The Coral

• James Skelly - vocals, guitar
• Lee Southall - guitar
• Paul Duffy - bass, brass
• Bill Ryder-Jones - brass, guitar
• Nick Power - keyboards
• Ian Skelly - drums

Impossibly young and prolific, The Coral are psychedelic scally warriors in the mold of The Las. They have managed four rather good albums in three years, which is a considerable improvement on Chinese Democracy if you ask me.

Around in various shapes and forms since 1996, The Coral got their big league break in July 2001 with the excellent Shadows Fall EP. Their eponymous 2002 debut album, which mixed seas shanties, Captain Beefheart-esque freak outs and chart beating tunes, was the centre of a tornado of critical acclaim- it was nominated for the Mercury Prize the day after it was released.

Since then there has been 2003's Magic and Medicine, 2004's limited edition Night Freak and the Sons of Becker and 2005's The Invisible Invasion, which have inspired a whole new wave of Merseybeat bands including the frankly not-so-good Zutons and The Dead 60s. The Gallaghers are also fans, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.