Well, I have just spent the last three days intensively shooting the Sheffield band the Harrisons for their press shots – they are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album in a remote studio called The Chapel in Lincolnshire with reknowned producer Hugh Jones, who has worked with such luminaries as Echo and the Bunnymen. The studio has seen many famous bands pass through it’s environs – the Arctic Monkeys being the most recent to record their block-busting album in what would once have been the alter of the chapel and is now a cosy wood panelled studio. It was really fun, if hard work – getting the boys out of bed early enough in the morning to get moving and actually get enough shots done before a) they had to return to carry on recording and b) the sun went in for good – jeez the days are short, especially in the north-east – was quite a lot of effort. They range in age evenly from 20 – 23 yrs old and it’s just not very rock ‘n’ roll to get up before lunchtime anyway.

I got to sit in on quite a lot of the polishing-up sessions for the final album tracks, and I have to say I love their tunes – they probably won’t thank me for this but the tracks that I’ve heard sound a little Bruce Springsteen-esque, and what with the success of the latest Killers offering this can be no bad thing. Lead singer Jobby has a wonderful voice, (if a rather ridiculous name) that belies his age with it’s rich resonance, and on one of the slower tracks they sound more like The Doors meets the Happy Mondays. I even offered to help out with some hand claps on one track but sadly wasn’t needed.

The Harrisons are happy to be called indie-pop, although they might want to rethink that sharpish, as the last thing they would want is to be lumped in with the likes of The Kooks and anyway their stuff is way better than such standard indie-pop fodder, even if possessed of great melody. Lead guitarist Ben has also penned a song alone and does a great job on the lead vocals. He’s also bloody gorgeous, a real sweetie and major heartthrob in the making – check out the pics. I got on best with the really lovely, cheeky shaggy-haired and teddybear-like bassist Birchy, and Jobby, who is also a great little artist – posting his latest masterpieces on the fridge every day to share with the crew.

We sat around a lot on squashy sofas (which I greatly miss at home), watched a lot of football (well, to be accurate they watched football whilst I carried on editing the mag), ate a communal roast on Sunday, and generally had quite a laff – it was nice to be holed up in a cute cottage in the middle of nowhere. Harrisons are definitely ones to watch for next year, and will hopefully manage to escape the inevitable Arctic Monkeys comparisons, as they couldn’t sound more different.