At the moment the possibilities when you get on a stage to make music are amazing. We said we wanted to make it as unlike any other band playing each week as possible. It is getting so dull."

For singer and guitarist Tom White that was the idea behind his band The Electric Soft Parade's new show, which is unlike anything he or his brother, fellow vocalist and guitarist Alex, have done before.

The Brighton band has helped put the city's music scene on the map ever since the release of their Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut, Holes In The Wall, in 2002.

They have been a mainstay of the city scene, surfacing in other Brighton bands including Brakes, with former British Sea Power sidesman Eamon, and Restlesslist, who Tom regularly drums for.

But for this tour, promoting Electric Soft Parade's third album No Need To Be Downhearted, the brothers decided on a new approach.

The tour, which started in Glasgow earlier this week, features the new album played completely in sequence, against a backdrop of projections put together by Tom.

Speaking after his return from Leeds, Tom says: "I made the projections by taking some old footage and edited it on my laptop to work alongside the album.

"We replaced the audio with a click track so our drummer Damo Waters is in sync with the screen. The effect is that the band is magically in sync with the visuals.

"It's a bit fuzzy around the edges, but hopefully it will come together."

For the final part of the gig the band approached their fans on their website to ask for favourite tracks from the brothers' back catalogue, resulting in an overwhelming demand for early B-side Broadcast.

The new, more programmed show is a world away from the DIY attitude of Brakes, which Tom and Alex have been playing with for the last two and a half years.

"We were a bit more precious with what we did before Brakes," admits Tom. "For those two years in Brakes I got better at singing and playing guitar and Alex got better at playing the drums. Now we have a more relaxed attitude, which builds your confidence."

The Electric Soft Parade left major label Sony/BMG following the release of their second album The American Adventure in 2003, which despite being a more immediate beast than its predecessor didn't have the commercial success the label had hoped for.

They are now with the label Truck, which follows the same methods as the Brakes' label Rough Trade by not employing A&R men, and allowing bands to do their own thing.

"There is a space for A&R men in the industry, but there is a lack of people with vision," says Tom.

"I wouldn't mind working with them if they had amazing ideas but they don't. The old style A&R men used to choose the songs the artists had to sing, saying what their voice had to sound like.

"Today they are not thinking about the music, they just look at the band's image. Geoff Travis (Rough Trade boss) will just turn up and say, I really like it', and that's it."

Tom feels the rise of the internet is helping loosen the controlling grip of the major labels, as smaller independent record labels such as Domino, home of Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, slowly begin to take over.

With this tour Tom was keen to follow the lead of his heroes, the Welsh indie rockers Super Furry Animals, in promoting new talent.

"I want to feel like we are pushing our audience," says Tom.

"The Furries were one of the first bands to take Dead Meadow on a UK tour, getting them in front of 1,500 people, and Martin Carr as Brave Captain, and Killa Kela."

Tom and Alex have followed the Welsh band's lead by carefully choosing their support acts for this tour from Brighton favourites, including bedroom maestro Paul Steel and Dear Britch, featuring singer Stuart Flynn, who will be joining the band onstage for part of the show.

"Some people into us are into radio-friendly stuff like Keane and Coldplay," says Tom. "We feel it's our responsibility to introduce people to other stuff."

  • Starts 9pm, tickets £9.50/£8.50. Call 0870 7551228, Rounder Records, in Brighton Square, on 01273 325440, or Resident, in Kensington Gardens on 01273 606312.