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As both founder of Herne Bay Rocks and a full time gigging musician it’s safe to say that this last year has been an absolute nightmare for all of us that enjoy live music. The support we have received has been immense which shows just how hungry people are to once again get out there to experience the atmosphere that only live music can generate.

However, 2021 may be just that little bit too soon for Herne Bay Rocks to safely take place, as the uncertainty surrounding the reopening of venues could leave us very short of time to organise the competition to the increasingly high standards it has enjoyed year on year. First and foremost we must put people’s safety first, and we believe that we should allow this year to settle down with venue’s and customer’s confidence returning.

So, we want to hit the ground running in 2022 with plenty of time to plan and organise, for acts to dust down their instruments and get gigging again, and put on a competition worthy of the reputation it has built over the years!

We have also decided to make a few changes to freshen up the format a little. We will of course still have heats with up to 4 acts (or 6 on acoustic nights), but as we appreciate that a lot of musicians already have paid gigs at weekends the heats will run from Monday to Thursday for 2 consecutive weeks.

There has always been some debate around original artists versus covers artists, as it’s difficult to judge songwriting skills against the interpretation of known songs. We could have chosen to make it an originals only competition, but we have seen some really good quality covers acts over the years and wouldn’t want them to be excluded.

So there will be separate categories for original and covers artists with prizes aimed at being as beneficial to their category as possible:

Originals artists can still win studio time, CD’s, photo shoot, and hopefully a slot on the main stage of the Herne Bay Festival, depending on how the festival moves forward in the future.

The covers artists will win studio time, CD’s, photo shoot, and 5 paid gigs at local venues.

Thank you all for your continued support and patience, and we will be back with a vengeance in the summer of 2022!

David Shepherd

Herne Bay Rocks