In April this year White Rhino played their very first gig. Since performing at Cheltenham’s Frog & Fiddle pub the band have achieved remarkable success.

The Cheltenham-based band returned from the south coast last week where they spent a day in a professional studio, recording tracks for their first album. Band member Lewis Shephard, who plays guitar and provides vocals alongside Rhys Bevan on drums, said the opportunity to record in a studio was a great experience. Lewis said: “It’s crazy to think we’ve only been playing together for a few months. Before we played our first gig we had a plan in place, we treated it like opening a shop – we wanted to have a long-term marketing campaign and really take advantage of social media.

“We’ve played as often as we can in towns and cities in the south-west. Our first gig was at the Frog & Fiddle in Cheltenham which was a great night. We then played in Worcester, I worked really hard to get a lot of people there and we sold over 100 tickets which was amazing. Off the back of that we purchased some merchandise which we were able to sell which, in turn, raised enough money for us to afford to travel down to Southampton and record our album in a professional studio.”

It’s been a whirlwind few months for the band who have worked hard to build up a fanbase here in Gloucestershire. Lewis continued: “It is a bit surreal when you see people wearing t-shirts with our name on, especially when we’ve only been going a few months. It goes to show if you work hard enough good things will come your way.

“We’ve played a lot of the cities and big towns in the south-west – Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bristol and Worcester. We’re hoping to arrange a few gigs in Birmingham as well in the coming months, it’s important we carry on building momentum.”

White Rhino have been described as a mixture of The White Stripes and Royal Blood, with their rock style and strong vocals providing quite a sound for just a two-piece band. Lewis continued: “It’s nice when you hear people compare us to major bands. We don’t try and be like any band though, we just play our own stuff.

“I’ve played in bands before, but I always wanted to run my own band. I get on really well with Rhys, we love what we do which is really important. Growing up I was a massive Oasis fan, they’re a group of lads who worked hard to get to the top, if we could achieve a fraction what they have I’d be very happy!”