Coldplay gift studio time to young musicians

Coldplay rehearsed for their headline set at Glastonbury in the Cheese and Grain in Frome

Young musicians will be given an opportunity to record music in a professional studio thanks to a £14,000 donation from Coldplay.

The world famous band caused excitement earlier this year in Frome, Somerset, when they rehearsed their headline set for Glastonbury Festival in the local music venue, the Cheese and Grain.

As a thank you, Coldplay has given £10,000 to Young People Frome, a charity which runs a free music development programme for 12 to 18-year-olds.

The band also visited Frome's record store, Raves from the Grave, and signed every CD and vinyl record, which were then raffled, raising a further £4,000.

From January 2025 young people will be offered monthly sessions on Sundays at the Bert Jansch Studio in Frome

Speaking about meeting Coldplay, Cheese and Grain director, Steve Macarthur said: "They're genuinely nice guys and they were very interested in what we do.

"The fact that we're a venue with a difference, owned by the local community and serving the local community.

"We're not here to make money, we're here to make music and I think they just got quite excited about that and came on board."

The band drew a crowd when they were rumoured to be practicing at the venue

The donation from Coldplay means that from January 2025 young people will be offered monthly sessions on Sundays at the Bert Jansch Studio in Frome.

"They don't have to be particularly competent musicians or anything, they have to be really curious," said Mr Macarthur.

He added that it will be exciting to see the young people progress over a number of sessions.

"If they're lucky, they'll be able to walk away with a recording," he said.

Later in the year, local primary and secondary schools, and then young people not currently in education, employment or training, will be offered the chance to try out the professional recording environment.

Anyone interested in the music development programme is invited to apply online via the Cheese and Grain.