A BAND that is happy in its hometown - is there one?

Don't people start bands to escape the humdrum of the towns they were born and raised in? Don't bands dream that, one day, the music they make will take them away from what has become to them the norm'?

Doesn't a band form and envisage a life on the road or that one day it's members will relocate to that London' or better still break America' (wherever that is? Is it like Centre Parks?) and live in the New-Hollywood Catskills?

Actually ignore everything I've just written and look at Paul Heaton (The House Martins/Beautiful South).

He's content with living in Hull, one of the worst cities in Britain (or so some would have us believe).

Listen to Oasis' Definitely Maybe or buy a record by any band that has ever come out of Sheffield.

These people are proud of their roots, proud to draw inspiration from the towns and people they were brought up in and with. It appears that it is the towns that make the bands/songwriters It's the law, don't argue!

So, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Bill Davro And The Popes: a band proud to include Warrington and being fools' among their list of influences. A band who name drop landmarks in their songs and sing of the streets they were brought up on.

As the band take to the stage at WA1 Venue Bar to Dvorak's New World Symphony, I am eagerly awaiting a fine performance. The band break into a good set of Warrington fuelled, rockn'roll/rockabilly/ tunes with a wiff of slide guitar, Americana. Bill Davro And The Popes' sound tells us that they would love to be signed to Delta Sonic Records (the Liverpool home to The Zutons, Little Flames etc). The song Cherry Pie definitely shows signs that the band would be in good company on this label.

The main vocalist is reminiscent of The Specials' Terry Hall: a great voice, but it is sometimes lost in songs that need the rawness and energy of John Lennon circa 1963.

The band sit happily between The Kaisers (not the chiefs) and The Greenhornes (without the Hammond organ) and display great songwriting talent. Check out Always Better on the band's MySpace profile as a fine example. The band also have in their midst one of the finest guitar players/songwriters, Kieran Gallimore.

He draws inspiration from late 50s, early 60s rockn'roll (reverb a-plenty) and offers his vocal talent up for two songs this evening.

I saw BD&TP play a while back in a packed out White Room (upstairs at The White Hart pub) and they appeared to enjoy performing as much as the crowd enjoyed watching them.

They are a band who take the energy and enthusiasm from the audience and feed off it in their live show. Tonight they played to a smaller audience but they managed to muster up as much energy as they could from the faithful followers to put on a good performance.