Sutton band Sea Monster Eyes win festival slot at Liverpool Sound City Festival

A newly-formed band, who worked with a film-maker to create a music video, have secured a festival slot after winning a competition.

Sea Monster Eyes, who are based in Sutton, recently entered the 2Weeks 2Make It competition which paired 15 bands and musicians with 15 film-makers to create a short video which won them a place at next year’s Liverpool Sound City festival.

The band worked with Rotherham film-maker Robert Gravenor to produce a video for their track ‘Boat I Row’.

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With just two weeks to work on the project, Robert and the band created a humorous, dream-like film on a zero budget - and they even used old copies of the Chad to decorate the set.

When the films were finished, the artists were invited to the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield for a screening before the winner was announced.

“We saw all 15 films and then the winner was announced,” says band member Anna Kerr.

“We thought we hadn’t won and then they said that we had. The film-maker got £500 of equipment and we got a festival slot at Liverpool Sound City.”

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The band, which is made up of Anna Kerr (vocals, synths and keyboards), Mark Smith (drums), Phil Grafton (bass and vocals), Geoff Carlin (guitar and vocals) and Simon Broomhead (guitar), was formed in April but its members will be known to music fans from their previous incarnation, Tastebuds.

Phil says: “We did quite well with Tastebuds but it came to a natural end. We wanted to have a go at getting somewhere and this video was brilliant as a starting block.”

“We have recorded our first EP which we are looking to release at the end of August,” Anna added.

“We’ll be doing a bit of promotion around that and we are also looking at doing another video with Rob.”

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While Sea Monster Eyes’ music defies being pigeon-holed, Anna says that the members are influenced by a wide range of music, mainly from the 1960s and ‘70s, such as Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie,

“We just do what feels good. If someone comes with an idea we will develop it,” she added.

Meanwhile, the band has been busy performing gigs in the area.

Said Anna: “We did Exile Music Fest in Belper and when we came off stage we got a really good response to the music.”

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And Phil added: “All the reactions have been really positive.”

For further details on the band, including updates and upcoming gigs, visit www.facebook.com/seamonstereyes. You can also see the band’s video on their Facebook page.

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