By day, it looks like your average high-school drama theatre, filled with the sounds of mild mannered students reciting Shakespeare and repeating “Yes Miss”,  “No miss” and  “Can I go to the toilet, Miss, I’m bustin’!” Yet tonight, this spacious venue takes on a completely different life of it’s own; the mild mannered students become wild rock fans, Shakespeare becomes Pearl Jam blasting over the PA and requests for the loo are replaced with demands to make everything louder. This then, is the Deanery High School’s “Battle Of The Bands” competition, and with three hundred quid’s worth of music gear up for grabs, all the groups are looking to give it everything they’ve got.

First up come No Remorse, getting the crowds rocking and throwing devil horns in the air with a heavy run through of a Metallica song, bassist Sam bearing more than a slight resemblance to the thrash legend’s late bassist Cliff Burton with his torn denim and wild headbanging.  An impressive cover of Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil” follows next after which the group end with one of their own tunes, an ‘Early Metallica VS Extreme Hatred’ stomper known as “Overdrive.”

Backstreet Symphony then calm things down a little with some piano-led balladry and Creed-esque layers of guitar that clearly makes an impression with the screaming young girls at the front, before rockers Akrazia take to the stage. Despite being plagued with nerves during the weeks building up to this event, singer Cat becomes a natural front woman once out on the stage,  “COME ON! GET UP!” she yells to an enthusiastic crowd before leading her band through a rendition of AC/DC’s classic “Highway To Hell” and finally opening up her heart on one of the group’s own songs.
After creating a great first impression during a recent Wigan Music Collective gig, hardcore outfit Sentimental Values next invaded the stage with their dark and heavy sound, front-man Bevan Molyneux' eyes fixed firmly on the floor not in an attempt at avoiding stage-fright, yet simply concentrating on delivering his intense, brooding lyrics that certainly don’t seem the sort of thing that would inspire enthusiastic screaming girls to throw various undergarments at them.  Apparently though, Bevan’s words do exactly that. Strange.

The crowd then erupt and make a whole lotta noise for Opium, who breath a fresh breath of life into an old ‘Misfits tune and keep up the pace with one of their own sing-a-long anthems, before exploding into pop-punk euphoria with a cover of The Offspring’s “Want You Bad.”
And with the audience already ecstatic, pop-rockers Quit Exit make another grand entrance and thrill the crowds with their sweet melodies and action-packed guitar riffs bringing the ‘Battle’s showcase to an fantastic finish.

Yet, before a winner is announced, “Special Guests” Stolen Thunder head out to entertain the already excitable crowd.  Despite their delusions of grandeur and “We’re such uber-cool rock stars that we wear sunglasses indoors even though it’s incredibly dark in here already” pretensions, they actually manage to belt out some pretty catchy tunes and nail a few decent cover versions in between.

Recommended links:
Akrazia  - www.akrazia.com
Sentimental Values – http://www.sentimentalvalues1.cjb.net
Stolen Thunder – www.stolenthunder.com

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