Without wishing to cause offence, this girl has been about a bit! It’s been around seven years since Justine first fronted Fat Rhino – a melting pot of trip-hop and blues with a sprinkling of drum and bass added for good measure. But with her hypnotic vocals and skills with the guitar she was always going to be able to carry on in some form long after the FR project had been put to bed – this after a support slot for Mint Royale and a couple of trips to South Korea (naturally).  | | Justine and her trusty guitar |
Songwriting is her passion and Justine’s musical venture inevitably headed off down the acoustic path and due to demand she began to release material – her first effort back in 2002 was an EP called Acoustic Nerve. She’s performed with a number of talented individuals most notably the pianist Clive Layton, a midlander who has worked with the likes of Terry Hall, Alison Moyet and New Model Army. Justine has also dipped her toe in to the world of film soundtracks, adding her vocals to music by Rob Arnold for a film called Fated, due to be released next year.  | | Justine hosts the acoustic nights |
From her earlier days on the local music scene Justine struck up a friendship with Gus McGrath when he was in charge of the Dog & Trumpet. Now the proprietor at Scholars Gus wanted music and with a few dreadfully obvious hints Justine managed to persuade him to give the thumbs up to Scholars’ Wednesday Acoustic sessions. It began with Acoustic Aid in February of this year, a benefit gig in aid of those affected by the Asian Tsunami that had struck at the tail-end of 2004. With old friend Jimmy O’Neil on board the sessions have grown over the last few months and now have a new venue in the form of The Golden Cross – the city’s oldest pub and located in the heart of medieval Coventry.  | | Justine plays a song |
You can check it out unsurprisingly every Wednesday although Justine’s involvement will be somewhat hampered by the arrival of her third child next year although she’s pleased to admit that her good friend Kristy Gallacher will host the night for a short while in the interim. Bookmark this page – we’ll be streaming one of Justine’s song to give you a flavour of her talents soon. How to get featured BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's Band of the Month feature aims to showcase the best local musical talent. If you think you and/or your band are worthy enough of a feature then get in contact with us. …. Or use the postal address below. All we require is a short biography, a couple of decent quality colour images (in jpeg format) and a copy of your music. | 
