Something's been bothering Edward Larrikin for a long time - his band's second-rate rider.

The scampish frontman of Twickenham quartet Larrikin Love has had enough of ownbrand crisps and cheap beer.

"I kept asking for port and cheese crisps and we'd get some cans of Carling and Somerfield's own crisps," he complains politely. But things seem to be looking up on the latest tour.

"I've seen our new rider and we've got four bottles of red wine, rum, vodka, a copy of The Guardian and cheesecake!"

Like his music, 20 year-old Larrikin is a shambolic mishmash of styles. While his band has been described as everything from gipsy punk to skiffle, Larrikin himself is a likeable mix of Enid Blyton-style wholesomeness and Dickensian street urchin.

Larrikin Love's debut album, The Freedom Spark, features cameos from friends and fellow South Londoners The Holloways, Patrick Wolf and Jamie T, and the band have been slapped with the Thamesbeat tag.

While a free spirit like Edward hates tags, his infatuation with literature and his canny way with words have seen him hailed the new Morrissey. "This country means nothing to me/ everything I adore comes well before 1984," from the Blairbaiting single Downing Street Kindling, could easily have been penned by the bequiffed one.

But according to their author, "the words are less Morrissey and more Wilde", and as for the anti-England sentiments - it seems he's simply had enough of this country.

"I still love Sussex (his mum and grandma live in Brighton) and Cornwall and Devon, but I think English manners are what I've fallen out of love with. I feel that underneath the majority of everyday England there is a real smugness."

The singer says if he wasn't in a band he'd be a writer, and like all struggling artists Edward has had his fair share of humdrum jobs. "I worked in Oddbins, in a deli and I used to sweep hair off the floor in a hairdressers,"

he says. "I worked my way up to washing people's hair, but I got sacked for pressing too hard out of frustration."

Hairdressing's loss is music's gain.

  • Starts 7.30pm, tickets £8.50 - sold out.

Call 01273 673311.