In August 2007, 20 year old Sophie Lancaster was kicked to death, simply for dressing differently. As a brand that promotes the right to experiment and self-express through the way you look, Illamasqua is committed to changing attitudes towards subcultures.

In tribute to Sophie, Illamasqua has commissioned 'Dark Angel' - a short film by award-winning director Fursy Teyssier, that's a haunting rendition of Sophie's story, featuring the music of iconic British band, Portishead.

The film launches on MTV on 26th November - Sophie's birthday.
 

As a result, the Sophie Lancaster Foundation hopes to generate £500,000 to fund national youth workshops on tolerance. But they can only deliver this essential education programme with your help.
 

Please show your support and watch the film.

http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com

A few months back our drummer, Alex told us he would have to leave SOB due to him becoming a Dad. We were all gutted to say the least and wondered how we would ever manage with out him, hes a good friend and was a big part of the band. Luckily by chance after searching for months we managed to find a replacement, enter Will.

We have been practicing alot and the music is coming along. We have some cool new material and reworkings of old too which we all love and I know Alex approves too!

We played our first gig with Will at The Rockbar in Doncaster for Flood Aid, despite a few of us having `man flu` we managed to pull of a good set, Wills drumming was impeccable. Its onwards and upwards from here.

SOB Video!

Its been a while for the banditos but were back for a short slot this Saturday coming at The Rockbar in Doncaster. The gig is for the Flood Aid charity and there will be a number of items up for auction to raise money.

Hope to see you all there!

Details From Higher Rhythms Website

We've teamed up with Bounce PR to organise a benefit gig to raise funds for the higher rhythm foundation appeal to provide help for people affected by the recent floods in the Philippines.

On Saturday 14th November from 7.30pm Vintage Rockbar will be the venue for this event featuring a packed line up of bands as well as auctions for cool stuff ranging from guitars to signed memorabilia.

Artists on the night are:

slash bikini
the virelais
UV pop
in fear of olive
stereo syndicate
pistola kicks
suns of banditos

Entry on the night is only £ 2 but bring your cash and bid in the auctions to help us raise as much money as possible for this very worthwhile cause.

http://higherrhythmfoundation.com/

The Bawtry-based group will be the best known local band at a festival which is billed as a fake bands show, with tribute acts to U2, Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys topping the bill.

They are among five bands from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire who have been added to the line-up for the Sandall Park Rockfest on Saturday May 23.

Suns of Banditos have been gigging nationally for the last year, and have made an impact in national band competitions.

They reached the UK semi-finals of the Global Battle of the Bands last year, and also the semi-finals of the 2008 national Surface Unsigned competition.

Organisers of the May event describe them as a unique sound that is subtle blend of rock n roll, indie, funk and psychedelia.

Fake Festivals boss Jez Lee said: As these festivals are about local people enjoying their local surrounding, its important to invite local bands to perform.

Every area has bands trying to break into the music industry one way or another, whether it be as a tribute act or an original artist, and we would like to give the local bands the chance to showcase their talent.

The S. American style band names continued with Suns of Banditos exotically based on some estate over in Bawtry, Doncaster.

Looking like a motley bunch of neerdowell bandits themselves they showed unexpected grace in their playing and plenty of contrast across the band members. While the songs maybe lacked something in structure and variety it was more than made up for in attitude.

This is a band with real lower class cred who are not bothering with the Manc outdoor wear, gum chewing or unblinking blank stares tribute thing. Instead it's all pitched down with a repressed, volatile energy which intriguingly leaks out from some fine unprepossessing playing which sets it all up nicely for Craig's well honed dark, intense and masculine vocal.

It's magnificent and important.

We entered the Surface Unsigned competition a while back and played the first round at Josephs Well in Leeds. We did good and qualified despite been up against some amazing bands.

The second round is in Manchester at The Dry Bar, please come and support us there on Monday the 16th of June. Tickets for the 2nd round will be on sale next week on this website