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COURTYARD FESTIVAL. THE CELLAR BAR. BLACKBURN APRIL 2006
FRIDAY

A bit blurred this one. I'll try and recount what I can recall before I passed out.
Blackburn metallers STILLBORN were just finishing their last song as I arrived and by all accounts had been pretty heavy.
Even though it was early (7 pm), a good sized crowd had gathered. Good job, the next two bands were quite a treat.
First up were Wigan three piece ELCHO. Their singer / guitarist is a bit of a ringer for Kurt Cobain and they sound eerily at times like Placebo. Imagine that, a Pie Eater version of Brian Molko.

LEAF from Bolton were next. Another trio but fronted by twin brothers. Their vocal harmonising was spot on, definitely one of their strengths and the playing was tight, the songs catchy and full of power. It also afforded us the chance to witness a re - run of Steven Seagal's groundbreaking and some would say, emotionally charged return to the live action genre in 'Under Siege 3 - Death Of A Guitar.' When that guy pulls out his screwdriver, guitarists through out the land shit it.

A massive local crowd turned up for Blackburn's THE EXORSISTERS and they looked like they were ready to put on a show. Whatever you might think of their music, you can't deny that they look the part, they are pure rock 'n' roll like Andrew Eldritch in his prime fronting the Ramones. But something went wrong and here is where it starts to get blurred. A few songs in, there are complaints about the sound, the sound goes off, the band go off, Seagal's running around like a mad man shouting at anyone that will listen and lead singer Kurt has stormed out of the venue uttering dark oaths and curses. Rock 'n' roll.

Final band of the night were local boys done good THE RESERVED. I won't even attempt to review them as by now I was seeing triple and talking in tongues though suffice to say, they seemed good and tight and the massive crowd loved them.

A great night in all and the possibility of a musical supergroup in the offing, keep it to yourselves but rumour has it that Alex Turgid and Chris, Exorsisters drummer are joining forces. Their current working title is 'The Pissproof Laptops', intriguing. You read it here first.
Johnny Asshole

CELLAR BAR COURTYARD FESTIVAL. BLACKBURN.
SATURDAY

Saturday was a bit of a let down compared to the previous night. I missed the early part of the day but heard the usual good reports about BOREDOM.

A thin crowd witnessed an excellent set by Leeds rockers XI. Their sound is a really eclectic mix. There's metal guitar solos and industrial synths offset with songs that betray a great pop sensibility plus they had more equipment than the rest of the weekend's bands put together.

Again thanks to Budvar, things started to get a bit hazy around tea time.
Burnley's EXIT STATE were ok, the songs a bit one paced but powerful enough in a near - punk kind of way. MOST TERRIFYING THING were great, I think and MONKEY GUN were tedious at best, like a session musicians' day out.
Johnny Asshole