Sunny Daze!

MORE than 6,000 sun drenched music lovers flocked in Burnley's Queens Park, to soak up the sounds and styles of the some of the area's best pop acts.

One of the first to catch the eye were Padiham girl group Bliss. Immaculately dressed in shocking pink tops and blue trousers, the girls performed four songs featuring two original numbers, and the title track from their debut album 'One Sweet High'.

Heavily influenced by soul music, the teenage trio are not your average throw away pop sensations. They can proudly claim responsibility for both the lyrics and dance routines with Marie Atkinson a competent musician.

Although their lack of live experience may have shown a little, the girls, formed little over a year ago, were far from overawed by the occassion.

Featuring Marie Atkinson, 16, Abigail Jackson and Laura Heyworth, 15, we can expect to hear more from these bright talented youngsters.

Burnley based Caine brought an indie grunge sound to the day, with frontman Daniel Nearney enjoying the freedom of the large stage, as he pogoed throughout their set.

Hampered by dodgy leads and problem guitars, they kept their cool as they persevered through their original material, at times showing some excellently crafted musical ideas

Their catchy intros and clever middle eights remain vivid memories, if at times other parts of the songs trod over similar ground.

Concise, or the artists formerly known as Whatever, sounded like they have blossomed into the band they always promised to be.

Retaining all their energy and enthusiasm, lead vocalist Johnny Buck and the boys have tightened up their act musically. A strong Brit pop style remains, but lead guitarist Jack Hutchinson's stage presence gives them a cutting edge.

His confidence to take on a guitar solo with his trusty les Paul placed behind his head in true Hendrix style, during their own composition 'Lost Weekend' was breathtaking.

Not finished there though, Jack and the lads returned for the first encore of the afternoon to close their set with an electric cover of the Seahorses' classic 'Love is the Law'.

Enter the headliners, Pendle's very own charismatic fun lovers, The Rubbish, who featured their first live performance with DJ Darragh Redmond.

Darragh, cousin of the outspoken Radio One presenter Chris Moyles, mixed and scratched on his turntables bringing the Santana influenced tunes, a bang up to date feel.

The crazy antics of Bruce Thomas and Co ensured everyone enjoyed the party, the crowd danced the hour away to a string of upbeat melodies which mixed with the late afternoon sunshine into a perfect cocktail.

Following The Rubbish was always going to be tough, but as heavy clouds gathered the downpour that followed gave Ajay and the Maya little chance of making an impression.

As the thousands made for their cars, Accrington exile Ajay led his crew through their smooth reggae pop numbers for little more than a 100 or so huddled politely under trees.

Despite the rain, Bands in the Park was again an all out success, giving local acts the chance to shine in front of a quality crowd.

Demo Den: Earl-y promise in disc debut

EARL (untitled): This four-track CD sees the three Pendle girls joined in the studio by a keyboard player, percussionist and harmonica man.

The first track Rhythm, the best here, is a much-improved version of a song on a previous tape demo. Singer Ruth Daniels' voice has a very sensual appeal and leads the way for a haunting guitar melody and carefully-placed crashing fuzz-rock chords. The keyboards stay in the background but add much-needed depth to the sound.

Second song Grow uses shimmering guitar melodies which rain down on a vocal which in this instance, follows the music and not vice-versa. There's also a low-volume rock guitar break with a semi-spoken version of the verse.

Bjork springs to mind on the verse of the rather ordinary third track Slowly, where Ruth's voice hits long, shrill notes before dropping down to a more conventional chorus. But these teenagers' shortcomings are far outweighed by the maturity of their songwriting. Most bands can strum along to a few chords but this trio build their songs round weird guitar licks and strong melodies. The fourth track, a remix of the first, owes a lot to bands like Portishead and Jah Wobble with the vocal extracted and left floating over echoes and swirling keyboards. What this final track adds is unclear. I'll stand corrected if the girls are remixing things themselves, but at this stage maybe they should be using the studio time to get more of their undoubted songwriting talent recorded.

PAUL BARRY

Hendriks re-experienced: The Stiffs reunion

THE Stiffs' sell-out reunion gig Cob Wall WMC,Blackburnwas a nostalgic reminder in a world of chart pop drivel what a fine band Blackburn produced.

In the 20 years since Standard English was recorded, vocalist Phil Hendriks' songs have aged well - and could not have been better played with rehearsal time limited.

From guitarist Strang's opening chords of Volume Control to band anthem Inside Out, the audience of ageing punks and the rest were on their feet and stayed there.

The wider recognition that eluded The Stiffs remains one of the era's musical injustices.

Support band Boredom opened the evening with a tight, well-received set.

DAVID HAYNES

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.