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Amy's Magic Quest: Band of the month... APOLLO

23rd May 2007

Bringing with them a kind of eclectic blues and soul rarely heard around today's music scene, Apollo really are one of Swansea's most exciting emerging talents. They consistently impress on the local live scene, and with roots in classic rock claiming influence from Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, Apollo are definitely a band to watch. One of their proudest features as a band is their ability to improvise confidently, an area rarely explored by contemporary artists.

Lead guitarist OJ Hanmer and second year student Kieran Forde met whilst living in halls and after a year of auditioning for a front they came across bassist Owen Street, and the formidable frontman Sam Linthorne. Linthorne's voice is simply amazing and captures the rock/blues delta blend perfectly, it's hard to be believe that these guys have so much youth amongst them as they convey such an air of maturity - Linthorne's rolling vocals are just perfect, they blend amazingly as a band with masses of talent flowing from each member.

After just their second open mic night at the Uplands Tavern, they were offered the chance of their own extended gig at the Tav - filling the popular Saturday night slot. Having reached the finals of the DV8 Battle of the Bands, and participating in the BarCo Battle of the bands, Apollo really are set to conquer South Wales and with a number of gigs coming up in Cardiff and Swansea, a bright and shining future looks promising for the remarkable and extremely talented Apollo.

Every track of Apollo's is brilliant, but listen in particular to Follow Me Down. To listen for yourself go to their myspace page at www.myspace.com/ukapollo

Amy Wilkinson