By Debbie Kerr

A BAND of inmates at an Angus prison have recorded a version of jailhouse rock in a bid to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

Prisoners at Noranside open estate have been putting their musical talents to good use to create a charity CD, called Looking For Clearwaters.

The band, made up of three prisoners and prison officer Barrie Simpson, have written all their own songs, based on their own experiences, and now plan to use the CD to raise cash for their local community.

The group was the brainchild of Barrie, who said, “I play music myself and we realised there were a few guys who played, too, so we tried to encourage that talent and start up a band.

“The group practised hard and played a couple of concerts in the prison, and we realised they were actually really talented.

They started to write and were really coming out with quite good stuff.

“A lot of their songs have been based on their experiences in prison and the fact they don’t want to come back.

“It is really quite profound.”

After a couple of gigs, the prisoners in the band decided they wanted to give something back to their community by making a CD to raise money.

The group decided that any proceeds from the CD should go towards the Rainbow Room at Southmuir Primary School, a centre for children with special learning needs.

Barrie continued, “I was able to take them to a recording studio to make a CD and we contacted Southmuir Primary School, who run the Rainbow Room, and they were delighted to go into partnership with us to receive the charity donations.”

Several other inmates also got involved with the project to design the cover of the album.

The album will now be offered for donated contributions.