SEVENTEEN bands are set to rock Accrington's Oak Hill Park in a seven-hour spectacular next month.

The all-day extravaganza on Saturday, August 2 replaces the popular Sounds event which has been run by Hyndburn Council for a number of years.

The emphasis of the new-look festival will be on a greater variety of music aimed at a wider age group.

Nigel Green, Hyndburn Council's marketing and events officer, said: "We are hoping to build on the success of Sounds and produce an event which has even greater appeal."

One of the key features of the free festival will be the large number of new bands taking to the stage.

"Auditions were held over two nights and we must have seen well over 30 local bands," said Nigel. "The quality was extremely high and it was very difficult to decide the final line-up.

"What we have done is to get a wider range of music so as well as bands we've got soloists, instrumentalists and people offering different types of music."

Among the bands taking part will be Krakon, The Rising. 4Play, In Ya Face, Disclosure,Tatters, The Fashionable Winos and the Glitter Kittens.

"We've tried to pace the event so that there's something going on all the time. There is a lot of local talent about and it's a great chance for people to see them.

"There isn't one big headline act -- in effect they are all headliners, and we've tried to arrange it so that most of the groups will appeal to most age groups.

"Obviously you can't guarantee the weather but if it's OK we would hope to attract between two and three thousand people over the course of the day and we would hope that a lot of those would be families."

The festival which runs from 12noon to 7pm is very much a family event with a fun fair and arts and crafts tent as well as the live music.

There will also be a karaoke competition running during the day with prizes for the winners.