Over the past few years, there’s been a growing connection between the worlds of pop and classical music with beloved festival headliners such as Florence Welsh headlining the BBC Proms, backed by the James Buckley Orchestra for an original interpretation of her debut album.

This proved a significant landmark in the fusion between classical and pop culture and acted as the conceptual springboard to encourage other artists to explore the broad landscape of the big band sound.

One such advocate is the Island’s very own soft rock mavericks Plastic Mermaids who are appearing alongside a live orchestra as part of this year’s Wight Proms at Northwood House on Saturday, August 17.

In their only Isle of Wight gig of the year, the band are looking forward to reimagining their repertoire of soft rock melodies in a completely new way. 

Following support from BBC6Music, this is just another landmark in the band’s decade long journey to becoming one of the most versatile and creative bands on the circuit.

Inspired by eccentric bands including Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips, Plastic Mermaids are a musical group that is difficult to categorise.

They consist of Doug Richards on vocals, Jamie Richards on vocals and guitar, Chris Newman on guitar, Fox Rawding on synths, Emma Wilkinson on percussion and vocals, Chris Jones on drums and Tom Farren on bass. 

The indie six piece who are used to performing with just their equipment on a whole range of different stages will now be joined by over 40 people playing a variety of instruments.

Lead singer Doug is excited to reconnect with the Island audience in this unique gig which will bring together both traditional musical arrangements with the experimental sound which the Mermaids are known for.

Growing up in Cowes and Gurnard, Doug and Jamie took inspiration from their childhoods by the sea. 

Following in the footsteps of recent Island success story Wet Leg, the band seems to be in prime position to be the latest offering to fly the flag for Island talent in the gruelling world of the music industry.

To be featured on a stellar bill of household names including John Partridge and the legendary Miriam Margolyes is testament to how far the band have come over the past decade. 

Speaking about the event, Doug said “For years we’ve dreamed about playing with an orchestra but it never seemed realistic, so when Mike (Christie, Wight Proms organiser) approached us to play The Proms we bit his arm off.” 

Having known the members of the band since school, Doug in particular has always been a formidable fountain of creativity and now to see him channelling this into his genial talents as a songwriter is fascinating to watch.

Determined not to follow the trodden rhetoric of mainstream pop, Plastic Mermaids continue to be very much in control of their own musical destiny and events such as Wight Proms is sure to help them to achieve this.