Following the tragic passing of Warrington band Viola Beach and their manager Craig Tarry in Sweden, Jason Carter pays tribute to the group on behalf of the BBC Introducing team…

BBC Introducing are very saddened to hear of the passing of Warrington's Viola Beach and their manager in Sweden this weekend.

We came across Viola Beach and their manager Craig Tarry, after the bands lead singer Kris Leonard uploaded Love My Love to the BBC Introducing website. With their Warrington postcode, the band were soon picked up by their local BBC Introducing Presenter Dave Monks from the Merseyside show; who from then on became a huge supporter of the band.

It was Dave who had forwarded them for consideration for the prestigious Reading and Leeds Festival slot for August 2015. We remember as a team sitting in a room listening through to all the tracks for consideration and being blown away when we heard ‘Swings and Waterslides’. A true stand out track from an incredibly exciting new band.

Things moved fast for the band from then on, with growing airplay at Radio 1 via Huw Stephens and its specialist shows as well as support from 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq. At Reading Festival weekend, the bands second ever live performance; we stood with an excited Craig Tarry backstage who was glowingly showing us how the band had reached no.2 on Hype Machine that day following their performance at the festival.