Reaper in Sicily

Reaper In Sicily (RIS) are a young, energetic 5 piece “Power-Pop” band hailing from the heart of Aberdare in South Wales described by Kerrang! editorial as “A show stealer” and “Putting the Power-Pop genre on the map!”

November 2008 witnessed the birth of RIS and by January 2009 they already had their first demo EP “Lets re-design this” under their belts.
The months proceeding would see a full local radio onslaught, the end result attracting a big buzz from the local area which would eventually spread through university stations throughout the UK.

The band spent the first 6 months together honing their skills and stage craft, fans had to wait until 2nd June 2009 for the band to play their first ever live show. It was well worth the wait as they played to thunderous applause and a sellout crowd to boot.

After 3 gigs they entered the Black XS Livesound competition run by Kerrang! And Search And Destroy Records to find the “Best live unsigned band in the UK.”
The competition gathered a hugely impressive 700 entrants. This was narrowed down  to “the final 30” and from this RIS made it through to the final 4. Appearances in Kerrang!, Mojo and Q magazines followed prior to the live final show at London’s O2 arena.
The band brought with them an impressively large die hard following and went on to wow the crowd and panel of judges. They eventually walked away crowned as “the best live unsigned band in the UK 2009!” which subsequently won them a recording contract with Search and Destroy Records.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said 21 year old Reaper In Sicily frontman Rhys Bernardo after learning of the triumph. “I can’t even describe it! Three months of sleepless nights and it’s been worth every minute of it!”

Following the success of the competition the band have been busy re-recording their upcoming single “We Are The Show!” at the legendary Rockfield Studios and even managed to find time to fit in a few local radio appearances. The video for “We Are The Show!” was finished off early on in the New Year. The single is set for release Late Feb/Early March 2010.

“We want to show everyone nothing is impossible, everyone should have a dream and something to look forward too, that’s what we are about” Says Rhys Bernardo with wild untapped enthusiasm. Rhys continues “we want to reach the top we aspire to be the injection of enthusiasm that’s needed to get through everyday life, we want to be everyone’s middle finger when it comes to critics and we want to be living proof that you're dreams are always reachable”.

The bands future is looking very bright indeed and as quoted from Raw Power Management/Search And Destroys CEO Craig Jennings himself “The band have a big future ahead of them showing such great potential already!” 2010 will unquestionably be the year of the Reaper!