College rockers look to shine at Colwyn Bay battle of the bands

May 14 2009

A COLLEGE rock band is hoping to turn up the volume at a battle of the bands competition in Colwyn Bay this weekend.

Three-piece, Guru Kane say their hard rock sound has been honed from an earlier grunge leaning and are now ready to wow audiences at this weekend’s Big Big Gig at Theatr Colwyn.

The annual competition has been organised for bands under 18 in Conwy county and kicks off at 7pm on Saturday. The winning act will be awarded the prize of a day in the theatre’s recording studio having been selected by a panel of judges.

Last year’s concert attracted over 170 music fans to the Abergele Road venue and it is hoped this year’s event will be even more of a success.

The Guru Kane trio, who attend Coleg Llandrillo in Rhos-on-Sea, is made up of Nay Jolliffe, 17, and Gwytherin brothers Pat, 18, and Chris Smith, 17. Pat plays bass and sings, Chris, lead guitar and Nay drums.

Nay, of Lansdowne Road, Colwyn Bay described the band’s sound and said he is looking forward to the event.

"We are a good stage act full of energy and in your face. We are more of a hard rock band at the moment," he said.

"We never classed ourselves as any type of band, but at the start our influences made people think we were a grunge band. We just want to push our music forward and get more people to listen to us. We are a hard rock band and are influenced by Can, The Stooges and Neil Young. Probably the type of sound we are going for is Motorhead- that type of rumbley, bass sound with heavy drums."

Nay said the band hoped to win over new fans and believed the band already had a potential hit on their hands with a song called Allopathy.

"We want to create a following, that is what we need, a set of people who will come to every gig"

"Allopathy is a song we like. It is one of our newer songs and has got a better feeling to it than our old stuff. It is quite a heavy song and gets the crowd moving, it has a good atmosphere to it.

"We are a hard rock band, all three of us are the same, we enjoy it and don’t really see ourselves doing anything else and if we get a good

response it is a proper buzz."

Also playing on the night is heavy metal act Opium, Failed and Forgotten and fellow indie rockers Robes of State and The Intrinsics.

This year’s Big Big Gig will take place between 7pm and 10pm at Theatr Colwyn on Saturday (May 16). Tickets are priced £2.50.

For more information contact Theatr Colwyn’s manager Phil Batty on 01492 532668. To hear Guru Kane, log onto www.myspace.com/gurukane