Grassroots Relaunch!
Legendary youth project, Grassroots, reveal their newly renovated building on Tuesday 25h May 2010. The members of the charitable organisation will be holding a relaunch to flaunt their new music recording studio, coffee bar, art gallery and computer suites.
The exciting event will start at 12pm, where members will give demonstrations of the work conducted at Grassroots and guided tours of the project.
Grassroots is a registered charity, based on Charles St, which aims to meet the needs of young people aged 16-25. They aim to instill optimism, promote self-awareness and self worth in young people who see themselves in a negative light.
The project have had a lot of success in a musical sense and have helped kick start the careers of many Welsh treasures such as The Manics, Catatonia, Super Furries and Stereophonics, all of which have recorded their first tracks in the “Roots” studio. The relocated music department will be bigger and better with new equipment including a ‘drum booth.’ The department also offer marketing skills to young musicians and promoting their work through the local radio and press.
Other talent from the organisation will be performing at the relaunch, in hope of a similar success story. From 6pm onwards there will be live performances by acts such as Hayde, Miss She She, Kristi, Ferny Mac and others as well as the Youth Service Battle of the Bands winners 2010; The Laylows.
The 30 year old project have had some recent success with Ryan “Prophanity” Lewis. “Grassroots is a place where I learned how to use the music making tools,” said Ryan, who appeared in the 2006 television programme Shipwrecked.
All proceeds from the 69 pence song, which is available on Amazon, go back to charity. Ryan: “The song is called 16 Bars. It was written about how to stay safe in your own surroundings and in your self, and how to stay away from drugs and to keep alert on the streets of Cardiff, to literally and mentally Stay Safe.”
Mike Botzaropoulos, who’s in charge of the youth music studio and social networking claims there may be another Stay Safe mix CD soon. The first one was released this year and sent around other youth centres in Cardiff to encourage safety within the community. Mike claims he’s excited about the relaunch: “Yes I’m looking forward to it as long as everything goes okay. We’re a little bit stressed but we work better under pressure”
Mike is confident that the refurbishment will bring more people in: “All the facilities have been upgraded, we’ve got a brand new coffee bar where small gigs take place, there’s an art gallery. I think it'll help kick things off.”
Event details:
Tuesday 25th May, 12pm-9pm
Grassroots, Charles St, Cardiff
Bands start at 6pm, anyone is welcome!
If you want to find out more about Grassroots or other similar projects in your area, check out our organisation pages here.
2 Comments – Post a comment
gesture
Commented 24 months ago - 19th May 2010 - 12:34pm
What about open mic nights? I think that will draw a lot of attention and people to the place
Buletproof_Qpid
Commented 24 months ago - 1st June 2010 - 11:58am
And it sure went fantastic !!! What a great day, lots of people came to check out our new facilities and the music part was overwhelming. Massive thanks to all the musicians, the volunteers and of course the crowds that made it to revamped Grassroots. Stay tuned for the finalization of the recording studio in a couple of weeks.
Catch Grassroots Cardiff at the following websites :
www.grassrootscardiff.com
www.twitter.com/grassrootscf10
www.myspace.com/grassrootscf10
www.reverbnation.com/grassrootscf10
www.soundcloud.com/grassrootscf10
www.youtube.com/user/GrassrootsCardiff
PS. Open Mic nights have been discussed my friend !