Rock band WEAK13 to perform at Kidderminster pub - 20 years after being banned for being 'far too loud'

Twenty years on and bygones can be bygones for Midlands rock band WEAK13 who have been invited to perform at a Kidderminster pub that banned them two decades ago.

The three-piece metal act, fronted by Nick J Townsend, were banned from The Boars Head in Worcester Street in the early noughties for being “far too loud”.

A decade later, with the pub under new management, lead singer and guitarist Nick banned himself from the venue after a heated phone call with the then manager of the business.

He recalled a visit to the pub after the exchange, which he said was over WEAK13 receiving press coverage as the pub was about to reopen, and he said: “When I arrived there they acted very apologetic but I said to them that we’re banning ourselves from their pub. They told me I can’t do that and I replied with ‘I just did’ and walked away.”

Now, another decade later, The Boars Head has brand new management and has invited WEAK13 to headline at the venue for the first night of the Kidderminster Music Festival starting on Friday August 28.

Making light of the band’s “peculiar” history with the pub, a WEAK13 poster for the gig features caricatures of the band holding up a decapitated boar’s head.

Popular UK cartoon artist Andy Meanock was commissioned to create the artwork.

Nick J Townsend said: “We have a peculiar history with this venue. We did our first ever gig here and we were barred for being far too loud.”

Delighted to be invited back to headline the Kidderminster Music Festival in Nick’s hometown, he said: “It’s a lovely venue. It will be a great honour to play Kidderminster Music Festival again and a further treat for us to perform at The Boars Head once more. Hopefully we won’t get banned this time.”

Landlady Sarah Gibson, who has been at the venue for about six months, said she hadn’t been aware WEAK13 had been banned from the pub 20 years ago and she added: “We’ve just started getting music back again and we’re getting a few more bands in now.”

The music festival will run from August 28 to 30.