There are towns in the United Kingdom known for their rock'n'roll and there are towns that are not, and prior to now, Wrexham has fallen into the latter camp. As with many of Britain's forgotten provinces, though, sometimes the most interesting things happen far from the spotlight's glare. The fastest growing town in Britain, Wrexham is the buffer between the easterly metropolises of Liverpool and Manchester, and the mountainous wilds of Northern Wales: a undiscovered outpost, home to a new generation of young, ambitious songwriters doing things their way. Premier among these are Crosbi.

Crosbi are family, literally, formed around the nucleus of two sets of brothers: magnetic, tousle-haired frontman Andy Jones and his brother Steve on lead guitar; siblings-in-percussion Ben and Simon Jones, the former holding the fort on drums, the latter switching between keyboard and a rack of congas; and the quintet is completed by long-time friend Jamie Owens, on bass. Formed in 2003, the band have evolved at a frightening speed, aided by the fact that when you're dealing with your brother, nothing's off limits: "If you think that guitar part is shit, you say it's shit," says Andy, of Crosbi's brutal rehearsal regime. "Because we all go back so far, there's no bullshit, no beating around the bush. Jamie's had to get a tough skin really fast. But it means we've done in months what other bands do in years."

And what Crosbi do, exactly, is something pretty special. On the surface, there's something of the optimistic Mersey-rock sound, as pedalled by bands from the La's to The Zutons - but dig deeper, because there's something darker that lies beneath, meanings coiled into enigmas, and cliffhangers that erupt with Dionysian abandon. Everything from Can to Buffalo Springfield to Joy Division features in the band's listening, but it's far from a surprise that their favourites are the sort of far-sighted statements that are loath to give up their mysteries lightly - albums like The Verve's 'Storm In Heaven'

and Echo and the Bunnymen's 'Porcupine': "'Porcupine', that's the weird one that people tell you not to listen to," explains Andy. "But it's one of my favourite albums. You know, we want to come out on stage and get people's heads nodding. But we also want to change part of their brains as well".

And people are catching on. A personal request from Shaun Ryder - who'd been handed a Crosbi demo by old mucker Clint Boon - saw the band play in support to the Happy Mondays at 2004's Get Loaded In The Park. Sessions for The Beth and Huw show on Radio 1 and Radio Wales musical maverick Adam Walton, who dubbed Crosbi "the best unsigned band in Wales". And a show with Damo Suzuki, ex-vocalist for Krautrock legends Can, who imparted some special advice to these fellow musical travellers. "He's not a preacher, he'll not talk down to you," remembers Andy. "He just said 'Be good to be people wherever you go'. He's got good karma, and I believe in that too. What goes around comes around." And special things are about to happen.


» For more information on CROSBI please contact Sam Willis at the Darling Department on 020 7379 8787 info@darlinguk.com