Now that even “alternative” station BBC Six Music has sold its soul to the daytime playlist devil, you wonder why bands like The Wave Pictures even bother.

After a decade toiling away in the trenches of musical obscurity, the Loughborough trio poked their heads above the parapet last year by signing to hipster label Moshi Moshi.

Perhaps they finally thought it was time their brand of punchy, funky, Chuck Berry-meets-Orange Juice rock’n’roll deserved a wider audience. And it definitely does.

Lead singer David Tattersall has a great pop voice, all yelps and angst reminiscent of Television’s Tom Verlaine, while Franic Rozycki and Johnny “Huddersfield” Helm, bassist and drummer respectively, are solid and reliable musicians.

Given the chance, Tattersall could actually be one of the stars of his generation. With a face as calm as a Benedictine monk he threw some amazing, fret-pounding solo guitar shapes and has a gift for lyrics – “The sun came in like a pack of orange spaniels” – that would have Morrissey stroking his chin with appreciation.

But rather than The Wave Pictures, the country’s only mainstream alternative station gives us Oasis and U2 on rotation. It’s not just a shame; it’s a scandal.