Musicians

They may have changed their name, but the Hereford battle of the band winners retained their organ driven sound.

The group beat a field of over 30 bands to take the Hereford Battle of the Bands title in September 2005. Negotiating their way through heats and semi finals and then the final, where they were chosen ahead of other top local bands such as Common Orange and Toasted Egg Sandwich.

Mike Mann also won the best songwriter award on the night.

Band history

It was in early February 2005 when Darren Jones, Michael Mann and David Arthur met at a house party at number 84.

Mike and Darren had heard about each other from the local music scene but had never met until now. After some introduction and discussion, Darren, Dave and Mike all gathered round a piano for a light hearted jam and to hear what each other could do.

After a few hours of covering every style possible and everybody being pretty impressed by each others improvisation and performance skills, they decided to organize a session with Mike on piano and vocals, Darren on guitar and Dave on drums. Upon this decision they had to find a bass player but fortunately Darren was good friends with a well accomplished bass player, Hywel Pothecary, and the beginnings of The Velvets were forming.

A few weeks went by and the band already had a good eight songs written and a few recorded, things all seemed too good to be true as each members talent and enthusiasm really pushed the band forward.

The time came around for choosing a name for the band, and it was settled with 'Royal Scam' which was an inspiration from the band Steely Dan. So Royal Scam were starting to get gigs and having to rehearse set lists and stage performances. Royal Scam soon found that the name had been taken and would have to change it. So after some discussion and time, they came up with the name 'Orange'.

So now Orange were out on the road and had gained a big fan base at Malvern Girls College after playing at a charity event for the students. This is also where Orange were approached to appear in the line up at Cradley Jazz Show in September 2005. But once again the group had no luck in the name and found that they would have to change yet again. But this time it was to 'Velvet'.

But sadly, a year later, the band split up and the musicians went their separate ways.

You can listen to all the latest music from across the two counties on the Friday Session Introducing... every week from 7pm on BBC Hereford & Worcester.