A SECOND musical act from the Great Yarmouth area will be hoping an appearance in the regional final of a national competition leads on to bigger things.
A SECOND musical act from the Great Yarmouth area will be hoping an appearance in the regional final of a national competition leads on to bigger things.
The duo Dumbfoundus have reached the regional final of the Live and Unsigned competition to find the best musicians with their own material.
The pair- Noel Dashwood, 28, from Bradwell and Nathan Hawdon, 26, from Gorleston- will join Hopton dad-of-two Sean Clack, 38, who has also reached the final at the Corn Exchange in Ipswich on April 10.
The friends formed Dumbfoundus after meeting while pupils at Lynn Grove High School in Gorleston and have written 100 songs in their style which fuses skiffle and reggae.
Their tune Call for Love earned them the place in the regional final when they performed at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich in February.
But the success did not surprise Mr Dashwood, of Heron Close, who was confident the group could not just reach the regional final, but go on to win it and qualify for the national final at the O2 Arena in London.
He said: “It was a quite surreal experience to just be in a room full of musicians and everyone wanting the same thing.”
He added: “I am pretty sure we can get to the final and pretty sure we can win it. I just have confidence either way. Even if we did not make it to the final we would still be happy with the experience we have had in appearing in the competition.”
Dumbfoundus mainly perform around the Norwich area where they are regular buskers and have played gigs at such city venues as Bedfords, Henrys and The Waterfront.
They have also tasted some success through the website You Tube where their cover of the Bobby McFerrin tune Don't Worry, Be Happy received 120,000 hits, mainly from Polish web users.
Mr Dashwood, who lives with girlfriend Alexa Handforth, 28, believed their version may have appeared on a Polish TV show, hence the high number of web hits.
Mr Clack, of Imperial Mews, reached the regional final after impressing judges of the talent contest with his song Decision Time.
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