Worthing bands celebrate Texas gig success

After the Scottish supergroup were confirmed as headliners for the Arundel Castle concert on August 27, part of the Arundel Festival, a county-wide competition was launched to find an unsigned band to support them.

Dozens of entries were reduced by public vote to six finalists who appeared at Littlehampton's Windmill Theatre on Sunday afternoon.

After hearing four songs from each band, a panel of judges named acoustic duo Shiseido Red - Worthing brothers Hoff and Paul Diello - as the competition winners.

Surprisingly, the judges then announced that the second-placed band, melodic indie-popping four-piece, Sandweaver, would also support Texas in front of an expected crowd of more than 4,000 people.

"It was awesome. I couldn't believe it when they said it was us," said Hoff, 27, the Christchurch Road-based guitarist for Shiseido Red.

"We really enjoyed the performance. It was a tough one because there were so many good acts there."

Bassist Tom Pople, 25, from Crescent Road, said Sandweaver's place on the bill underneath Texas came as a total surprise.

He said: "All the other bands were really good. There was only supposed to be one band going through, then we found out we were too.

"I didn't realise myself, I was in the wrong part of the building. Then I came back and everyone was congratulating us.

"We're over the moon. It will be the biggest crowd we've ever played in front of and at such an amazing venue."