This article was published in 2008.

Following the success of the ‘Local & Unsigned’ competition launched by Park Lane College Leeds and Radio Aire in 2006, the competition was this week held for the third year running.

Over 60 local bands submitted tracks to the Radio Aire website for a public vote, and in November four finalists were announced: Armstrong, Feldspar, The Brothers Tree, and Tokyo Heat.

The acts competed in the final at The Wardrobe in Leeds in front of an invited audience of several hundred and a judging panel including DJ ‘Monkey Boy’ (Radio Aire), Martin Dickson (former EMI Regional Sales and Promotions Manager and current Head of Sales & Marketing at Park Lane College Leeds), Maxine Room (Principal, Park Lane College Leeds) and Luke Fox (Manager, The Wardrobe).

Each band had a 20 minute set to perform before the panel chose the winning band. The winners were Feldspar, a local four-piece acoustic band with a folk-inspired sound.

Feldspar have also found success this year at the Indy Awards winning in the Best Folk / Country / Blues category.

Martin Dickson, Head of Sales & Marketing at Park Lane College Leeds, said: “This is the perfect opportunity to show our commitment to developing new music talent in the city, in conjunction with our Foundation Degree in Contemporary Music Production. In my previous role at EMI, I saw a lot of new musical talent and it’s great to see how the music scene in Leeds is really flourishing with the likes of the Kaiser Chiefs”.

Helen Walsh, Commercial Manager at Radio Aire, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be involved once again with Park Lane on such a great project. This year saw over 60 bands and artists register their music online at radiaire.com and over 5,000 people voted for their favourite. This is a terrific response and is illustrative of just how passionate Leeds people are about new music."