News 2006
Is your band ready to rock?
03/03/2006
- Virgin Mobile’s Road to V search to find bands to open V Festival
- Bands invited to upload demos on http://www.roadtov.com or www.channel4.com/music to enter competition
- Performances of finalists to be shown on C4 in the run up to V Festival
03.03.06: Virgin Mobile’s V Festival is back and set to be the music festival of the summer with a host of top names set to rock Chelmsford and Staffordshire in August. Virgin Mobile is now looking for a new/up and coming bands to join the likes of Radiohead, Morrissey, Faithless and Kasabian to play the gig of a lifetime.
Virgin Mobile’s Road to V is currently in its third year and we are looking for a band who are up to the challenge of opening a stage at the V Festival on the weekend of 19th / 20th August. Last year The Young Knives beat off stiff competition to win Road to V, and have since gone onto to release limited edition 7”s ‘Junky music make my heart beat faster ep’ and cult hit ‘The Decision’ while their current single ‘Here comes the rumour mill’ (first commercial release) is currently climbing up the top 40 and the MTV2 video chart! The Young Knives are set to become one of the hottest bands of 2006.
This year, Virgin Mobile has launched a new website, http://www.roadtov.com where bands can upload their tracks, tracks can also be uploaded on the Channel 4 Slashmusic website, www.channel4.com/music and music lovers will be able to review and vote for their favourites. From the entries, 14 bands will be then be chosen to compete for their place on the Road to V. If that wasn’t exciting enough, these 14 acts will then play gigs at Islington or Liverpool Carling Academy in May which will be filmed for broadcast on Channel 4 in the 10 weeks leading up to V Festival from mid June.
Steve Rogan, sponsorship manager at Virgin Mobile, said: “Virgin Mobile is excited to be continuing its support for new bands and to help send new talent on the road to stardom. We are really looking forward to hearing the submissions and giving bands the chance of a lifetime to play a major festival date.”
Cath Lovesey, Editor of T4, said: “We're delighted to be working with Virgin Mobile once again in this exciting lead up to this Summer's V Festival and to continue to champion fresh new talent.”
For more information on this year’s V Festival, visit www.vfestival.com.
For further information please contact:
Krissy Knights : 0207 291 3035 krissy@henryshouse.com
Rachel Moule : 0207 291 3033 rachel@henryshouse.com
Virgin Mobile :
Virgin Mobile Press Office : 0845 600 6272 or press.office@virginmobile.com
Amber Morris : 07941 255 400 or amber.morris@virginmobile.com
About Virgin Mobile:
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 4 million customers*.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com or on the high street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Stores within Virgin Megastores, The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Dixons, Phones 4 U, Curry's, Comet, Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Argos, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Ryman plus hundreds of independents mobile phones dealers and available via Shop Direct, Littlewoods, Grattan and Empire home shopping channels.
Virgin Mobile Pay Monthly (contract) is currently available in Virgin Mobile Stores, The Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4u, The Link, at concessions in WHSmith and at www.virginmobile.com.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough.
Virgin Mobile's customers were found to be the most-satisfied mobile consumers in the pre-pay sector for two years running in 2005 and 2004, according to the surveys by J.D. Power and Associates. Virgin Mobile is also featured in `The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list 2005 and is part of the FTSE4Good Index.
*On a 90-day activity basis.
