A LOCAL band that has been working area’s pubs for the last six years has been rewarded with a plum gig at London’s massive O2 Arena.

Shootin the Crow are regulars on the Forest and Wye Valley music scene and have played a number of smaller festivals.

They also opened at the Colston Hall in Bristol last week for Chatham County Line, a band they greatly admire.

But next month the band – vocalist Mark Mulhearn, Matt Kirby on double bass and guitarist Andy Ellis – will perform at Country to County (C2C), the UK’s largest country music festival in what will be the biggest gig of their career.

They will join some of country’s biggest names from both sides of the Atlantic including Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band and Darius Rucker at the festival on Saturday, March 11.

The band describe their music as country rock meets rock  ‘n ‘  roll, but guitarist Andy said he would rather not put a label on it and added: “We are mega excited to be playing the Country to Country Music festival alongside so many other great acts from this country and America.

“The festival brings together country and roots bands from both sides of the pond and I feel our music will fit it with this.

“We will be on the festival’s Saloon Stage on the Saturday evening. This is gonna be an awesome event and we are so pumped to be playing this gig.”

Recent gigs have included The Bell at Redbrook, the Old Nags Head in Monmouth and at the Castle Inn and the Three Tuns in Chepstow and the band have also recorded at a studio in Whitecroft.

They return to the Old Nag’s Head on Friday, March 24, the Three Tuns on Sunday April 9 and Saturday, April 29 and The Bell on Friday, April 21.

The band has first came together when Mark and Andy met while working for a telecoms company and would play in the car park at break times. They were joined by Matt last summer.

Mark says they play and gig for the love of the music and the O2 appearance is the result of a lot of hard work put in by the band although they’re not chasing stardom.

“We get asked a lot when we play places: why aren’t you guys playing bigger venues, with bigger bands? 

“It’s humbling but honestly we don’t think about it – we love what we do: three mates, three chords, our truths.

The fun bit comes across to anyone who’s seen us, and it could be the 02 or the local, but if you aren’t having fun, what’s the point?

“Seeing people have fun around you when they’re singing songs we wrote – that’s pretty great too.”

Country to Country is now in its fifth year, attracts over 50,000 country music fans to the three-day event. Much of the event is broadcast by the BBC on a special pop up radio station over the three days.