Chirpy Crew's New Tune

THE swampy rock pop of Newcastle band Birdy Num Num will be on display at the Wickham Park Hotel on Saturday night. The trio made up of school friends and junior band buds, John McIvor (guitar and vocals), Mick King (bass and vocals) and Michael Williams (drums and percussion), got bored of playing covers so they decided to record their long-neglected original material.

It took them 18 months to set foot in the studio to lay down six songs with the help of Paul Elliot on mandolin and Josh Calloway on keyboards.

Their songs celebrate a mixture of styles and influences.

Birdy Num Num have enjoyed interesting exposure from their website which is connected to the comprehensive independent music website www.iuma.com Recently they received an unusual phone call from a Russian radio presenter who was interested in hearing some more of their stuff.

A Canadian radio station also tripped over the site.

'I think they randomly feature websites each week and we were lucky enough for them to find our site,' McIvor said.

The lads are finishing respective music degrees, house painting as they prepare to record an album.