AS one of the only bands to have played at Warrington Music Festival every year, Redmojo have watched the event grow and improve.

The quintet were there in the first year in 2007 when a second hand gazebo was used as a stage.

And the rockers were part of the event when Happy Mondays played one of their reunion gigs in Golden Square last year.

Frontman Lee 'Lenn' Leonard paid tribute to organiser Steve Oates and his team saying they have helped Warrington’s bands and artists grow in confidence and reputation.

“Steve has done an awesome job,” he said.

“Each year has got better and better. Famous bands coming in has really shown that it's growing in the right direction and kudos to the bands and artists that get to support them.

“It's really cool to have seen bands do their first festival and be ‘OK’ or 'promising', only to come back the next year and you can tell that they've really worked at it.

“It’s because the whole deal is really big to them. That's what it's all about really.”

Guitarist Mike York, from Locking Stumps, said: “It’s good that it’s so well supported by the bands, the public, the organisers and the council and that its grown year on year.

“You’d have thought that over the past few years, with the economic downturn and public spending cuts, that free events like the music festival would be wiped off the council’s agenda.

“But it’s not been which shows that there is some belief in the music coming out of Warrington and the arts in general.”

Bassist Pete Kenny, from Cinnamon Brow, added: “I remember watching Roughneck Riot open the Saturday show a few years back thinking that they should be at the top of the bill.

“They played with so much energy and enthusiasm at 2pm. Now this year they’re one of the headliners.”

Mike told Weekend that Warrington Music Festival is the gig that always makes Redmojo raise their game.

He said: “Nothing gets you focused for an event like the festival so, at points, it has kind of pulled us into shape.

“I think the fact that we’ve done it so often now it’s given us the experience of knowing what to expect and what’s expected from us.”

Pete added: “For a lot of bands, it's the only opportunity they have to play on a large stage and for us it's good to see how the music we've been working on in the rehearsal studio translates into a show.”

Redmojo formed in 1997 when friends Lenn and Mike found they shared a lot of the same music taste.

Andy York and Pete joined a few years later with Matt Dolley completing the roster in 2003.

Lenn said: “My musical influences were people like The Beatles, ELO, Marvin Gaye, Motown stuff and vocal based music really.

“But the sound I felt we went for as band was kind of blues, funk and rock.”

Pete added: “I was blackmailed into the band over the loan of a PA system and they’ve been trying to get rid of me since.

“I'm influenced by any music that is played with passion, conviction and soul, but I’m partial to The Meters, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Charlie Parker and The Roots.”

- Redmojo play at Golden Square’s Old Market Place stage at 6.30pm on Saturday, July 19