Little Comets head into orbit with April 2012 UK tour

It could be argued, and with good reason, that the North East of England has a certain strain of rock music emanating from its gritty streets, but at the risk of sounding like a patronising Sunday supplement writer, I'll just mention Maximo Park, The Futureheads and Field Music as examples. Often tagged as 'angular' or 'jagged', the three bands above have peddled sparky non-conformist 'indie' music for several years, with perhaps Paul Smith's charges the most successful thus far. You won't find 'love you baby' lyrics and 4/4 beats pumping out of a piece of Field Music wax either, while The Futureheads have downed their tools and plumped for an a capella album!

Joining the Tyne and Wear band scene is Little Comets, a band made up of siblings Robert and Michael Coles plus Matt Hall a soon-to-be-unveiled new drummer. They have certainly experienced life's little foibles during the past 18 months or so, including being unceremoniously severed from their Columbia Records contract, parting ways with their original drummer and struggling with the lurgee (according to their web page, bless 'em). But for every sucked and spat-out Strepsil, there's a shot of Jager-filled hope around the corner and things are looking up for this young band.

They garnered mainly positive reviews for their 2011 debut album, 'In Search of Elusive Little Comets', performed as part of the HMV Next Big Thing series at the beginning of the year and have just been assigned the tiny little task of appearing in Hyde Park as part of the 2012 Olympics bash on 26th July. They've also recently issued a new EP called 'Worry', the title track of which is embedded in this article for your pleasure - it's a glorious little guitar-skank that'll keep the sun shining a bit longer.

With rubbish times behind them and more new material looming on the horizon, Little Comets will be out on the road in a couple of weeks. The first stop is Glasgow on 21st April 2012, followed by Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, London, Norwich and finally, proving that you can take Coles to Newcastle, a show at the city's Northumbria Uni Students Union venue on 29th April. We have tickets for all shows except Brighton, priced at a tenner or less!

Paul Pledger