Gibson Guitar has announced that it is to offer one unsigned band the opportunity to open and perform live on the Gibson Stage at Download Festival 2008 in association with the Olympus LS-10.

Gibson Guitar is once again sponsoring the third stage at Download Festival, which will see new bands such as Slaves To Gravity, Big Linda, Testament, Dillinger Escape Plan, Jonathan Davis (Korn), Mexicolas, Saxon, Kill Hannah, Voodoo Six, Haunts, Blackhole and Beat Union perform to the 2,000 capacity audience on the 13, 14 and 15 June 2008.

This year’s line up will see rock veterans Kiss, The Offspring and Lost Prophets headline on the main stage with support coming from Motorhead, Judas Priest, Incubus, Fighstar, Bullet For My Valentine and Kid Rock to name a few. Around 80,000 people are expected to attend.

Olympus will be joining Gibson backstage giving bands the opportunity to roadtest the Olympus LS-10, an affordable, pocket-sized digital recorder.

To be in with a chance of winning, bands will have to visit myspace.com/gibsonolympus and upload their best performance onto You Tube and post a link on the dedicated My Space page. The video will be judged by music industry insiders such as Kerrang’s Katie Parsons, BBC Radio 1’s Dan Carter and industry A & R specialist Olivier Behzadi.

On top of opening on the Gibson Stage on Saturday 14 June, the winning band will be given VIP passes for the day, van hire with a tank of petrol, hotel accommodation and an Olympus LS-10.

Closing date is Friday 6 June 2008. Winners will be notified on Monday 9th June.