Dragon Bands

Dragon Bands

 

 

 

Dragon Bands is a community group that helps support and provide information to young people who live within the South Wales valleys and would like to become involved within the music industry.

 

It targets the young people in the area who would otherwise be found hanging around on street corners. In addition to offering them tuition and events where they can display their newly acquired skills they are also given guidance on drug and alcohol abuse .

 

The project was originally founded by Angela Byrne from her home in Pontypool however once the group gained charity status in December 2004 which opened up more funding opportunities they moved to a unit factory on an industrial estate which has now been converted to include practice rooms, an office and an Internet radio studio. They currently offer training in Personal Address (P.A) Systems, Internet Radio, Vocals, Guitar, Drums and even Spanish. The project is organised by eleven key volunteers whose ages range from 22 to 58 and others who are as young as 8 years of age.

 

Dragon Bands has also developed several new sister projects which include Eraze Magazine, Flame Radio and Dragonffli Records. Eraze Magazine is a fanzine for the bands which is distributed in hardcopy to over a thousand individuals throughout the valleys, Flame Radio is the first Internet radio station in Torfaen where local bands can play their music and Dragonffli Records which enables young musicians to record a demo CD of their music to send to various companies and radio stations in an effort to get their band airplay.

 

The main focus of Dragon Bands is to create a sense of community spirit and belonging for the local young people whilst empowering them - by helping them discover and make the most of their talents.