Sarah Beeny’s ‘Entitled Sons’ make Glasto debut with song for cancer research

But while the band is made up of the husband and sons of TV presenter Sarah Beeny, they achieved this on their own merit, having won the Pilton Stage competition and beating out hundreds of other hopefuls to get a stage at the Avalon Café and see their music gain a whole new audience.

Their first show was on Thursday night, before the billed acts descended on Worthy Farm – which suited them perfectly, as it meant they performed to a ‘rammed’ venue, and 14-year-old Rafferty managed a stage dive.

(They eagerly announce the stage has been open since 2003, and this is the first year a stage dive has been performed on it – proper trailblazers.)

The Entitled Sons are made up of Rafferty, as well as Billy, 18, Charlie, 16, Laurie, 12, and dad Graham, 50, and they’re joined by guitar tutor Sydney while at Glastonbury and talking to Metro.co.uk.

Their newest track, These Days, was released earlier in June in aid of Cancer Research UK – something extremely personal to the boys, as Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and has been undergoing treatment.

Sarah ‘burst into tears’ when she first heard the track in all its glory, but in a glimpse into a family where mum is the only member not part of a loud rock band, had banged on the door and shouted at them to ‘shut up, shut up, shut up!’ when they were putting the song together.

Or ‘smashing it up,’ as they put it.

Singer Charlie, 17, explained they wanted the proceeds to go to Cancer Research UK as they wanted to ‘give back,’ joking they’re all ‘relatively stupid’ and wouldn’t end up ‘being doctors or scientists’ but could make a difference in this way.

Dad and bassist Graham added: ‘What’s really important about it is Sarah’s mum died when she was 39 from breast cancer. All this research has since been happening, the kids have still got a mum, I’ve still got a wife.

‘You cannot overstate how grateful we are to cancer research and to the NHS,’ he said, praising the ‘wonderful, wonderful team.’

Graham appears to get the brunt of it, becoming the butt of the joke several times during our interview, and sarcastically suggests his sons keep him around mostly because he’s the only one who can drive a van to get them where they need to go.

Asked what it’s like living the rock n’ roll life while being in a band with your dad, Rafferty joked it’s ‘like being at school,’ but they add he’s ‘quite lenient’ – or maybe even ‘too lenient.’

As Graham himself described their Glastonbury experience so far: ‘We come here, we [perform] together, but then they kind of evaporate into the crowd and do whatever they do – turn up far too late at night tripping over everything, smashing the caravan up.’

The Entitled Sons’ name is intentionally ironic, with eldest son Billy explaining they ‘wanted to get there first,’ before they were accused of getting anywhere with their music just because of their TV star mum.

‘The name is meant to be ironic but some people don’t see it that way. But if they don’t take us seriously that’s fine, because we’re not here to take ourselves seriously – we’re here to have a laugh and a good time,’ he said.

Graham admitted there were ‘a few’ commentators who only looked on the band as ‘these entitled kids’ because of Sarah’s TV career, but most were ‘very cool and really nice.’

Having had their first taste of Glastonbury now, The Entitled Sons are aiming for even bigger heights, and dream of returning to the legendary festival with an even bigger set someday.

For now, you can catch them at the Avalon Café, with their remaining sets coming on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night.

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