Louise Distras + Bryan McPherson

LOUISE DISTRAS:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/louisedistras
HOMEPAGE: http://www.louisedistras.co.uk/

Cut from a similar cloth to the legendary Billy Bragg or the new huge, Frank Turner, Louise Distras is the 'new face of acoustic punk in the UK'.

She's a woman with a clenched fist full of protest songs that target injustice, chauvenism and bigotry and is now making her own mark as an activist in our urban sprawl.

Described as 'the 21st Century Joe Strummer who personifies punk rock spirit, free-thinking and the renegade soul', Louise Distras is the sworn enemy of injustice, apathy and X Factor culture - Simon Cowell's plague of commercially-engineered pop stars sucking the life out of auto tuners. Girl groups like The Saturdays "embarrass the music scene," she says.

Nirvana inspired Louise to pick up a guitar at the tender age of thirteen. Twelve years on, she uses it as a weapon to push a politicised brand of hard-hitting contemporary folk.

Her first single 'The Hand You Hold', released earlier this year on International Womens Day, set out to "empower young women." It was angry, and pointed, asking the media: 'Who are you to say/we should look this way?'

"I'm sick of the way women and young girls are reduced to stereotypes and exploited," says Louise, 25, who is proud to be putting purpose back into pop.

Obvious comparisons with Brody Dalle and Courtney Love aside her passion and outlook have garnered her much praise from The Guardian, NME, The Independent, Amazing Radio, and BBC Radio 1 who said "Louise Distras is destroying it in the UK right now, flying the flag for all female artists. She is what all punk should be about!", aswell as musical contemporaries Ryan Jarman (The Cribs), TV Smith (The Adverts) and award winning journalist John Robb. Shows with New Model Army, UK Subs, TV Smith, have only cemented the praise further.

BRYAN MC PHERSON:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/bryan.mcpherson.music
HOMEPAGE: http://bryanmcpherson.com/

Bryan was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, in the working-class neighborhood of Dorchester and brings his passionate brand of folk music directly to the people. His drenched shirt is evidence of the intensity of his performance. From show to show and state to state, he is building his audience with little help from the fading music industry. His songs are stripped down human emotion spitting blood. His songs are stories. They are scars. They are struggle and they are triumph. This is one man belting - at the top of his lungs - his honest, emotional impressions of the world.
In 2012 Bryan released his second full length album, American Boy / American Girl. He then embarked on an extensive national tour, performing alongside Amanda Palmer and Michael Moore at the Occupy Oakland Encampment, Steve Earle for Litquake's Woody Guthrie Tribute Show, rock and roll legend Chuck Berry, and the Dropkick Murphys. He has spent most of 2012 and 2013 on the road. He has been featured in The Huffington Post, The Boston Phoenix, Dig Boston, and The San Francisco Bay Guardian. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California