A THREE-piece girl band are to hold a Pop Idol-style audition to find two new members in their bid to become the next Spice Girls.

The current trio called Intimate -- Helen Roche, 20, from Shireburn Avenue, Clitheroe, Karen Ball, 21, from Southport and Angela Byrne, 18, from Wigan -- are hoping that their planned five-piece all-girl act will help them emulate the success of the world's most famous girl band.

And they are hoping the audition fever generated by Pop Idol and Popstars will help them find just the girls they are looking for.

The audition has already been advertised in The Stage and Loot, but the girls are wanting anyone interested in joining the band to attend the audition at TigerTiger in Manchester this Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Intimate was formed after Karen and Angela held an audition a month ago, also in Manchester, and Helen was chosen from around 20 hopefuls. Helen said: "There are a lot of three and four piece girl bands around, but not many have five. We are hoping some of the Spice Girls' magic might rub off on us.

"The last audition was not as well publicised. This time we've been trying to get as much publicity and as many people down there as we can and we even performed on the radio this weekend.

"We've even been promised more air play when the band is complete."

Currently without a manager, Intimate have been rehearsing up to four times a week and hope to start writing their own material, taking inspiration from other feisty female stars including Jennifer Lopez, Mystique and Destiny's Child.

All three girls have performing backgrounds and are looking for people who have the same tastes in music to audition.

Former Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and Mary Waddington School of Dance pupil Helen, who plans to put her degree course in Performing Arts planned for September on hold if the band takes off, said: "To begin with we'll be performing covers versions of songs by our favourite artists like J-Lo and Destiny's Child.

"But we're hoping to develop our own writing style and perform our own songs in the future."

Both Karen and Angela, who work for an insurance company and at Pizza Hut respectively, also hope to give up their day jobs to focus on the band.