PULSE - Music and more, with Simon Donohue

IMMIGRANT rockers Leash are set for a return trip to the sunshine of South Africa.

The band, who call in at Blakey's Cafe Bar, in Blackburn, on Thursday, have set up a mini tour of Durban to take advantage of the return tickets they used to travel to East Lancashire in the first place.

The group came to Great Harwood under the guidance of their late Australian manager Harry Washburn and are now managed by Mick Baldwin.

He said: "We are going to Johannesburg and then on to Durban. "We will be playing at Splash FM, a big music festival where the band played two years ago. We hope to pick up a few other gigs while we are there. It will be a working holiday."

Mick says the band - which has undergone a few changes in the last 12 months - will be staying in the country for about a month.

He and the new members have splashed out £350 for tickets to the sun but he says it will be worthwhile just for the experience.

In the meantime, however, the group have managed to pick up a number of prestigious dates on this side of the world.

Mick said: "We will be playing at the Orange Club in West Kensington, London, in April and hope to have a few A and R people coming along to see us.

"We also play at the Cellar Bar in March, Blakey's Bar on Thursday and at the Run To The Sun Beetle jam, in Newquay, in May."

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