L2000
The Levenshulme Village Millennium Festival

GM Unsigned Bands winners "Groucho"

Anthony H Hennigan with Anthony H Wilson


Groucho: didn't quite do themselves justice in the final


Unsigned Bands runners up "Casini"

Strangedays

Hoffa

Blue Gary: unpredictable - sometimes brilliant.

Review by
Louie Parkin
Fly Magazine

LEVENSHULME'S MILLENNIUM FESTIVAL

They just have to be different, don't they? The ones who couldn't wait were celebrating last December, the pedantic ones are planning to celebrate at the end of this year, while Levenshulme - that south-eastern enclave with a mind of its own - had its celebrations in the second week of October.

A plethora of cultural events and entertainments was organised, many with an Irish flavour.These included local history talks, food festivals, quiz nights, club nights and dance displays, not to mention the GM Unsigned Bands event.

Twelve bands played in the heats, and six of these competed in the final. The winners were decided by a combination of audience votes and marks from the expert panel which included John Sheehan (a talent scout for Virgin), Anthony Wilson of Factory Records, and yours truly.

The overall winner was Groucho.

Due to their leadsinger's illness this lively four-piece didn't quite do themselves justice in the final, but in the heat delivered a rocky, boisterous set with some well-crafted songs. Punk without the spikes....

Runners-up were Casini and StrangeDays.

Casini are a six-piece whose trumpet, tambourine and keyboards lend a touch of sophistication to their Manc-rock compositions. Some enthusiastic arm-waving from the audience proved their popularity and earned them points for 'crowd reaction'.

Strange Days meanwhile are rather different from the usual Stone Roses and Oasis imitators. Heavily rocky but agreeably tuneful, this was the band favoured by Anthony Wilson.

StrangeDays' lead-singer sounds like he eats emery boards for breakfast, and there was something about their Spinal Tap delivery that didn't quite ring true. This guy might be better off singing in his own voice - it's probably quite good.

The other finalists were Hoffa - a Gallagherian four-piece whose 'All it ever was, all it ever will be, is a place called Nowhere' is an anthem worthy of the Eyebrow Brothers themselves; Blue Gary who are unpredictable - sometimes brilliant, sometimes not having enough content to justify their onstage shenanigans; and the shiny-shirted Dezire, who should perhaps remove the second and third letters from their name.