Meet Pool Club, the Durham student band that could be playing with The Cure this summer

It’s every artist’s dream to get recognised, and for Pool Club, that dream could be about to come true. The Tab spoke to Seb Powell, a second year Durham student, about his band’s success in a nationwide music competition.

How big of a deal is the New Blood competition?

Out of 5,000 hopeful applicants, Seb and his bandmates are now in the final fourteen participants competing for a spot in the Isle of Wight music festival this summer. If successful, this means playing on the same stage as big names like The Cure, Lewis Capaldi, and Calvin Harris.

Before that though, the band is set to play in the grand final on Saturday 30^th May at Bush Hall in London. The venue has a capacity of around 400, and a big industry presence.

So, if you want to support a fellow Durham student and celebrate the end of exams (if you’re lucky enough to be finished by then, that is) tickets are only £13.

Who is Pool Club?

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The band is a quintet: two brothers, Seb and Eliot Powell on vocals and guitar; Harry Theaker on bass guitar; Jon Beck on drums; and Will Relf on the keyboard. In Seb’s own words, Pool Club is “Essentially a band of two brothers and a guy who loves cats” (since Jon’s mum is seeing Harry’s dad).

Their music is “a genre-bending rollercoaster” but it more or less situates itself in Britpop, AltIndie sounds. Buzzy Band says the group is “bottling lightning” with strong inter-generational influences – from Oasis to Sting to Sam Fender.

Since the band comes from Dover (a relatively quiet music scene) their local community has always been behind them. A place where “everybody knows everybody”. Seb talked about how the band feels “so lucky with the community we have”. Since fan support is essential in the competition, Seb said they “wouldn’t have gotten through the first round” without them.

From local fans and welcoming venues to Dads who are “always up in front of the stage dancing like an idiot” and “giving cold, hard advice in a good way”; Pool Club has had a solid beginning. After the visibility gained from New Blood, their success is surely set to grow.

We asked Seb about the band’s possible presence in Durham. He said they were still based pretty far from Durham venues, but playing here would be “the dream”.

Buy tickets to the grand final in London
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Listen to them on Spotify

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