Newport trio making it big with toy music

A GIRL band who create catchy tunes with toy instruments are bidding to hit the big time after getting airplay on BBC Wales and Radio 1.

Newport trio ToyPOP! are preparing to release their debut, Come What May, a collection of songs written with a ukulele, a tiny keyboard and a cross between a keyboard and a recorder, called a melodica.

The group, who appeared in our Meet the Band feature in the Argus’ The Guide pull-out last summer, are also garnering attention in America after band founder Sarah Pountney, 22, composed short tunes and jingles for US websites and performers across the Pond.

She said: “It’s just quirky fun which is recognisable and catchy.”

Radio 1 DJ Jen Long and Adam Walton, of BBC Wales, have given the band some exposure by playing some of their tunes, many of which centre around relationships.

Miss Pountney, aka ShiftyPOP, is alsomoving up in the creative world by making 30-second jingles on the US website fiverr.com The melodica player said she was making around £100 a week writing short songs and jingles for US companies, children’s centres and performers.

She is putting the finishing touches to the debut album in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, while keyboard player Hannah Baker, 20, aka FruityPOP, and ukulele player Isabel Stead, 20, aka FizzyPOP, are studying advertising and music at the University of Wales in Newport.

The 13-track album will include acoustic versions of their three-track EP, Yellow Brick Road. ShiftyPOP added: “We give people a good time. We’ve played in pubs and at music festivals and it seems everyone likes our music.

“We’re covering songs like In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry, but we do a lot of our own stuff as well.

“I’ve got all the songs written.

I’ve just got to make it album-worthy, mix and master it.” Come What May is to be released on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon and also in physical format in May.

See www.toypop.co.uk for more and to listen to ShiftyPOP’s jingles go to www.fiverr.com/shiftypop