Did everyone go to the opening of Socialist last Friday – the new night that has reinvigorated the Talbot Bar? I tried my best but the doormen wouldn’t let me in, not because of any uncharacteristic and unruly street behaviour on my part or being too intoxicated to climb the two steps to the entrance, but because it was full to capacity – brimming. I did get there a bit too late though, by 11pm the old ‘1 in 1 out’ drill was being orchestrated and the bouncers were instigating this in full military fashion as if they had just come back from a health and safety refresher course. Still, this can only be a good thing – it’s not often the opening gig of a new night has more numbers than Alastair Darling’s troubled calculator screen.

‘Socialist’ has generated a fresh era of our music scene it’s started on the right track – let’s hope it carries on. My spies on the inside say the gig was immense, Mother of Six proclaimed the new dawn in only way they could – loudly. Headliners Gallops! ensued an awe gazed audience were treated to a raucous set of electro-rock masterpieces to justify them being hunted down by record companies begging them to play showcase gigs for them. Their songs are now being shared on the internet via various torrent websites – a sure sign of a band getting noticed and a buzz being brewed.

The Feeder show at Glyndwr University’s William Aston Hall was cancelled last night. Apparently it was because the singer (Grant Nicholls) has a throat illness – I’ve heard rumours though that the university didn’t sell enough tickets for the show and the band’s management demanded they pulled the gig – I’ll leave it up to your imagination whether to believe that or not! If you bought a ticket for the show, you should keep them as they are looking to re-schedule the show for the future.

Heal The Last Stand have revealed a new track called ‘The Garden’. It’s only available to download (for free) and to hear via their www.last.fm page. It’s a bold move not to use the prevalent MySpace download facility but I think it’s a wise manoeuvre as well. People are starting to get bored of MySpace and it’s becoming a-wash with countless bands demanding you listen to their new material via endless bulletins which inevitably you start ignoring. Last.fm is a great site and those who haven’t used it before should definitely take a look. It uses a system called ‘scrobbling’ and once an artist or band has had one of their tracks ‘scrobbled’ by at least one user, last.fm automatically generates a band page which has links to similar sounding bands, amongst other features. It’s easy to browse around, get lost and discover new talent – no matter how commercially successful they are or aren’t. Anyway, to listen to HTLS’s audio bliss, point your browser to www.tinyurl.com/htlstrack.

The Pregnant Ladies Club are playing Telfords Warehouse tonight. An interesting choice of name, you couldn’t make some of these band names up, obviously they have though. Its free entry and the show begins at 9pm.

Everybody loves singing, whether you admit to it or not. It could be to yourself in the shower, whilst you’re browsing the aisles at Tesco’s or showing off to your ever admiring mum who is smiling back at you but is actually counting down the seconds until you finish. Instead of annoying other people, you could join a group of like minded heads and be taught how to sing correctly. A new female singing group has been started by the Delta Academy of Performing Arts which is based at the Chapel in Tan-y-fron and they are covering all types of vocal styles. Take a look at www.deltaschool.co.uk for their contact details.

Tomorrow night at Central Station in Wrexham the house/techno/electro free range and indeed organic club night Mayaku returns. If you don’t have a penchant for dance muzak, downstairs the weekly institution that is Indie Rock n Roll will be in full flow. Doors are 10pm and its £4 entry into either night.

The only gig I know of on Saturday night is ‘The Undercover Hippy’ at Telfords Warehouse in Chester. He’s been described as ‘Ben Harper meets Mos Def at a drum and bass night hosted by De La Soul’. Yes, I’m confused as much as you. I suppose you’ll have to go and have a listen to fully understand. It’s free entry before 10pm and £4 thereafter.

There you go; I’m all done for this week. Email me at ben@wrexhammusic.co.uk with any meaningful news or gossip and I’ll mention it so you can tell your Gran your name is in the paper. Take care.