Click Liverpool have teamed up with the guys behind Sound City to give you the chance to win a pair of tickets to the exclusive Zutons show inside the plush surrounds of St George's Hall.
You cannot get your hands on these tickets alone, they are the highlight of a swanky Sound City delegate pass. See their website for more info or...
To win the tickets, simply answer this question. Which Merseyside-based record label launched The Zutons and is also home to current faves The Rascals? Send your answers to newsdesk@clickliverpool.com the winner will be chosen by rndom from all correct entries.
Sound City is gearing up to take over town and the big names are coming – but it's the next generation of Liverpool bands who should also merit your attention. The new Wombats? You'll find them amongst this lot...
For fans of Arctic Monkeys try The Hot Melts
Listen here: myspace.com/thehotmelts
Playing here: O2 Academy, Hotham Street, May 20
You know you've arrived when one of The Strokes is on the guest list for your first New York gig.
But guitarist Albert Hammond isn't the only Stateside fan of Liverpool group The Hot Melts. They're the first English band signed to US label, Epitaph, and NME followed them to SXSW recently, where their firebrand rock went down a storm at the annual music industry bash.
“We're getting used to different crowds now,” says Hot Melt Jack Prince. “We've always got one eye on who is coming to hear us – but we never change things too much.”
Just as well, really, as The Hot Melts have captured the spirit of the times and are one of Liverpool's 'most likely to' right now.
For fans of The Fall seek out Seal Cub Clubbing Club
Listen here: myspace.com/thesealcubclubbingclub
Playing here: Leggate Theatre, Liverpool University, May 20
It's not just the name. Seal Cub Clubbing Club's music is left of centre too - it's pop music, but not as we know it. Well, not these days anyway. Post-punk is how most people would describe SCCC – but the Wirral group have a lot more than just angular guitars going on.
Listen that bit harder and a host of literary references will attack your senses too: “We start from the story behind the song and then use our tools to build a mechanical replicate of the original beast,” declares Seal Cub's Nick Glover. Told you, anything but average this lot...
Not many bands launch their debut record with an outdoor gig on Hardman Street, either. Nor do they do it with acclaimed Liverpool writer, Frank Cotterel Boyce, opening the gig with a spoken word spot. Then again, not many bands think like Seal Cub Clubbing Club.
“How would I describe our sound? Like mixing metaphors until you're outside of reality.”
For fans of The Ting Tings lend an ear to Soft Toy Emergency
Listen here: myspace.com/softtoyemergency
Playing here: O2 Academy, Hotham Street, May 22 (supporting Little Boots)
When did pop become a dirty word? When we stopped dancing and started listening.
But Liverpool's Soft Toy Emergency are all about the fun. Noisy, neon and never dull, the day-glo poppers are about to swim the mainstream and follow-up on the success of their sold-out debut single, I Kno U Want It.
“We've only been together for just over a year,” singer Jen tells me.
“We've just finished our first headline tour of the UK and before we set out we weren't really sure what to expect - but we were surprised by the number of people who had come down because they'd heard the band on Myspace or the radio. Lots had seen the reviews too."
The reviews? They've been kind, so far. And the female-fronted, frantic four-piece, have often been compared to The Ting Tings – themselves no strangers to the top of the charts. Remember their name...
For fans of Kings Of Leon listen out for Sound Of Guns
Listen here: myspace.com/soundofguns
Playing here: St George's Hall, May 23 (supporting The Zutons)
Ever since The La's adopted 'Rattle 'n' Roll' as a slogan for their sound, Liverpool groups have been all about the rattle. Enter Sound Of Guns.
They're all about the rock and no strangers to controversy either. A recent gig in Wakefield was held up as police arrived at the venue to find out more about “these Scousers with guns...” Still, I'm not scared off by a stereotype and nor should you be.
So, here's another one: this is a band who sound just like they look dangerous and dirty. They also stole the show at the last Liverpool Music Week. “That gig was a real turning point for us. It was the first time the audience were singing louder than us,” says bass player, John Coley.
New single Architects is out this month too and would sit quite easily in between The Killers and Kings Of Leon on daytime Radio 1, to these ears. And it's being championed on Zane Lowe's show.
For fans of Peter Doherty try his cleaner version Eugene McGuinness
Listen here: myspace.com/eugenemcguinness85
Playing here: The Zanzibar, Seel Street, May 21
Talk about the sound of right now. Forget the beeps and beats that the NME is telling you about -skinny boys with long legs and guitars are still where it's at.
La Roux and Florence & The Machine maybe taking all the music industry plaudits, but it's still Peter Doherty and his ilk who are selling records. And 'his ilk' include ex-LIPA student Eugene McGuiness.
His eponymous debut album was recently released to critical acclaim and the local troubadour has got a band together – The Lizards – and is bringing them to Sound City this month: “I love coming back to Liverpool,” he says. “I'm hoping to have time to check other bands out too, especially The Rascals.”
It's a gig that comes recommended, as McGuinness is bubbling under the radar right now, but his time is not far away. Anyway, it's always nice to be ahead of a trend.
For fans of Joni Mitchell see Ragz
Listen here: myspace.com/ragzmusic
Playing here: Studio 2, Parr Street, May 20
I say Joni Mitchell, but Ragz Nordset can't be placed in a box.
It's fairytale music that has to be believed to be seen. You won't catch a glimpse by just watching – you really have to be paying attention. But your effort will be rewarded.
Ragz is startling – original songs, played delicately and sung beautifully.
Born in Norway, but based in Liverpool since the turn of the century, the girl from the Northern Lights is viewed as one of our own within the Liverpool music scene. Her spellbinding gigs have lit up the city's acoustic nights and a recent UK tour spread her wondrous words further.
Surely there's not a music fan in this city still unaware of Ragz? If that's you, put it right at Sound City.
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