When Mark Bass was just 11 years old, his Dad bought him his first guitar.
Now three years and hours of practice later, together with his two brothers Nathan and Kieran , the boys have formed 'NEXT OF KIN'.

And now the story begins.

The 'Next Of Kin' story starts in 1996 with a gig at the John Ray Junior School in Braintree, Essex, when Mark's awesome guitar-playing talent was first seen by an audience of 200 school mates. Recognising his potential, and determined to make it into the big time, he then entered the 'Young Guitarist of the Year' competition.

Unbelievably, after playing for only five months, Mark was hand picked from over 4,000 entrants, aged between 12 and 18, to play with five other finalists at Wembley. The expert panel of judges, including Hank Marvin, were so impressed by his talent that he was voted the winner. When Hank was asked to comment on the gig, he said; "He's the best young guitarist I've ever seen. In fact, I'd like to chop his fingers off!"

Since then, he's been hounded by all the leading guitar manufacturer's wanting his endorsement and has been performing at guitar clinics and exhibitions for the last year.

In fact, it wasn't just Mark who was fine tuning his musical talents, but his two brothers were also on a musical tip. His older brother Nathan started playing the drums at 12 and now, at 18, is a seriously advanced musician for his age. Also, Kieran, the baby of the band, had been tampering with the keyboard but needed very little persuasion to take up the bass guitar and sing backing vocals.

Their first gig together was a Joe Satriani tribute night at the local Civic Theatre organised by their Dad. However, the real turning point for the band took place in November 1997, when the family took a trip to the music show in Birmingham.

The brothers were dissapointed when they arrived because the show had been cancelled, so the family decided to visit 'Musical Exchanges' in Birmingham to make up for it.

After a few minutes in the shop, Mark picked up a guitar and started to play. The shop came to a standstill. The owner was so amazed by what he heard that he called up a friend of his in the music industry, Ian Allen, who in turn introduced them to 19 productions, the company who launched the Spice Girls and many other top ten pop acts.

Even without a hit single, the young chaps performed at the 1998 Smash Hits Road Show. 'Next Of Kin' said; "Being able to play at the Smash Hits Roadshow is really exciting, performing live is one of the best things about being in a band".

Next Of Kin released their debut single '24 Hours' in February 1999.

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