A NEW music festival is to be launched in Warrington town centre in March with performances over six nights.

The Tea Street Band, The Winachi Tribe, Man and The Echo, Kula Bay and Serratone are among the headliners for the newly announced [WAM] Festival.

Warrington Music [WAM] is a grassroots music platform which was launched by former Woolston High School student Lee Harman in 2013.

Lee celebrated [WAM]’s fifth birthday earlier this year by selling out Parr Hall with a headline performance by Burtonwood’s Slydigs.

Now he is bringing together some of the town’s best bands and regional guests for a series of shows at The Auction Rooms in Legh Street.

Each show will also be streamed live online so anyone around the world can see the gigs as they happen.

A team from Priestley College captured a live feed of the [WAM] Parr Hall performances earlier this year when more than 50,000 tuned in.

And Lee sought inspiration from the likes of the former iTunes Festival and The Great Escape for 2019’s Auction Room concerts.

The idea is to put artists in an intimate venue but then showcase them to the world.

Lee said: “It was certainly a challenge to get everything running smoothly on the night, but the bands were passionate about their music being seen by thousands of people across the world.

“We brought a little bit of Warrington to the music world and they paid attention.

“It was great on an emotional level as we had family members of the acts from as far as Northern America who weren’t able to attend the gig but were able to watch our stage online.

“We have more than 200,000 people in Warrington, lets match that in 2019 for the number of people watching [WAM] Festival.”

The hotly-tipped Tea Street Band will perform at The Auction Rooms on March 15.

They have spent the past few years touring with Inspiral Carpets, playing shows with The Charlatans and gracing festival stages and their second album, Frequency, is due to be released tomorrow, Friday.

Both Man and The Echo and The Winachi Tribe headlined Sonder Festival in Manchester in September but return to their hometown to headline the March 15 and March 23 shows respectively.

Man and The Echo, who write pop songs with a political edge, have recently finished recording their Arts Council England supported second album in London so are looking forward to playing new songs for the first time to a Warrington crowd.

Electro funk pioneers The Winachi Tribe will be playing in the town just a year after their Parr Hall show for [WAM].

This year has also seen the group visit the West Coast of the United States twice to do a series of showcases and support Fun Lovin’ Criminals at Warrington Music Festival.

Serratone will play the multi-night festival on March 21.

The hard rock/grunge trio have a diverse range of influences from Rage Against The Machine and Turbowolf to Arctic Monkeys and Stone Roses and specialise in big anthemic tracks.

Kula Bay, one of Warrington’s youngest bands, will then perform at the showcase on March 22.

The alternative/indie four-piece have quickly made waves on the north west music scene, appearing on BBC Introducing several times and playing the ‘Breaking Through’ showcase at RivFest in 2018 at the Parr Hall.

A number of support acts have also been unveiled including Fez, Guerilla Skyz and Filthy Tricks.

A sixth headliner for the opening night on March 14 – along with the festival’s full bill – will be revealed in the coming weeks.

[WAM] Festival at The Auction Rooms runs from March 14 to 16 and March 21 to 23. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am. Visit seetickets.com/tour/-wam-festival or WArringtonMusic.co.uk/WAMFestival