AN unsigned Blackburn band rubbed shoulders with the great and the good of the music industry at a national festival last week.

Arcade Superheroes, made up of students on the Access to Music course at Blackburn College, were invited to take part in the National Festival of New Music at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester.

The band, made up of Andrea Procter (vocals), Kevin Diamonds (lead guitar), Richard Ledshan (rhythm guitar), Jason Bark (bass/acoustic guitar) and Ashley Harrison (drums), play a mixture of folk, indie and blues.

Band spokesman Jason Park, 29, believed it was this healthy mixture of styles which saw them chosen to perform at the festival.

He named as his influences acts as diverse as Kraftwerk, Nick Drake and the Stone Roses.

As well as performing their own songs in front of 2,000 people the band members were able to meet top producers, A&R scouts and other figures from the music industry.

But Jason said he was most excited about meeting the other performers.

He said: "We were interested in seeing bands from all over the country and seeing if we could do gigs together."

Despite achieving this high-level exposure, the band plan to break up when they finish the Access to Music course, as they will all be going their separate ways.

Jason and Andrea will be going to Manchester to train as music teachers and plan to continue performing as the Nutmegs, a folk band.

Jason said that the course inspired him to be a teacher after he initially wanted to become a journalist.

The Access to Music course at Blackburn College is one of 23 running throughout the country.

Since 1992 Access to Music has helped music students break into the industry.

The award-winning Dizzee Rascal is among the artists who have benefited from the programme.

One of the events at the festival was a demo jury, where new bands could receive honest opinions and advice from industry figures.

Spokeswoman Hannah Brine said: "This is not like Simon Cowell. The bands receive constructive and informative criticism."