THE Trusted, The Long Run, Emily Frith and the Waterfalls will all be under the spotlight at Chinnerys in Southend this Saturday.

This special showcase night is being presented by SoSlam (Southend on Sea Live Acoustic Music), which has become one of the most prominent names associated with the live music scene in south Essex since it was formed in 2014, thanks to its non stop work with the community.

Founded by Iain Keenan, SoSlam is a not for profit collective of local musicians whose aim is to support, develop and promote local music.

Among the projects SoSlam has launched, is a monthly singer-songwriter night called Battlelines which is based around creating and performing original songs from single lines suggested by the audience. SoSlam also released an album of the results.

The group also works with young musicians via its So-Slam Young Songwriters Lab in association with Metal arts group, and the Young Musicians Open Mic afternoons it runs in Peggy Sue's in Leigh every month.

Iain said: "SoSlam started officially in about 2014. This year has been the biggest change as we are now a collective made up of 12 local musicians, myself and my wife Rachel - we do the admin.

"The 12 are, Darren Jones, Owen Williams, Davey Hal, Nicola Collis, Chris Robson, Gavin Bell, Alex Crowhurst, Tom Spence, Rob Humm, Chay Appleyard, Paul Finch and Louisa Strachan.

"We run and organise things as a collective now, whereas before 2017 it was just me.

"We are really excited to announce this event at Chinnerys - our first showcase event. We have Emily Frith, The Waterfalls (Emily and Aaron from the Waterfalls attended our Young Musicians' Labs) and the The Trusted and The Long Run."

Tickets are £5 (plus booking fee) in advance from seetickets.com or £6 on the door.