Fifteen aspiring superstars, aged 12-16 and from schools around Rochdale, were split into four bands and had five days to transform girly classics such as ‘Manic Monday’ and ‘Material Girl’ into rock-raving smash hits to be performed in front of an audience of friends and family –and reporters!  | | Playing the guitar |
The students were hand-picked by their school teachers for the Rochdale Council Aimhigher and Salford University-collaborated project. "We’ve been planning this since March," says Amanda Griffiths, Learning Mentor with Salford University. "If it’s a success we hope to do it again next year." As well as being encouraged to play to their strengths, whether it was vocals, guitar or percussion, the students were also given the chance to try new things, giving them a more diverse experience. An Average DayEach day began with a warm-up to loosen those couch-confined muscles. But as is only natural to teens and to-be-teens, the exercise wasn’t greeted with great enthusiasm.  | | On stage, ready to perform |
Lyric writing, percussion and performance instruction filled the typical morning for these eager volunteers with Jam sessions running through the break. The afternoon saw the students split into four groups under the watchful eyes of tutors such as Marty Walsh of Inspiral Carpets fame to work on their songs. PerformanceWhen it came to showtime, as well as rocking Rochdale, the students also performed a non-instrumental rendition of 'Holiday' by Green Day, a band idolised particularly by Josh. There was also an interesting percussion piece on bongos led by Amanda and fellow tutor Simon Ashby. Then, with amps, acoustics and instruments all prepped and ready, it was time for the bands. | "There’s been an amazing level of commitment." | | Nicola Spelman, course co-ordinator |
After six days of tuition, rehearsal, nerves, music mayhem and eating digestive biscuits, the audience filed in and the sound stood ready to shake the ground. It was Bangles-with-a baseline and Kylie-with-a-kick as ‘The Jams’, ‘Red Stripes’, ‘Middle 8’ and ‘The Ooze’ succeeded with chord-curdling style and finesse. "There’s been an amazing level of commitment," beamed Nicola Spelman, Salford Co-ordinator as she applauded Middle 8’s rejuvenated rendition of ‘Material Girl’. The Red Stripes even found the time to create their own song “Why Won’t You?” from scratch. The project was an agreed success all around with many students saying it would be good to continue the bands they had formed. But the real success was the firm friendships and a truly fantastic performance that came from a mere five days Apart from wishing the project could last longer, the students only had one other qualm: Not enough digestive biscuits. The blame was laid at the feet of The Jams’ drummer, James. | 
