Also featuring a special appearance from Simon Wright.

Please come, all the bands are good, but you probably haven't heard of them.

THE HEPBURNS (Llanelli)

A capricious guitar pop act from Wales that appeared briefly with Cherry Red at the tail end of the 80s to the bafflement of the UK press of the day (who weren't ready for a band that claimed Bacharach, Barry and Morricone as influences). The Magic of the Hepburns was not lost overseas, however, where the band left a lasting impression on younger fans from Grimsby Fishmarket in Sweden to the Siesta crew in Spain, as well as on the future boss of Radio Khartoum. But there was a hitch (not to mention a lost album), and no one—not even John Peel (who reportedly wondered aloud on air)—knew what had become of the band in the decade that followed.

For fans of: el Records, The Lucksmiths, The Monochrome Set, The Smiths, The Specials, Momus and Jake Thackray (Source: Radio Khartoum).

ANTHONY ROCHESTER (Tasmania)

Reminds one of Eggstone circa 1993: coming out of nowhere (Tasmania is Mr. Rochester's home) with a gorgeous sound; and almost completely unaware of the bands you would name when attempting to describe the music. So how did RK discover the Tasmanian? Why, through the Norwegians, naturally. Christoffer from Nice System/Remington Super 60 and Christer from Micromars put together a compilation to document the young Norwegian scene...making Anthony into an honorary Norseman in the process.

RUDOLF ROCKER (leeds)

RUDOLF ROCKER is a group formed by very tall brothers Mark and Steve Goodall. Other members include small-but-perfectly-formed keyboard player/effects man Jeremy Dyson (who is also a writer and film/TV director) and medium-height multi-instrumentalist Tim Crusher (who can speak fluent Spanish and devises systems for getting pictures of ladies’ underwear into catalogues). Mark and Steve were in cult groups DUCHAMP’S TOPEE and THE IDEAL GIANTS with Greg Johnson from LORD MONGO (see http://www.myspace.com/lordmongoband). They were also members of very noisy post-punk power trio NERVE RACK. Mark was once a guitar player in GOODBYE MR MACKENZIE (with Shirley Manson) but was sacked due to ‘ideological differences’ and the fact that he was taller than the lead singer. John Peel once assessed that Steve’s group LEMON ICE CREAM meanwhile were frankly “saddled with a frightful name”. Jeremy played in indie-goth legends FLOWERS FOR AGATHA who, like Charles Manson, have an obsessive fan-base in California (see http://www.myspace.com/flowersforagatha). RUDOLF ROCKER have released records on the Mook label including a 10” EP with a hand printed cover, a coloured vinyl 7” single, a CD EP, a track on a German compilation and two excellent full-length albums. They have performed live right the way across the North Riding. The idea behind RUDOLF ROCKER is to combine melodic lines, intricate chord structures, amusing sound effects and enigmatic poetic/political lyrics with violent outburst of noise and frequent dollops of absurd, silly humour. This heady mix, whilst tantalising for the discerning listener, seems to escape the dulled ears of corporate mainstream media outlets who can’t even spell the name properly. RUDOLF ROCKER have remained, however, defiantly silent about this silence. In one sense RUDOLF ROCKER’s work is a protest against the increasing uncritical blandness and formulaic quality of contemporary popular music, especially so-called ‘indie’ music, the ‘alternative’ aspects of which seem to have completely vanished. “All that is solid melts into air” Marx once observed, a philosophy RUDOLF ROCKER wish to strongly endorse and possibly write a song about.

www.myspace.com/thelegendaryhepburns
www.myspace.com/anthonyrochester
http://www.myspace.com/rudolfrocker