How many more times are we going to hear "musical landmark", "brilliant lyrics", "internet success" and "Sheffield" in the same sentence?

Because, with a story that is likely to inspire more than slight feelings of déjà vu, next week listen out for a new single released by Skint and Demoralised.

Matt Abbott, one half of the duo, is already receiving massive praise for his brilliant lyrics, the release of the song is being hailed as a musical landmark and has already seen major internet success. And he was discovered in Sheffield.

Abbott, from Wakefield, began performing poetry at open mic gigs in Sheffield when he was just 16. After creating a buzz with
his work, he met up with former Sheffield singer-songwriter
and studio whizz Mini Dog, to record a series of demos, under the name Skint & Demoralised.

Nine thousand downloads on MySpace later, the flourishing online fan network quickly alerted Radio One DJ and unsigned band champion,
Steve Lamacq.

"It all went crazy," says Abbott. "After that we signed a major label deal with Mercury."

Clearly, Skint and Demoralised – unlikely to stay that way for long – are a group to watch. The single, The Thrill of 30 Seconds, is out on November 17.



The NME Cool List – the list of people who all pretend to be too cool to care that they're on it – is published this week.

And it contains some surprising news for the people who work with Alex Turner, the Arctic Monkeys singer.

The list published by the music mag has Turner at Number Four and the only people in the world he is apparently less cool than are indie sensation Alice Glass, rapper Jay-Z and MGMT singer Andrew VanWyngarden.

Interestingly, the list does not feature any of the other Monkeys – but it does find a place for Miles Kane, who teamed up with Turner for their side project The Last Shadow Puppets. Let's hope the rest of the Arctic Monkeys don't take the news too badly.



Even though he is from the other side of the Pennines, there will surely be nothing but good cheer in Yorkshire for Russell Watson.

The Salford-born singer, known as The Voice, has announced he will be appearing in concert at Sheffield City Hall on April 7
next year.

Having now fully recovered from a life-threatening brain tumour in 2007, Watson will release a new studio album People Get Ready on November 17, which the tour is set to promote.

The opera star has already released eight albums which have all gone gold, platinum, or double platinum. The singer has seen his albums take opera and classical music to a new audience and his tours around the world include performances for outgoing President George W Bush and the Pope.



Clearly those in Hull know what they like and like what they know.

When it was announced that Hull Truck, the company founded by Mike Bradwell, would be leaving its Spring Street home, there was only ever going to be one play with which it took its final bow. Since becoming artistic director, John Godber has led
the company admirably, and his play Bouncers is one of British theatre's best. And so it is that, on Valentine's Day next year, Bouncers will bring down the curtain at the theatre. Tickets went on sale this week and, predictably, records were smashed.

The final night sold out within the hour and tickets worth £50,000 went in one day.