Two young men started attending Livewire together – turning up and each booking music lessons – they would sit in on each other’s sessions, then leave.

Staff at Livewire had managed to have conversations with them on many occasions, but they were unable to encourage them to stay and engage in further activities at Livewire. To encourage them and other young musicians further, we created a band development project and identified a number of young people whom we thought would most benefit from such a project. These two young men were asked, along with other young people, if they would like to join a band. Initially they were a little nervous, but they did want the opportunity of playing with other young people so agreed to give it a go.

Since taking part in this project, they not only progressed and developed in their music making abilities, but also personally and socially as well. They continued to arrive and leave together, but stayed for the entire evening, engaging with others throughout.

One of them expressed his desire to become a music journalist, so we encouraged him to write reviews for our ‘Battle of the Bands’, which he did really well. We also arranged for him to interview legendary guitarist Scott Gorham from ‘Thin Lizzy’, ‘The Hoosiers’ and ‘Enter Shikari’.

He is now attending the University of Brighton, studying to become a music journalist. He and his friend developed so much confidence through Livewire that they are almost unrecognisable as the same two young men who originally just came to us for lessons.

JOIN US, it could change your life…