It’s the opening of that new colossus shopping complex in Wrexham today isn’t it?  Whatever your opinion of it, whether you think it’s a blight on the landscape destined to kill off the bustle of our current high street shops or whether it’s a divine spot of consumer heaven, as long as I can get to the chippy without waiting in a 2 mile traffic jam, I’m not too bothered.

If you didn’t know already its Halloween tomorrow night and I’ve no doubt most of you are celebrating in some shape or form.  There’s some people who don’t though; they say it’s an occult festival where the dead meets the living, the devil is glorified and the witches start their new year – I prefer to see it as a way for the little ‘uns to gobble as many free E numbers as they possible can, spray silly string all over the neighbours cars and raid their mums handbag for her stale 80’s makeup.  No harm in that surely?!

Carrying on the festivities Panic Promotions have an All Hallow’s Eve special with I Am Austin at McLean’s in Pentre.  I Am Austin have been the subject of quite a flurry of attention recently, BBC Radio 1’s Bethan Elfyn claiming “I haven’t loved anything this much since I first heard the Manics’ Generation Terrorists”.  Now there’s an accolade you’d want on your bands MySpace profile.   With only two members they create a surprisingly full sound, were not talking a retro pastiche of the bores that are The White Stripes here, they lean towards the more electronic and dance edge of the musical landscape.

Last month they wangled a slot at the prestigious In The City music event in Manchester and which by all accounts, they went down extremely well.  The annual In The City is a internationally renowned music event created by the late and incredibly great Tony Wilson.  It involves industry conferences and seminars for the suits and bigwigs during the day and a plethora of gigs involving mostly unsigned bands at various venues across the city by night – the gigs are usually frequented by the aforementioned suits.  Previous bands who have played there whilst at the time they were unsigned include, Radiohead, Coldplay, Oasis, Suede, Elbow, the list goes on – so as you can see, it’s quite a useful shindig.

Anyway, back to I Am Austin, take a listen at myspace.com/iamaustinmusic, doors open to the gig at 8:15pm and its £5 entry.

Not one to be left out this Halloween nonsense, the Frog and Nightingale in Chester have enlisted the Love2Rock promoters to provide the bands for tomorrow night.  They have Severenth, Hellacious and Cerberrus playing.  Lovely names.  There is the customary prize for the best fancy dress outfit and entry is free before 9pm, otherwise it’s £3.

The illustrious Danny Gruff esquire will be returning from his Leeds University dwellings to play a headline gig at The Malthouse in Wrexham tomorrow night.  I’ve no doubt he’s not lost his ever growing local fan base of screaming girls and jealous boyfriends – he’s like the Pied Piper of Wrexham that cat.  Expect a packed house and regulation sing-alongs.

Telfords Warehouse have Welsh band Viva Machine playing tomorrow night.  When they formed in 2006 (out of the ashes of previous band Ipsofacto) they were quickly snapped up by The Automatic’s management and duly sent out to tour the country.  Add a spoonful of Death Cab for Cutie and slowly mix in the slick three-part harmonies of prog granddads Yes (minus Rick Wakeman’s pointy wizard hat) and you are getting close to their sound. Entry is £4 after 9pm.

The last of our October 31^st gigs is at The Talbot. They have the Selectro house DJs playing – Cy Tukay, Mike Williams and Dirty 6 and of course without a pinch of doubt they too have a fancy dress option, this time allowing you entry for 2 gold nuggets rather than the normal 3.  Doors are 8pm.

The Rifles stop off at Central Station tonight as part of their jaunt to every corner of the nation.  They’ve not had the commercial success that was expected of them when they surfaced around 2006 even though they are signed to the über-cool 679 Recordings label which is also home to the Mystery Jets, ex Dead Disco singer Little Boots and The Streets amongst others.  Their debut album ‘No Love Lost’ reached number 26 in the charts and they hope to improve on that with the January release of their second album ‘The Great Escape’.  Support comes from Trader and tickets are £12 or £14 on the door.

That’s all your news for this week, come back next week for your next fix.  Email me at ben@wrexhammusic.co.uk if you have any news.  Take care.