FAME and fortune beckons for music students who formed a band at Stratford College – as they have just been signed by a management company.
Bunker 9 is a hard rock band made up of five former students from the Music Performance and Production course at the college.
And they have just been taken on by music management company TMR Band Management.
Tommy Dunwell, on vocals, James Allen and Charlie Singleton on guitar, Henry Davis, drums and Chris Jovanoski, bass, joined the course for the same reason – to develop their skills and meet other musicians.
They said: “We heard some great things about the college through ex-students and online reviews and felt that it would be the best place for us to continue our studies in music. We definitely made the right choice
“We were given all the support that was needed by the lecturers and the student support staff. The course was conducted in a brilliant way by having the right balance of practical and theory-based work, and we had plenty of time to rehearse too, which really helped develop our instrument and collaboration skills.
“Rob and Steve, our lecturers during our time at college, are both incredible musicians and lecturers who genuinely care about their students’ development and well-being. Anyone who chooses to take the Music Performance or Production course are most definitely in good hands.”
The band actually came together due to a college project.
They continued: “We formed as a band during the first project ‘My Generation’ in the first year of college. We had some other members and we were without James at the time. During this time, we wrote our first track ‘Going Now’ and performed it live during the My Generation gig at college. In December 2020 we recorded this track in the studios shortly after welcoming James into the band as our second guitarist.”
Bunker 9 found their sound by playing music they were passionate about, practising covers such as ‘Out of the Black’ by Royal Blood and ‘Everlong’ by Foo Fighters:
They released their first EP ‘It Doesn’t End Here’ less than a month after finishing their college course and on the same day they performed their first proper gig at 02 Academy in Birmingham.
They added: “The best thing about Bunker 9 is definitely the chemistry we all have whilst practising and playing live on stage.
We’ve played with session musicians before when one of us has been unavailable and it just doesn’t feel right when one of us is missing.
Looking back at our first gig, we couldn’t stop smiling as we were on stage. It was the best feeling in the world performing our songs in front of people and seeing them enjoying it.
“Our main goal currently is to go on tour around Europe. Though an ambitious goal, we’re pretty confident that if we keep up what we’re doing, we’ll be on a tour bus in no time.”
