The walls of Sedgley’s Dormston Mill Theatre will be shaking tonight with the sounds of some of the region’s most promising musical talent.

However, rather than this event being organised by teachers at the school, it’s all thanks to the hard work of 12 business students, who have orchestrated the Battle of the Bands concert right from the outset.

“As part of our studies, we had to set up our business, Epic Events, in order to learn how to organise events and ultimately, put on tonight’s show,” explains Alex Baugh, 16, who, together with other 15-year-old students has put a massive amount of effort over the last two months into making sure things run smoothly on the night.

“I’ve learned a great deal through helping organise this,” he explains, “including sourcing the bands and promoting the event.  We spoke to bands who were playing the Rock The Castle event to see if they’d be interested in performing. Two weeks ago, we began to panic when we hadn’t sold any tickets, so after several meetings, decided to drop the ticket price. Now, we’ve sold 150 tickets already and are hoping to sell another 100 tonight.”

Bands playing tonight include two whose members all attend Dormston School, 80s-influenced Kixxer and Uncensored. The others, Crossfire, The Fading Lights, Rescue Party, The Upper Hand, Vague Process, Everyday Hero and hip hop act, Young & Reckless, all attend schools elsewhere in the Black Country.

The winners of tonight’s event, which begins at 7.30pm, will go through to a regional final to be held at Dormston Mill Theatre next Friday, September 30. If they succeed there, the winning group will then progress to a national final to be held at the o2 Arena in London on Tuesday, October 25.

The Battle of the Bands event is part of a programme organised by registered charity Blastbeat, which offers an award-winning, fun and exciting, music and multimedia business programme to teenagers around the country to teach social entrepreneurial skills, promote young musicians, and support youth communities on a local and national level.

Visit their website or visit the Epic Events Battle of the Bands Facebook page for more information.