The highly acclaimed London based rock music organisation ‘Rockschool’ are due to visit Shetland in March to deliver a series of workshops and gigs as part of Shetland Arts Trust and SIC Community Services ongoing ‘Solid Rock’ youth music programme, an initiative funded by Youth Music Scotland.

A number of music workshops and youth gigs have been already been held throughout Shetland over recent months as part of the project, which is aimed at supporting and developing fledgling bands or young musicians who wish to form bands in the future.

Now a number of highly experienced, professional musicians employed by Rockschool will visit the islands for a full weekend of music related events, aimed at delivering a range of professional skills that will hopefully take the local musicians and bands on to the next stage of their musical development. A London based production company may also visit the islands to film the event for possible TV broadcast in the future.

The workshops, to be held in the Clickimin Centre Bowls Hall on 5th and 6th March, will initially focus on individual skills, most notably guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards and vocals, and then bring these individual elements together in a successful, tight group format.

Following on from the workshops there will be an alcohol-free gig on the Saturday evening, also in the Clickimin bowls hall, where a number of the participating bands will get the opportunity to try out their new found skills on the big stage. The gig, to be headlined by the Rockschool band, is open to everyone under 18 years of age. Transport from rural areas of Shetland will be arranged through SIC Community Services youth workers.

Shetland Arts Trust Music Development Officer Davie Gardner said “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for our young bands to work with some world class musicians. ‘Rockschool’ are highly regarded in the rock music world and Shetland happens to be the only place where they offer workshops of this nature, so it’s safe to say that this is a truly unique opportunity for local young musicians”.

Mr Gardner says that the event is open to all existing bands, working at any level of experience, and he plans to contact as many as possible to take part in the event. However, anyone who is interested should contact him at Shetland Arts Trust on (01595) 697550, so that no-one who wishes to take part misses out on the opportunity.