An up-and-coming urban artist is preparing to hit the big time with his twist on grime music.

Carshalton man Charles Hazell, who performs under the name Sketchman, has recently had a track chosen to feature on premier urban music station BBC 1Xtra's play list as his mix of grime, dubstep and acoustic guitar wins him friends in high places.

On top of that, the 24-year-old is preparing for two of the biggest shows of his career so far in Shoreditch and Portobello Road in the coming weeks.

Despite his recent successes, Sketchman is quick to admit that he owes a lot of it to his big brother and his music teacher at Greenshaw High. He says: "My older brother has always been quite musical and had a hand in underground radio stations and things like that. it wasn't always my cup of tea but it did influence me to get into music, so I guess that was my inspiration.

"I went to my music teacher at Greenshaw, Mr McFall, and asked him what to do. I said I would pay to use the school's facilities but he said I could do it for free so he was a big figure in starting me off."

Sketchman has been recording for seven years but says his style has changed since he learned to play a new instrument. "I learned to play the guitar," he says, "and then when I went back to making grime music I decided to combine the two. At the moment it's just me and my guitar but I'm looking to get together a full band."

Sketchman has released a number of CDs, performed at many nightclubs and raves, done numerous radio plays and even several music videos. Earlier this year he was invited to a BBC Introducing Masterclass, and event for up-and-coming musicians, and met urban bstar Wretch 32 and DJ Charlie Sloth of BBC Radio 1Xtra.

His most recent single, Rain, is available as a free download on the BBC website  www.bbc.in/hgdownload and through iTunes, Amazon and other online music stores.

His next show will be at the Sunset Festival at the Sun Pub in Carshalton on Saturday, June 22. After that he will be playing at the Shoreditch Acoustic Afternoon at Box Park in Shoreditch on Sunday, July 14. 

He is working on a full album which he hopes to release next year. To find out more about Sketchman visit his website www.sketchmanmusic.co.uk.