They may be from one of the most musical cities in England, but you won't hear any Manchester in Nine Black Alps' sound.

In fact, they look well beyond the city limits and, indeed, across the pond for their inspiration - Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Elliott Smith rather than The Smiths, Happy Mondays or New Order.

The result is an explosion of distorted pop, noisy melodies, angst and vitriol.

Fittingly, the band are named after a line in a Sylvia Plath poem - trampling down a path of death, love and desire captured with ferocious urgency.

This is a band who admit they thrive on misery. So it comes as a surprise that guitarist David Jones is such a jovial bloke.

Still buzzing from a succesful tour of America with Kaiser Chiefs and The Pixies, he reckons misery is an easy emotion to tap into.

"There's nothing I like more than being very annoyed, picking up a guitar and bashing the s*** out of it," he laughs. "Then I go away happy. But I can't imagine singing about feeling happy, happy, happy. What would be the point?"

The bleak mood of Nine Black Alps' repetoire stems from the fact most of the songs were written by lead singer Sam Forrest when he first arrived in Manchester from York. Working nights in an asbestos factory, he had no friends and no money.

"It seemed like everyone had cars and money and was really cool," explains David. "He was frustrated and full of envy, always wishing he had more."

A formative NBA were introduced to Sam through a friend in a city pub in the summer of 2003. "He just had all these ideas on tape," remembers David.

"I thought they were great." So Sam, although he had no intention of being in a band, became Nine Black Alps' frontman.

After just nine gigs, the band were subject to an A&R frenzy and soon signed to Island. Debut album Everything Is was released in June.

"We always knew we had good songs but couldn't really play them at first. We felt quite guilty about it," David says. "But we've grown up in the spotlight in a way and after the last four months of constant touring, it's great to stand up and say: 'F******* hell, we're a good band.' It feels like we can justify the hype."

Circumstances for the band's members have improved. There's free beer ("really weird after not being able to afford to go out at the weekend"), adoring fans, international tours and critical acclaim. They've been tagged the band most likely to save rock 'n' roll.

But there's no chance of Nine Black Alps running out of inspiration. "It's like Frank Black says," quips David, "I've got an entire back catalogue of misery to bring back."

Starts 7.30pm, tickets cost £7 (SOLD OUT). Call 01273 6473311.