Imagine Ray Davies with Shaun Ryder's accent and the volatile energy of Johnny Rotten and you'd be somewhere near imagining Twisted Wheel frontman Jonny Brown.
Formerly of Manchester mod-ska band The Children, the 21-year-old sings songs that conjure some deranged, musical version of Shameless, backed by the sort of riotous sound that recalls The Clash and The Fall.
With Rick Lees on bass and Adam Clarke as their thunderous drummer, the band formed in February last year - just a week before they were booked to play a gig. They released first EP You Stole The Sun in November and have since been surrounded by
a blizzard of music industry hype. Embrace's Danny MacNamara has nominated them as one of his top three Manchester Bands.
Not, as generally reported, named after the legendary Manchester club that helped spawn the northern soul movement, Jonny says Twisted Wheel was just, "a name that fitted the music".
But they agree their hometown's rich musical heritage has provided a basis for their sound.
"There are a lot of really truthful bands from Manchester," Jonny says, "mainly from 1979 backwards."
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He also takes inspiration from the likes of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, as well as the punk of the Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks.
"Some of the songs are pretty aggressive and have a lot of energy but I'm quite a sensitive writer so you get a contrast," he says. "There's this aggro sound but with a deeper edge to it."
As for the characters in the songs - Sheila the drugs dealer, Henry the junk collector who closes down his shop then goes on the Antiques Roadshow and tries to kill everyone with an air rifle - they're all based on real people, apparently.
"Where I come from, you can just walk into a pub and meet these nutters," he says.
"So many bands these days write about themselves and try to present this perception of how cool they are. With my songwriting, I take inspiration from Manchester and the people I meet. I can just walk into a pub and listen to someone's life story. I'm interested in stories and people's lives.
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