YROCK - providing a music outlet for young bands and artists

Being the founder of YROCK, I feel that it's good for you to know where this has come from and understand what exactly it is we are trying to do. So here it is, my name is Grant McWhirter and this is how YROCK came about.

It was as a young musician that I first found a passion for this kind of music organisation. I probably only knew 4 chords and reckoned I could solo better than Richie Sambora.

I still remember the first day of the Clydesdale Music Initiative like it was yesterday. Within half an hour, everybody in the room was jamming along with a simple 2 chord riff. That's where my passion began; the fact that a room full of strangers were suddenly creating some really great sounding music...and it wasn't just beginners, there were young musician's of all ages and abilities.

The Clydesdale Music Initiative grew over the years and pretty soon I was signing a bit of paper agreeing to be chairman of Feedback Music Productions. Feedback was a great achievement in Lanarkshire, as we'd created a registered charity, which had one aim - helping young musicians. Feedback achieved some great things, holding regular jam nights, as well as regular gigs for the bands. I probably spent more time working on Feedback than I did my highers. However, I still managed to get some good results and sadly had to resign as Chairman and head on my way to University to further my education.

I did a bit of partying for a couple of years and developed various ways of doing similar things to Feedback while at uni. It wasn't until I joined an organisation called SIFE that I was able to create my next project, creatively named "The Music Development Project" and based on the foundations of Feedback, for young people in Glasgow. In our first years, we developed the virtually run Silhouette Records in Hillhead High School, which saw some phenomenal results including a single launch and an in-school battle of the bands. The next year we were able to replicate the project in St Roch's High School, where Hybrid Firefly was born. Silhouette Records were slightly more ambitious in 2007 and held a Glasgow wide battle of the bands in the Barfly, a popular Glasgow gig venue (if you didn't already know), where over 200 young people filled the venue to see 7 high school bands play.

When I first created the music project at University, I had an inclination that it was something I wanted to continue after I left. I started to develop plans for this 2 years in advance, and in fact, I was a finalist in the

At the moment our main priority is building the YROCK network by holding more gigs for young bands. We have found that venues will not give under 18 bands gigs because they do not make the same money from the bar. Even if they are willing to hire out the venue to bands, they charge a premium rate which over 18's do not have to pay, and given that most young bands are still in school, they don't have money to pay this premium rate. We think this is wrong, and given that some of the bands we've worked with in the past have been far better musicians and had amazing stage presence in comparison to some of the over 18's, we want to bring this music to the public ear and give everyone a chance to play.

We aim to bring media attention to young bands and provide constructive feedback and mentoring, as well as tips from older musicians on how they developed themselves at a young age. There is a whole world of knowledge out there and we want YROCK musicians to have access to all of it!

At YROCK we are passionate about our music, and we love what we do. So, by working together with the young musicians we will create some real value and show the world just how talented they are!