Over The Wall was a pop-rock-folk band based in Glasgow, Scotland. The outfit consisted of multi-instrumentalists Ben Hillman and Gavin Prentice, a line-up which remained unaltered after its 2006 formation. Formation and musical style Prentice and Hillman met in student halls as freshers at the University of Glasgow, and soon began running a regular music evening at the Stereo bar (now a vegetarian cafe called The 78), on Kelvinhaugh Street in the West End. Having initially performed individually at these events, the pair soon began collaborating as a duo and quickly found an idiosyncratic-yet-natural niche: euphoric, folk-tinged pop music. The name 'Over The Wall' was taken from a now-defunct fanzine of Prentice's favoured football team Albion Rovers. Over The Wall's sound is influenced by a range of different artists and genres. Prentice told The Scotsman: "Ben and I first bonded over classic pop songwriting. Stuff like Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, early Tom Waits and The Beatles were the things that brought us together." Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel is also an inspiration to the pair. Prentice has also gone on record as saying the aim of the Over The Wall 'experience' is to induce "Euphoria, the same euphoria you get from a trance compilation or any given chart hit but hopefully presented in a more thoughtful package." Lyrically, the band has traversed a diverse range of topics and themes, including getting older, finding one's place in the world, body image, and political history – often displaying chagrin at the influence of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. The song "Istanbul" explores the effect of the half-time team talk given by then Liverpool F.C. manager Rafael Benitez during the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while "The Crucible" is a fictional story about the wife of a philandering snooker player, set in Sheffield's Crucible Theatre. Early history From the group's early days, praise and support came from broadcaster and DJ Vic Galloway, leading to frequent airplay on his BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio Scotland shows. BBC Radio 6 Music presenters Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson also gave regular exposure to the band's music, the latter hosting live sessions and interviews with the duo on his show. In 2007 the group was selected from over 1,200 unsigned acts to perform at Scotland's largest music festival, T In The Park. In 2008 they beat off competition from 800 hopefuls to secure a slot at the End