Worcester Music Forum

Time to dust off the wig and gown and slip into judgement mode for Worcestershire Arts Education's Battle of the (school) Bands at Rock Café 2000 in Stourbridge - a super venue which definitely seems to be the place to go if you're into tribute acts - hmmm The aim was to pick a band to represent Worcestershire for the exchange scheme with Holland, Belgium and Germany - remember the gig at the Marrs Bar earlier in the year when the Dutch band's Iranian born singer was stopped at Dover? - I'm sure you do

First up were the biggest outfit I've seen on stage for a long time - 2 basses, 3 guitars and 2 vocals from the school orchestra that is Up 2 Date from Wolverley. The big sound meshed together well though and they got the crowd singing along to their covers of Zutons and Amy W numbers.

C2G are from Blackminster Middle School and caught my attention straight away with their cover of 'Basket Case' - never fails! Completely original after that though and this young three-piece showed a touch of adventure despite a couple of nervous frazzles.

Tainted Disgrace are from Kingsley College in Redditch with an all-original set that added a Big Country feel to the animated act that owed a fair bit to their acknowledged influences The Lies In Me - which was probably a very good choice!

Fair play to Emptiness from Bowbrook House School who stepped up to the oche despite their vocalist going down with a lurgey. A creditable performance and they seem to be worth checking out when they're back at full strength.

Nu-Originals from Baxter College in Kiddy closed off the day's shenanigans - and it's fair to say that they were undoubtedly the tightest, most polished and best supported outfit of the day. Trouble was the set was again totally covers - bit of a misleading name perhaps

- so Tainted Disgrace from Kingsley got our vote - best of luck in Europe lads!

Good to hear Distorted Waves live on the Sesh last week - but unfortunately had to miss Neil Ivison's bit to high-tail it down to the Marrs Bar for a classy mix of up-and-comers.

Visiting outfit for the night were Jazica who formed at Southampton Uni but mostly come from the Coventry area. Fronted by Frankie this indie foursome have a quirky, breezy and different sound with a a pleasing and uplifting summery frothiness on top. Plenty of room though for some ballsy FX guitar work thrown into the mix. I've heard plenty of positive mutterings about Jazica over the last week so I reckon we'll be seeing this lot again soon!

Always a treat to see Worcester's bouncingest ska-poppers The Donns - guaranteed to get the most arthritic of us moving with their great set of catchy foot-tappers like 'Girl Don't Want Me' and 'Home Truths'. Catch them at the Gun Tavern tomorrow or a well-earnt re-appearance at Nozstock next Saturday.

Gotta say here and now that blues-metal doesn't usually float my boat - but in the case of Bromyard's SmokeStack all is forgiven as it's just a vehicle for the silky talents of Scarlett on vocals and the awesome touches of Ebony on zero-fx guitar. This outfit has five-star quality that won't be unsigned for long - no wonder Zep-heads like Toxic Pete are raving - I don't blame you mate!

A great night out - and good also to get back home in time to catch living god Jimmy Cliff's Glastonbury set - followed of course by BBC Introducing's scoop from last year - the wonderful Ting Tings - and that's what it's all about folks - it could be you!!