Otley-BASED band Orca are returning home to play their first gig in the town in more than two years.

And it's all to help out Otley's senior citizens as they are headlining a gig at the Civic Centre which is aiming to raise money for a mini-bus for Otley Action for Older People.

After constant gigging around the country's prime music venues including MTV Sound Republic in London and the Roadhouse in Manchester, they are looking forward to it.

Drummer Wayne Sowden said: "We hope that the people of Otley and the surrounding areas can appreciate the opportunity to witness local talent and that we get lots of support on the night."

As well as 18-year-old Wayne the band includes 18-year-old Martin Coyle (lead vocals and guitar), 17-year-old Matt Steel (lead guitar) and 19-year-old Jon Titley (bass).

They have recently provoked interest from several major record companies including Sony and have received particular acclaim from Chris Evans on Virgin Radio.

Orca recently played a farewell gig at the now defunct Duchess of York in Leeds.

They explained that it meant a great deal to them to be able to play a farewell gig there as the pub had almost become like a second home to them.

They played well to the at times over enthusiastic crowd and have a great stage presence, not least that of charismatic vocalist Coyle, whose voice has in the past been likened to that of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

Orca, who rehearse three times a week at Otley's All Saints Infants School, met at Prince Henry's Grammar School three years ago.

They have taken their inspiration from bands such as The Who, Radiohead, U2, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana.

The future looks bright for Orca. They have already laid down a demo CD and hope to go back into the studio in July. They will be gigging in London during the summer and are hopeful as far as the Leeds summer festivals are concerned.

They are also playing at Joseph's Well, Leeds on Saturday April 22 and at Fibbers in York on Saturday May 6.

Orca will be supported at the charity gig by Ilkley-based five-piece Kotow, who recently supported them at Joseph's Well, Leeds.

This was the third gig for the band. Their second gig saw them following in the footsteps of bands such as Nirvana and Radiohead when they played The Duchess, Leeds.

And their gig at the Duchess outdid Oasis on crowd numbers, the Manchester band only managed to pull in a crowd of six whereas Kotow brought 47 people with them.

The connection with Orca came when their guitarist Steve Davies offered to do the lights for Orca as a way into the gigging circuit.

Kotow are 23-year-old Alex Pickard (vocals), 22-year-old Jody Atkinson (lead guitar), 27-year-old Steve Davies (guitar), 22-year-old David Fairburn (bass) and 20-year-old Richard Francis.

The band practice twice a week in the attic of guitarist Steve's house and they don't have any problems with their neighbours as drummer Richard lives next door.

Kotow play music similar to that they listen to and they are influenced by the rock of Rage Against The Machine, the funk of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the hip-hop style of lyrics in the style of Faith No More.

When asked about their ambition Steve explained: "Most bands say that their ambition is to play Wembley or to headline at Glastonbury which would obviously be nice but at the moment our ambitions are to get signed up with management, then to a record label and to widen our fan base."

They explained the difficulties they face in being a relatively new band trying to break their way onto the circuit were time and money.

"It is really difficult finding available money to plough back into the band.

"At the moment any money we spend is coming out of our own pockets and it can be really frustrating when we don't have sufficient funds to put into equipment," said Jody.

They are looking forward to the day when they can make a living from their music.

"We would love to do a gig and know that the next day you don't have to be up for work. We would love to devote our working lives to the band," said Alex.

Steve chipped in: "It is very rare that everyone can get together when an idea comes up. This is due to work commitments which can cause problems.

"It is frustrating that we have so little time together and we know that we could be so much better if we could spend all or at least most of our time on the band."

Having no management means there is lot of hard work involved and that the writing process, practising and playing only takes up 50 per cent of the work. Kotow are focusing on writing all their own material now although in the beginning they did do a couple of cover versions.

Now they quite rightly feel that their music is strong enough on its own without having to turn to other artists for material. The crowd at Joseph's Well certainly agreed.

Kotow's reaction to the gig was expressed by Alex. "Superb. We feel that it was a real coming together gig.

"By this time we'd rattled off all of our nerves. Everyone really enjoyed themselves.

"We knew the material much better and that gave us confidence so that we could work on our stage performance.

"We were really pleased when people who had come to watch Orca came through from the bar to see us after they heard our first song."

Orca's Matt Steel said the band hope that this event will go a long way to strengthen the relationship between the young and old of this area.

"It is the first time that a benefit gig of this nature has occurred and it is hoped that people will go along and show their support.

"The event will be raising money for Otley Action for Old People who hope to put the proceeds towards buying a mini-bus for the elderly," said Wayne.

The support for Orca will be provided by Otley bands Ruckuss and Juxtaposition as well as Kotow.

There will be a licensed bar on the night provided by the Bay Horse for which proof of age will be required.

The gig takes place on Friday, April 28. Tickets are £4 and are available on the door. Doors open from 7pm.

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