Popular Music students’ rise from campus gigs to festival stages | Degree Show Stories

“Hi, I'm Ellie. I study Popular Music at Falmouth and I'm the lead singer of Petrea.

“It's really fun to perform, particularly in the uni. With this stage (Studio K), you can tell a crowd are really into it and you can feed off their energy. It makes you feel a little bit like you're on top of the world.

“I’d say the thing I enjoy most about studying at Falmouth is the Falmouth (town) music scene. We mostly do gigs at the Cornish Bank – we probably do one or two a month. We won Battle of the Bands and that was really cool because it allowed us to go on to play at some festivals, get some recording time and meet some really cool people.

“We've been played on BBC Introducing, and we also recently did a BBC Introducing stage at the Little Orchard Cider Festival.

“Particularly in songwriting, I've found what I want to talk about: women and feminism and creating a safe space for women within rock music. Going forward we’d like to set up our own events, and I'd really like to highlight female fronted bands, bringing them into the spotlight.” 

“I'm Harry Blackburn. I study BA Popular Music here at Falmouth Uni and I am guitarist in Petrea.

“The facilities at Falmouth are world class. The recording studios are fully kitted out with everything you could really ask for. You can get anything you'd like from stores, just from pressing a few buttons in the app.

“Over the course of three years, I've seen improvements in my own playing, and the university itself is fantastic. The facilities are great. The lecturers have some really, really valuable industry experience that they've been giving to us over the last three years, and the music scene here is unmatched.

“We've gigged around Cornwall quite a lot. We've played quite a few festivals, and hopefully we'll be branching out to lots of other places very soon.

“The town itself is vibrant, it's welcoming. It feels like home here. We found our footing; we found our people and made connections by speaking to people. We've been able to build the start of what hopefully will become our careers.” 

“I'm Olly. I'm a third-year Popular Music student and I'm the bassist in the band Petrea.

“I think the most valuable thing I've learned is how to play with other musicians. Learning to play with a drummer and learning to play with other guitarists and where you fit in in a full band.

“Being surrounded not only by lecturers, but other musicians that are studying all manner of creative things. It's just a whole community.

“The moment you come off the stage, and you see people cheering and applauding and telling you you've done well – that feels really good.

“I would like to be able to continue touring, making and releasing music, doing gigs and make a sustainable career out of doing the music that I love.

“Down in Cornwall, we've been lucky to meet a few members of other larger bands. We've met people that want to help us get onto other festivals. It’s definitely a lifestyle I could get used to!” 

“Hi, I am Josh White. I'm a third-year Popular Music student at Falmouth and I'm the drummer for Petrea.

“Drumming is my passion. Rhythm is my thing. I love having that connection, especially with my band mates. Seeing the crowd react to the rhythm of what I do – it's such a buzz. It's something that I can play with – the intensity of how I play, how I present myself on stage, how performative I can be. And it's a lot of fun.

“We've done festivals where we've met some really incredible people within the music industry. We met Shane Hawkins and as a drummer, he's a massive influence on me and quite an idol.  

“It was really insightful to just have a chat with him and talk about what avenues you can go down. Keeping those connections with people really helps with looking for external careers, but also just makes your time at uni so much more fun.”