HE has already found one at the Trafford Centre and another in Wigan — but now Mike Sweeney is on a quest to find a new band in Bolton.

The BBC Radio Manchester DJ is spending his summer scouring Greater Manchester to find new people to jam with for a new project called Sweeney’s Band, and he hopes the town’s good reputation for musicians holds up.

The 66-year-old, who had one hit with The Salford Jets in 1980 with What You Looking At, has chosen the track Singing the Blues for Bolton auditionees, which will be performed as a group in Victoria Square on Friday.

Mike said: “We decided that we wanted to get out and about over the summer and wanted to find musicians, so we came up the idea of doing auditions for Sweeney’s Band.

“It’s basically me going round the north trying to get people to play and at the end of the week we sing a song.

“For Bolton the song is Singing the Blues, which is only three chords — so thankfully it’s easy enough for me to play it.

“We have so far been to the Trafford Centre and Wigan and have had up to 30 people playing all kinds of instruments.

“It’s not just about playing guitar.

“So far we’ve had ukuleles, keyboards, Indian drums, even a kazoo. Aziz Ibrahim from the Stone Roses even came to jam with us at the Trafford Centre last week. It was great.

“I’ve played in Blind Tiger before now and know that Bolton has got a great music scene, so I am looking forward to hearing the talent.”

Talking of his experience of gigging, Mike said: “I remember my first gig with the Salford Jets — we took our equipment on the bus with us.

"We were gigging when the likes of Noel Gallagher from Oasis and the Stone Roses lads were growing up and it’s surprising how many very famous musicians remember us.

"We were just five scruffs from Ordsall in Salford. It was mainly posh, art school kids that played music, so I think in some ways we helped to change that.”