Stratford Upon Avon is a hapless town of quaint tourism and centuries of over-analysed literacy. Granted, it is a town of thorough-bred intelligence, but has always remained stifled by walls of conservatism and tradition. All it has ever needed is a generation willing to harness the untapped creativity of the whole town and combine it with a lust for nihilism, youthful flamboyance and rule-less showmanship. I am proud to say that my generation of Stratfordians has conjured up the mighty Antihero.

Antihero broke free of the town’s shackles some years back, as an obstinate male four piece hell-bent on global domination, oozing passion, good looks, talent and charisma. Since then, the band have spent most of their young lives on the road, hollering their worth, and establishing an extensive fanbase across the UK.

Their vivacious live set is renowned for its taught slickness and uncompromising energy, but Antihero’s real strength is in their wild on-stage unpredictability and fiery song writing. They will stop at nothing to destroy your ears and corrode your emotions… and will gladly sacrifice all their earthly possessions to make themselves heard.

Having released two singles on Integrity records, Antihero carved their name into the UK scene on the “Love Music, Hate Racism” tour with Miss Black America in 2002, and on their promotional tours in 2003. Now older and wiser, the band look back at this era with scepticism, seeing it as the “lack of integrity years”, though it proved to be a crucial period of growth and exposure for them. Heralded as both saviours and villains by the press, Antihero received much radio play and won the hearts of John Peel (“Heroic, what more could you want?”), DrownedinSound (“one of the tightest bands you're ever gonna see, constantly evolving and refining their style”), Steve Lamacq (“my favourite buzzband right now, we'll be hearing a lot more from them”), and living legend Henry Rollins (“punk rock bitches”) to name but a few. This time also saw the band develop a healthy wariness-cum-disdain of the commercial music industry.

Of late, Antihero have scraped together enough money (from scrubbing floors, modelling, a stint in the world of semi-professional wrestling, and selling unnecessary body parts over the internet) to record their debut album proper, and this will be released in late 2004. The infectious single “Don’t Trust The DJ” precedes it earlier in the year.

Rest assured, Antihero will change your life.