV Institute in Birmingham in July, which showcased hundreds of other successful acts from Regional Festivals around the country.

At their performance in Birmingham, Morning Rush were not only selected as one of three from the twenty acts in the Rock/Pop category to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in the Schools Prom in November, they also won the Music for Youth award for songwriting.

Sam Perry – guitar/vocals (17), Tom Short – keyboard/vocals (17), Michael Richards – bass (18) and Sam Chamberlain – guitar/vocals (18), formed Morning Rush while students at Isca College in Exeter and recruited drummer/vocalist Pip Arnold (18) at Exeter College where all the band are currently in their second year of A levels and BTEC music courses. They write all their own material and have already sold over 300 copies of their first CD 'Racetrack' (2010). They are currently recording an EP with Show of Hands producer Mark Tucker, and in December they will be working with legendary songwriter Ray Davies at his London studio on some new material.

Head of Music at Exeter College, Laura Wright, said: “This group has the potential to go far – their original material is really good, their performance standard extremely high and their understanding of the need for constant hard work and application whilst learning the craft of musicianship, is exemplary. They are also just a great band to listen to and to see live! Morning Rush are members of our Exeter College Music Academy Ambassadors scheme and I can't think of a better way for them to represent our music department, than at this festival in November. We are very proud of them and are looking forward to supporting them at the Royal Albert Hall, along with the other 24 students from the bands' BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma in Music course.

During the 18 months they've been together Morning Rush have performed at numerous local venues including Exeter University's Great Hall, Mama Stone's, The Cavern Club, Exeter Phoenix, and The Northcott Theatre. They have also taken part in The World Stage Festival in Bristol's Colston Hall, the Musicosity Festival in Bournemouth, Dartington Home Festival, Exmouth Festival, Aeon, Ilsington, Ivylive, Chagstock, Sidmouth and Acoustica Festivals – and they have supported Show of Hands, Billy Bragg, Electric Skies, The Quails and Adam Isaac.

Morning Rush were winner's of Exeter FM's prestigious 'Battle of the Bands' competition, and they were joint winners of the 'Exeter Factor' talent show. They have also been nominated as the South West Music Awards 'Best Breakthrough Act' to be awarded in November.

Radio appearances include BBC Radio Devon's John Govier Show, Exeter FM, Phonic FM and Exmouth's Bay FM, and they have followed in Steve Harley's footsteps by performing in the now legendary 'Songs from the Shed' – an appearance which has now had over 2,000 on-line views.

“They have made extraordinary progress in their writing and playing over the last 18 months” said Steve Knightley. “They have a fine ear for melody and lyric and now regular public performing has added confidence and attitude to their well-crafted material”.

For further information, call Babs Knightley Short: 07870 549007, Katy Perry: 07870 525488 or
Sylvia Jarman (Exeter College) on 01392 205585, 07800 745855 sylviajarman@exe-coll.ac.uk