Two of Worthing’s amateur songwriters have achieved the highly acclaimed position of Finalist in 3 categories within the National UK Songwriting Competition. Out of the 2500 entries, judges from key positions in the Music Industry shortlisted Steve Jeffery and Neil Kerkhove’s Popadum as one of only a small selected number of finalists for the Pop category and the Dance Music category. Steve Jeffery’s Wedding Feast also featured as a finalist in the Gospel category Www.friendsreunited.com brought Steve Jeffery and Neil Kerkhove together after more than a decade of being out of touch. It was Music that helped to establish their friendship in the classroom and this would once again play a key part in bringing them together some 13 years after those schoolboy collaborations. During those days, both boys loved music. Performing, composing and listening. It was all they wanted to do. It was part of who they were. At their present age of 29, nothing has changed and their mutual love for music made last year’s reunion an easy and natural one. After reminiscing about those best days of their lives it was decided that they would once again make music together and with 13 years more experience they looked forward to coming up with something good. Steve had one lyric to offer Neil at their following meeting; “I don’t want you baby, I just want your Popadum”. They came up with the basic outline of a song through improvising ideas in Neil’s home recording studio. It was all right, but not the smash hit they were hoping to come up with. It was the second meeting that got them both excited. The creative energy was high and both musicians bounced ideas off each other with the same ease that they always experienced at school. The melody and lyrics came simultaneously and both musicians were enjoying this collaboration more than ever. They both owned greater musical vocabularies since their younger days. Each of them brought to the session new and interesting ideas and both felt free to accept or decline each other’s offerings without fear of the other finding offence. This was a good partnership and it was working well, very well indeed. It wasn’t long before Popadum was complete. The singer left the final session and the composers gathered in the monitoring room to hear a rough mix of the song. As the track ended, Neil and Steve gave each other a knowing look and smiled. This was good. Popadum had turned out just as they had planned and they loved it. Perhaps it’s too catchy! Once you’ve heard Popadum it stays with you for days. Even the session singer phoned the composers to say that the hook had kept her awake all night as it looped inside her head! Neil and Steve have had similar responses from others that have heard the song. It is hoped that Popadum will be heard more widely especially now that it has been judged as a Finalist in the UK Songwriting Competition 2003. Neil and Steve (who work under the name of Dog Called Dave) are looking to publish the song and are currently working on an album. Steve Jeffery’s song, Wedding Feast can be found on his Gospel album Another Sky available through his website. Further details available @ www.dogcalleddave.com