Yahoo News South Shields student who impressed Tom Grennan on stage at Utilita Arena Newcastle releases first song with band
A student who impressed singer Tom Grennan in Newcastle has released his first song with his band after being awarded a grant.
Joseph Meston, 19, from South Shields, managed to blag his way onto the stage at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle when the 'Little Bit Of Love' singer performed there in March last year.
As Tom was about to belt out his hit single 'Remind Me', he spotted Joseph, then 18, in the crowd. He was holding a sign above his head which said: "Can I sing 'Remind Me' with you?'.
The chart-topper held his sign up to the audience and asked them whether he should invite the aspiring singer on stage. A positive response from the crowd led to him asking Joseph to sing the tune with him.
At the end of the performance, Tom told the audience: "The geezer's better than me, fair play to him!"
Following his performance with Tom, Joseph and the four members of his band Slate Label decided to apply to The Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust for a grant.
They applied for 60 hours of studio time and were thrilled when they received it. Over the last six months, they have been recording at Harbourmaster Productions in Jarrow, South Tyneside.
On May 24, the band released their first single 'Before we die' on all music platforms.
Joseph, who is the singer of the band, said the tune has already been streamed 1500 times on Spotify. He said his performance on stage with Tom Grennan gave them the boost they needed to move forward.
Joseph said: "It definitely gave us a boost to get sorted as a band and get a foot in the music scene. Since then, we've been grafting really, really hard. That's what ultimately led to us releasing our song.
"It's going really, really well. We have got a good amount of streams. We have got 1500 streams just on Spotify which we're pretty happy about."
Slate Label, who play gigs in bars and pubs across the region, is also made up of bassist Adam Stubbs, 21, drummer Daniel Nellist, 19, lead guitarist James Horwood, 20, and keyboardist Eva Sanchez, 19, all from South Tyneside.
The Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust was set up after Chloe Rutherford, 17, and her boyfriend Liam Curry, 19, from South Shields, lost their lives in the Manchester bombing on May 22, 2017.
Chloe and Liam were two of the 22 people who died when a bomb went off just just minutes after Ariana Grande had finished her show at the Manchester Arena. More than 500 more people were injured.
Chloe and Liam’s parents, Mark and Lisa Rutherford and Caroline Curry, set up the trust to helps local young people follow their dreams. It gives grants to allow them to follow their sporting or artistic passions.
Joseph, who studies popular and contemporary music at Newcastle University, said: "They will try to support everybody no matter what their background.
"It's means a lot. It meant something to Chloe and Liam themselves and it feels as though we can carry on their legacy. It's quite an honour to be part of it."
Lisa told Chronicle Live that The Chloe & Liam Together Forever Trust was happy to support Joseph and Slate Label and are glad to see how well they are doing.
