If you are an unsigned band looking for a slot at our Stockton Riverside Fringe Festival please note - we get hundreds of requests for places, mostly from bands and artists we've never heard of.   We end up disappointing more people than we make happy!

Here are our top tips for getting a slot...

Get gigging!  Play plenty of good gigs - but don't saturate the circuit with loads of appearances where no-one turns up [they aren't very good gigs really are they?].

Build up a following - a good solid fan base at your gigs; both locally and wider afield, will get you noticed - by fans, the media... and us.

As well as The Fringe, we also run rehearsal and recording studios - here at Green Dragon Studios - which are very handy for us spotting suitable artists; a good proportion of artists that play The Fringe get recommended by members of our staff who like what they hear - worth bearing in mind? 

Don't give up - if you don't get a slot this year, try and make it impossible for us not to notice you next year.  We run a number of shows and events throughout the year - try and get onto them as a way of feeding through into the festival slots.

And if we give you a gig at our own venue, The Georgian Theatre, make sure you get a decent sized crowd along - if you play in front of three people and a dog, we're hardly going to put you into the festival are we?  The bands and solo acts which we tend to offer festival slots to are the ones who take their work seriously, who plan and promote their gigs well and who consistently play well attended gigs for us - that's the fairest way to do things; for us, for bands and for audiences.

Remember, The Fringe is a 10,000 capacity gig - everyone wants to play it; we tend to use local artists that have come to our attention, that have been working hard throughout the year [or years!] and that can put on a good, solid performance for everyone - not just their mates.

Above all, remember - if you put all of this into practice... we'll find you!