EXCITING things are happening to the budding music scene in Blackburn, according to India Mill frontman Alistair Smith.

"There's a lot of really great, original bands coming out of the area at the moment," he said.

"There's the Ashleigh Coffee Morning Band, The Torrents and the Exorsisters.

"The local music scene is developing and it's making Blackburn an exciting place to be.

"It's giving us a more positive youth culture too."

Alistair sings and plays guitar in Darwen-based rock band India Mill.

The band has been together since 2003 since its members - Simon Nicholson on lead guitar, Dean Ingham on drums, Richard Harwood on bass as well as Alistair - met at Moorland High School, Darwen.

"We were all friends in one way or another and we just ended up starting a band.

"We realised we had a similar kind of drive to make music," explained Alistair.

They write all their own material and describe their sound as melodic and rocky.

"I'd say it's melodic and energetic but it can be quite heavy. it's hard for me to describe it objectivity really. It's rock music with a heavier side," said Alistair.

The band members all have a hand in writing new tunes, often fusing together their ideas in jamming sessions.

"Often I'll have a song in my mind but I can't take it beyond the melody.

"I'll take it to the band and we'll thrash it out and if we get a feel from it we'll use it.

"It might be that one of us has a riff or chord progression and we jam around that.

"Someone might have another song they've been playing around with. It's about stitching things together."

Alistair's optimism for the future of the Blackburn music scene comes off the back of the recent success of events hosted by local organisation Independent.

He believes more gigs and festivals featuring local bands could put Blackburn on the music map.

"I know shortly after we got into the swing of getting sorted as a band we headed straight for Manchester because there wasn't many places to play in Blackburn," said Alistair.

"But if people can build on what's been done by Independent, I think Blackburn can establish itself it its own right.

"It's never going to have the cosmopolitan feel of Manchester or London because geographically it's not a city but there's a real community feel developing between bands and a good atmosphere.

"When you play in Manchester or London you say hello to the other bands at the beginning of the night and that's it - there's no real connection.

"We've got a positive thing going at the moment and hopefully that's going to generate more interest in the scene."