A BOY band from Kidderminster are hoping to revive the "glory days" of their predecessors when they take centre stage in the town again. Ready to take centre stage - AWOL members Richard Turvey, Simon Boast, Paul Fuszardi and TJ.

One of the members of new-look four-piece group AWOL wants to step back to the times when women were slinging knickers at him when his former group were in action.

The man behind the comeback is singer and lyricist Paul Fuszardi, 23, who is the only member of AWOL that used to be involved in the now split all-boy band XLR8 (pronounced accelerate).

He is hoping the AWOL lads, who also include 21-year-olds Simon Boast and Richard Deakin and 18-year-old Richard Turvey, can have the fairer sex screaming with delight when they perform their original music and dance routines at two dates in Kidderminster.

Paul said: "In 1998, during the glory days, a pair of knickers was tossed from the crowd during XLR8's first gig at The Watermill pub in Kidderminster and we couldn't believe it, but in the end, XLR8 went AWOL, hence the new name!

"However, AWOL, while having fun, intend to be a bit more serious about things although we are sticking to the principle of having no instruments and coming up with our own sounds.

"We would like to stay around together for longer than a couple of years this time and hope to produce a collection of songs on an album."

The lads have 15 songs to perform, three of which are their own and the rest made up of tracks by the Backstreet Boys, N-Sync and Westlife.

They are also on the lookout for a manager to join their vocal coach Melanie Ballard.

AWOL are peforming at the Sutton Arms pub on Saturday, April 14 and have booked Kidderminster Town Hall for a performance which they hope will attract hundreds on Friday, May 18.

Anyone interested in becoming the group's manager can call Paul on 01562 632488.