As a young man, Stephen Cole was all about the music scene in Medway and going to watch his friends’ bands turned from a hobby to a job.

Through attending the Battle of the Bands competition at the Beacon Court Tavern, Gillingham, Stephen managed to land himself not just a spot writing about the competition for the Medway Messenger but also a wealth of memories.

The contest at the now-demolished venue in Canterbury Street saw the great and good of Towns' music in the early 2000s.

Stephen, who is the creative director of a design agency, said: “There was a lot of variation in the music scene in Medway.

“Although it was very guitar-led, not everyone was doing Brit Pop rip-offs; some bands were doing heavy metal and rock, whilst some bands did ambient, instrumental stuff.”

“Tap 'n' Tin is a great example; it had three or four rooms and you could guarantee in all those rooms, there was different kinds of music.

“It seemed like everyone was in a band and there were lots of venues, most of which are closed now.”

“Beacon Court was one of the main venues for your band to get a gig.

“Battle of the Bands ran for months, week in week out. It was a well-thought-out competition.

“Most of the bands I remember seeing were really quite polished.”

Stephen even reviewed gig The Libertines performed at Tap 'n' Tin in October 2003.

It was the desire to hear the music of one of these bands which lead Stephen on the path to trying to construct an online archive of the bands he and many others once enjoyed.

The 39-year-old father of two said: “My motivation was born of wanting to hear an an album again by a band called Screaming Keith.

“In 2003, I really liked it and hadn’t heard it since then.

“One of my friends has lots of CDs from the time and had their album. I thought I might as well take a load of his CDs, and put them online.

“I also found a bunch of my old write ups from the archive centre in Strood.”

Stephen, of Maidstone Road, Rochester, is now calling on others who have CDs, posters and other memorabilia from Medway acts who performed between 2000 and 2010 to add to his archive.

So far, his archive includes streamable MP3s of many Medway bands along with their original artwork.

He has also began writing a blog about some of the music from the period, which will include retrospectives on the work of Orphan, a “Nirvana-inspired” rock band from Strood, and Opus Trees.

He said: “It’s an opportunity to put some of my thoughts down. It was a fun time in my life and a lot of memories were coming back whilst hearing songs I hadn’t heard for years.”

The archive can be viewed at here whilst Stephen’s blog can be visited here.

If you have anything which you think could be added to the archive, email hello@mrstephencole.co.uk.

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