Who needs Morrissey?

A chance meeting between musician Vinny Peculiar - aka Alan Wilkes - and Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce - former Smiths bassist and drummer respectively, at Manchester's Kitchen Sink Disco in January, led to the collaboration.

Now, nearly a year down the line, they are ready to unleash their music on the public with a 16-date UK tour - including a gig at Worcester's Marr's Bar on Saturday, November 27.

"It's going well and we're excited to be touring and the band dynamic seems to be working out well," said Wilkes.

"It's good in its own way because they're great musicians and we seem to have hit it off.

"I'm a real Smiths fan and know more about them than Morrissey alone."

Wilkes - an ex-psychiatric nurse from Manchester - already has four solo albums under his belt as Vinny Peculiar, including a spoken word poetry album.

His last album - Growing Up With Vinny Peculiar - draws on his childhood in Bromsgrove, with songs on subjects as diverse as wearing nail varnish as a teenager, graffiti artists, sperm donation - and working in a call centre called Heaven.

His music with Rourke and Joyce is described as sounding like Neil Young covering the New York Dolls and is an amalgam of glam rock and country, taking in influences such as the Talking Heads and XTC.

"It's sort of Vinny Peculiar stuff with the magical rhythm section and it's given the songs a much more organic feel, which they are renowned for in The Smiths," he said.

Joyce and Rourke have been involved in

several projects since The Smiths split in 1987, including playing with Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs of Oasis fame.

And, despite the bitter dispute over Smiths' royalties (Joyce and Rourke won a legal battle against Morrissey and fellow band member Johnny Marr, in 1998) Joyce still rates Morrissey's musical talent.

However, from the unprintable comments he made to the Evening News about Morrissey, it's sufficient to say it's unlikely he's on Joyce's Christmas card list.

Joyce said it was a mutual appreciation of his and Vinny Peculiar's music which led to his latest musical collaboration hitting it off - the drummer revealing how he listens to Vinny Peculiar tunes at home.

"I used to think about whether I was going to carry on with my playing at one point, because working with Bonehead was sound but I didn't really have the fire in my belly for doing the gigs.

"To be in a band like The Smiths and to come down from that and work with somebody else, I didn't think I'd be able to

achieve the highs I did with them.

"It's like an astronaut - when you've gone to the moon what can you do after that? I felt after that that I'd never get the feeling of being in a great band but luckily I have done with Vinny Peculiar."

The band are now busy preparing for the tour and have just recorded a single, Man About the House.

"It's about a man who's a DIY disaster and struggles for salvation," said Wilkes.

"I think it's DIY as metaphor for the decline of the male role in modern society."

Evesham three-piece band Blurt - who play arty, leftfield, jazz-punk music - and Worcester rock n' roll band And What Will Be Left Of Them? will be performing support slots for the gig.

The event will also include an appearance by Wilkes' 22-year-old singer daughter Leah, who lives in Worcester.

"We're really looking forward to playing the city because it's special in terms of my childhood and my daughter being there," he said.

Tickets are £5 in advance or £6 on the door.

Clearwood treat city to classy country

EVERYTHING from Irish ballads to classic rock will be aired in Worcester this weekend as Clearwood perform in the city.

Fans of the group - which formed in 2003 - still have a chance to get tickets for the event, which takes place at Huntingdon Hall at 8pm tomorrow.

The band comprises Clive John on vocals, guitar, piano and mandolin, Andy Lindsey on vocals, guitar mandolin, whistle and harmonica, Paul Smith on double bass and James Elliot-Williams on drums and percussion.

As is evident from their line-up, they play a diverse range of instruments and perform Clive's original material as well as reworking a wide range of covers.

They have performed a number of gigs in the Midlands since forming, most notably at Huntingdon Hall, in September last year, from which their live album was recorded.

Tickets for the concert are £9 (concessions £8) and are available from the Huntingdon Hall box office on 01905 611427.

REVIEWS

BARENAKED LADIES - BARENAKED FOR THE HOLIDAYS

(out November 29)

IT was with much surprise when I heard the first track of this compilation from the Barenaked Ladies, often dismissed as a comedy Canadian band, start on an almost sombre note.

Sure enough though, two minutes into Jingle Bells and it came alive in a jaunty sing-a-long in the style I had come to expect from the band I had the pleasure of seeing at Glastonbury.

Cue a further 19 traditional and Hanukkah delights including collaborations with Michael Buble and fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan.

Okay, it's a blatant Christmas cash-in but, compared to some of the inevitable other such albums we'll have to endure over the Christmas period from shameless artists, it's all-round good fun, when taken in the tongue-in-cheek nature it's intended.

And we have copies of the album to give away to four lucky readers - all you need to do is answer the following question...

Where do the Barenaked Ladies hail from?

Answers should be sent on a postcard, by no later than Friday, November 19, to:

Barenaked Competition,

Nightlife,

Worcester Evening News,

Hylton Road,

Worcester,

WR2 5JX.

BLUES EXPLOSION- DAMAGE

(out now)

HERE comes another decadent slab of gritty blues and rock 'n roll from the New York band.

Their stripped-down name (previously The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) fortunately has no effect on their statement of intent which is no less diluted - as the bass-heavy window-rattling title track shows...

On to the first single to be taken from the album - Burn It Off - a sleazy little number, with Spencer proclaiming "my heart's on fire".

Other standout tracks include Crunchy - classic rock n' roll that wouldn't sound out of place on a Stones album, and the INXS-esque Mars Arizona.

Fans of the band, which has been around for 13 years now, will not be disappointed.

EMBRACE - ASHES

(out Monday)

THERE was a time when the McNamara brothers' anthemic songs rang proudly from stereos across the nation during the height of the Britpop era (All You Good Good People, Come Back To What You Know).

After a subsequent dip in fortunes, they've managed to now replicate the winning formula of their debut album with latest LP Out of Nothing.

The band are now also counting on landing another direct hit with this track in the wake of their number seven hit Gravity - penned by Coldplay's Chris Martin.

The trademark soaring chorus is there alongside upbeat melodies but it seems like they've made no attempt to progress, rather just resting on their laurels. Average.