First up is Chekira, who have managed to produce one of my favourite tracks on Limited Edition, "How to save your life", and subliminally brainwash me into listening to it far more than can be considered healthy. The track starts with a monologue, as at the beginning of Madonna's "White Heat" - Chekira do it with a crackly recording from an old BBC home service transmission.

This could be a very clever gimmick, with the BBC announcer introducing the song as 'This is the BBC home service. And now, I'm sorry to say that these lads can't play..." - unfortunately, the mix from the announcement into the actual track isn't as perfect as it could be and you can just about hear another word being faded out at the end, probably something like "sport" - ruining the joke.

But this is the only down point to an otherwise great track.

Chekira describe themselves as a pop rock punk outfit, cleverly covering all the bases in one foul swoop. Obviously, one track could not tell us how diverse Chekira can be in their style, but what we have heard reminds us of "Carter U.S.M. - The Unstoppable Sex Machine", and the end is so much like the final moments of "Ziggy Stardust" by Bowie that they could almost be twins. There are clear punk influences, and speed ridden indie leanings, although I still personally think "Punk" is getting to be too wide a term to describe any one sound.

Chekira is a four piece band, made up of Andy Jackson on guitars and vocals; Rob Baynton on guitar; drummer Simon Hodgson and bassist Scott McEwan. They spend most of their time gigging around Peterborough, and have built up a solid fan base. With three demo releases behind them (when can we expect a fully fledged album, guys?) they obviously have a lot of energy to put into their promotion and therefore have the potential to break out of the "local ring" and hit the big time if only somebody high up would notice them!

Check out their latest web page listed in the UK/Europe Band Directory for more info on their past albums.