It's all very exciting down here at the Intake Club. First up are local band Calling For Heroes who have been formed from the ashes of 8LivesDown by guitarist Nigel Allcock.

Not wanting to sit back while the band went their seperate ways, he set about putting together a new project which is taking the bulls by the horns.

Citing influences such as Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Keane and The Verve, CFH have a sound inkeeping with what is popular right now but with a heavier edge at times.

Vocally, there's a David Gray sound to Wes' voice but musically think a fuller, less dull (personal opinion, you understand) Coldplay. A good band who are tight and polished. Hopefully more will be heard from the quartet.

Next to the stage are For This Day. Another local band who looked a little like McFly - but we won't hold that against them. Sound wise they were at times like a heavier Travis with a smidge of emo about them.

The My Chemical Romance and Greenday influence was slightly obvious. The bass player had more than an air of Bruce Foxton about him and the keyboard player was really getting into the show. A young band who have it together and, given time, should be pulling crowds in.

And to the headline act. Touted as being the best thing out of the area for a long time, The Beetroot Kings are certainly causing a bit of a storm.

The gig was held to promote the launch of their double A side - and they certainly pulled a crowd to do so. The Beetroot Kings hit the stage to the strains of Gol Gol Bordello's `Start Wearing Purple' blasting through the PA.

They got the large crowd jumping from the get go, steaming through `Davy Jones' at 100mph and straight into the chant along `We are the Beetroots'. Singer Gary Armstrong gave the crowd the briefest of respites with a quick hello before the band were off again with `Call of the Ancients' from The Calling EP.

Next up was the reason for the gig, the two songs from the double A sided i-tunes single. First up was `Who's the Fool' ferociosly punk paced folk/rock followed by the more melodic and radio friendly `Story of Shriggy'. Following the singles they slowed the pace with the haunting `Little Green Cap' and another brand new song `Part of the System' - surely a strong contender to be on the album on its release in October.

In the final leg of the gig The Beetroots upped the pace again with `Soup Kitchen' & `Sammy' before rounding off the night with the tub-thumping `Foriegn Callers'.

Surprisingly, they didn't come back for an encore. I've heard the band aren't big on encores and the ego massaging involved, but I think on the night, they and the steaming sweating audience had earned one!

With major festival dates in the pipeline and interest from major players in the business, The Beetroot Kings are surely destined for bigger things and could be the band to finally put Mansfield on the musical map. A timely boost for the town.

If you haven't seen the Beetroot Kings yet, then you can still catch them at their last two local gigs of the year, when they play the Warsop Carnival 5th July and the Mansfield Folk Festival at the Rugby Club on 12th July. Something tells me this time next year, there won't be a venue in the town big enough to host them.

`Who's the Fool' & `The Story of Shriggy' were released on i-tunes on 16th June and is available to download on i-tunes and all other major download sites.

So a cracking display from three local bands which could be called a sort success. Sort of because there was something missing.

Where and who were these special guests? Rumour had it that it would be Rev Hammer who has worked with the Levellers and even Mark Chadwick himself.

Other talk was of the Levellers management and record company having an interest and being there. As far as we're aware none of it happened which is a shame as they missed a good night of quality local music.

The Hipster (with thanks to Stu for major input)