Hello, hope to find you well and settled in for a round up of what’s happening music-wise in our region.

Has everyone downloaded their free Fireflies EP by Camera? If not then I urge you to go to www.thefirefliesep.com and download it immediately. Not only to support local music but also to feed your ears with 5 tracks of melodic musical treats. ‘Wait For me’ will give you physical chills down your spine and ‘Don’t Lose Your Faith’ is a slice of genuine pop genius.

You can catch Camera when they support Brakes at Central Station on Sunday. Now I’ve never heard of Brakes but I have heard of the band that two of the members are also in – The Electric Soft Parade. Brakes have just sold out a headline USA/Canadian tour and their song ‘All Night Disco Party’ was used in that Ugly Betty TV show, their album is out this week. Also supporting Brakes are The Voluntary Butler Scheme, who apart from having the worst name in the world are also actually quite good. Think Supergrass but more lo-fi with a tinge of folk. He’s also on the same label that Crosbi (now The Roseville Band) were once housed in, Split Records. Small world.

The championed troubadour of Wrexham Andy Hickie has set off on his first tour of many this year. Currently he is on the road for 3 weeks playing 9 different venues across Ireland with the Scottish poet and Chester resident Chris Ingram, the ‘Man of Straw‘. He is taking his trusty camper van complete with a mini recording studio with which he will begin to put together the basics of his debut album. During the summer Andy will be rambling and gigging along the South Coast of England before taking in the festival season. Andy has some new tracks uploaded onto his Myspace, have a listen at myspace.com/andyhickie.

Gallops have been confirmed to play the Wakestock Festival in July alongside Dizzee Rascal, Moby, Super Furry Animals and Calvin Harris. I’ve no doubt Gallops will be snapped up for more festival appearances before the summer is out following their booking at the Radio 1 Big Weekend.

Jamie Cee & The Chimerical Band’s track ‘The Ballerina was chosen as ‘Demo of the week’ on Adam Walton’s BBC Radio Wales last Sunday. Not band going for a band who haven’t even had their first full band gig yet, until May 28th when they play the Manchester Academy 3. Check out myspace.com/thechimercalband for more information.

Tonight at Central Station they have Supersuckers and Nashville Pussy playing. Supersuckers are the self confessed ‘Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the world’ and it’s not hard to guess that they are from the US of A. Think cowboy Stetsons, check shirts, beards with last nights estranged tea in, trucker caps, denim, Cuban heels and you’ve got the perfect idea of what they sound like. Nashville Pussy’s are pretty much more of the same but looking at their press shot one of their member’s has got an actual real-life mullet complete with customary handlebar moustache. The highlight of the gig for me would be without doubt support from Deeside’s The Loving Cup. I couldn’t think of a more suitable local support, hopefully they will show the American’s what Rock ‘n’ Roll is really about. Doors are 7:30pm with tickets at £12.50.

Tomorrow night Kid Carpet returns to Telfords Warehouse. ‘The Kid’ as he’s known is a multi-instrumentalist who is renowned for making music using Casio keyboards, Fisher-Price guitars and anything from the back pages of the Argos catalogue. If it’s a got a label of ‘Suitable for 4+ years’ then you won’t find him using it. Why you ask, why? Apparently it’s because he got fed up of hiring hire vans and lugging band equipment around the country, so he went down to a jumble sale and bought instruments that were both cheap and lightweight i.e. children’s toys. Clever if you think about it. He seems to have put the toys back in the toybox for his recent appearances though, not because of jibes from people saying he’s not a proper musician mind, there are only so many sounds to choose from on a Casio PT-100 and tamagotchi’s only have a short battery life. The show tomorrow night is free before 9pm and £4 thereafter.

Lovely weather for a drink in a beer garden, that’s where you’ll find me. Email me at ben@wrexhammusic.co.uk with your local music news. Take care.