Introducing: THE MARDOUS! Live! listings

Britain's best new band take themselves on a nifty jaunt around the country. The Mardous take their name from Jack Kerouac's ‘The Subterreans'; a tragic-love-novel of epic obsessive proportions where lead character Mardou and Jack fall in love and then out of love so bright that it quickly extinguished leaving Jack alone with heartsick and obsession. He then sat down and wrote an amphetamine psalm for the lost love affair. It was pure exorcism. And when you hear the Mardous urgent melodies it will make sense. As their novel was a drugged-up peon of obsessive love written in a lost weekend, the Mardous haunt similar themes, capturing the loneliness of Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy wandering the streets of NYC, the desperation of Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon and the urgent fading of a Tennessee Williams character. All searching for the impossible, the striving for the intangible. Formed in early 2004, the Mardous made their initial breakthrough not in London, but in the midst of the infamous Bar 3 Parisian scene (the scene of the last Libertines gig, ever, fact fans). Within minutes of their first gig, the French climbed on tables and chairs to catch a glimpse of the band in action. Having secured some Metropolitan Paris Underground love, the British three piece went back to the UK to open up gigs for Pete Doherty, Babyshambles, the Others, the Cribs and 10,000 things. Yet, the Mardous are different. One striking thing about them is their beautiful simplicity, not three-chord-punk-rock simplicity, but beautiful simplicity allowing their songs to shine like stars. They are a band who don't hide behind big guitar effects and poses. A beat group held and in love with the idea of lush harmonics of Low and Love. The rhythmics reminiscent of Glenn Branca, Django Reinhardt, the Breeders, and yet the Mardous hit maximum post-punk compliance with the jerky art-rock angles of Gang of Four. Don't you think it is time for something a little bit different? The Mardous are: Ross Stewart - Vocals, Bass Ben Duff - Guitar, Vocals Lewis Jones - Drums The band also play this years Glastonbury Festival. What a corker! Further Information: www.themardous.com www.poptones.co.uk