We’ve got a whole host of great stuff for you to check out regarding the latest band we’re featuring here at Umbro this January. The Travelling Band are firm favourites here in Manchester, thanks to their harmony-drenched indie-folk style, and they’re making waves further afield as well.

If you want to hear what the fuss is all about, click on the video above to find out more about the band, or head to the Umbro website where you can hear the band’s recent single ‘Sundial’ and find out where you can download it.

You can also check out some pictures of The Travelling Band’s recent visit to our Dale Street studio, where they tried on a few bits of Umbro gear for size! Take a look here.

Disco, punk, pop – May 68 are a little bit different to some of the other local bands we’ve featured on Tailored In Manchester. Named after rioting Parisian students, May 68 kick up their own distinct fuss by combining the best bits of their record collections. Formed whilst studying here in Manchester, the quintet were completed by the discovery of the singer Jude Wainwright, who adds a pop sparkle to the punkish mix her male bandmates put together. Check out the video above that gives more of a lowdown on May68 and how they came together.

Releasing their debut single in March, May 68 have since supported the likes of Delphic and The Drums, gone down a storm at Glastonbury and recently embarked on their first European tour. In between all that, their sparkling disco-punk has impressed people such as Zane Lowe, Rob Da Bank and Eddy Temple-Morris and found its way onto their radio shows.

So, with their catchy sound catching the attention of a growing number of people in Manchester and beyond, May 68 are set to go into overdrive soon. They released their latest single ‘Prisoner’ in October, and are now putting the finishing touches to their debut album which will be released in 2011. Catch them now, and just try to resist the urge to get your feet moving…

Click on the picture below to check out more shots of the band down at Umbro’s Dale Street studio. And if you want to find out more about May 68, you can find their website right here.

The latest in our monthly examinations of the Manchester music scene finds us talking to a band that are already well established in the city: The Answering Machine. Formed at the University of Manchester in 2005, the indie-rock quartet have made their name by delivering a constant stream of infectiously catchy and intriguingly intelligent singles.

Early releases on independent Manchester labels such as High Voltage put The Answering Machine on the map, before last year’s debut album ‘Another City, Another Sorry’ took the band even further, with regular gigs in America, Japan and festival sites worldwide.

We caught up with the band recently as they look towards the next stage in their plan for world domination. With their second album recorded and being readied for release next year, The Answering Machine talked to us about where they’ve been, where they’re going, and how they made some of their fans cry! Check out the video below to find out more and to hear ‘Animals’, their latest single and the first taster of that second LP.

If you want to find out more about The Answering Machine, head to their website, where you can also grab a free download of ‘Animals.’ For more on Tailored In Manchester, head to Umbro.com.

In The City ended with a bang on Friday night at our Dale Street studio, with a bunch of bands from around the world wrapping up this year’s event with some cracking performances. With famous musical faces such as The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stevens coming down to check out the bands over the three days, it’s clear that having ITC at Dale Street has worked well, and with the move to Manchester’s Northern Quarter the event as a whole has felt fresh and exciting this time around.

Here’s some pictures of the bands that were strutting their stuff on Friday night:

I Am Blackbird started the evening off with some soulful Americana….

Followed by Rapids – who are off to support Klaxons this week – with their angular electro-inspired rock…

And then Manic Street Preachers’ collaborator Wayne Murray played with his own band, Boy Who Cried Wolf…

Before the sheer craziness of Portuguese punk-funk duo Youthless brought everyone to life….

And the evening was finished off in equally exuberant style by Barcelona’s Mujeres.

For more information and to hear a snippet of all the bands from this year’s In The City, check out the official website here.

One of the most influential (and exciting) music events in the world, In The City takes place on Umbro’s doorstep every year, right here in Manchester. So we’re very excited to get involved this time around, hosting some of the showcase gigs at our Dale Street studio. Last night the action kicked off with three great bands – Chapter Sweetheart, Electricity In Our Homes and Fiction – and we’re all set to host another load tonight. If you’re in town, pop in and say hello! Here’s some pictures from the excellent Crash Foto of the opening night:

Electricity In Our Homes performing @ Dale Street

Fiction performing @ Dale Street.

Chapter Sweetheart opening the event live at Dale Street.

Check out the In The City website for all the latest news on the gigs and events, and the ITC Flickr stream for all the latest pictures from the event.

The latest band that we’re highlighting from our hometown, The Heartbreaks are actually from further afield than Manchester. Forming in their native Morecambe, the quartet recently moved to Manchester to attract a little more attention, but their home town has shaped the music they make.

Writing romantic, windswept indie epics, The Heartbreaks mix a classic style and sound with a very modern, urgent energy, making them a tremendous live act to catch. They’ve also managed to bottle this energy on record for a few single releases.

Their recent single ‘I Didn’t Think It Would Hurt To Think Of You’ typifies the band’s sound. A tale of small town romance set to a classic rock ‘n’ roll backdrop, The Heartbreaks capture the frustration and fervour of those moments perfectly. As they continue to capture people’s attentions – Steve Lamacq and Johnny Marr have both revealed themselves to be fans – it’s clear that there’ll be little heartbreak in store for this particular quartet. 

For more details on the band and to find out their latest tour dates, take a look at their Myspace site here. Also, check out the video below, which features The Heartbreaks talking about how they came together, plus a look at the video for their latest single:

The latest band to be featured in our Tailored In Manchester series, 1913 form part of the north west’s musical lineage. Following in the footsteps of bands such as Joy Division and Doves, the band write massive, melancholic-yet-uplifting anthems, created in Manchester with one eye on the nation’s stadiums.

The band, formed from the ashes of two defunct local groups, unearthed a fierce musical chemistry over a series of informal practices. Realising that they had something to offer, the band settled down to write a clutch of tracks to match their stadium-sized ambition.

The results are what 1913 themselves term ‘death pop’. That translates into a dark, atmospheric sound, following in the footsteps of those classic bands alongside modern acts such as Editors and White Lies. Brooding, introspective, but ultimately embracing and communal.

With their single ‘Atlantis’ ready for release, 1913 performed at the launch of our Dale Street screenings last month. Before they took to the stage, we sat them down for a quick chat about where they’re coming from, where they’re heading, and where they got that name from. Check out the special video filmed exclusively for Umbro here:

To find out more about the band’s releases and tour dates, take a look at their Myspace page here.

It’s that time again where we shine a light on the finest musical minds here in Manchester, and for the first time we’ve got a solo artist: Magic Arm. Not that you’d know it from listening to his music, as the tracks created by Magic Arm sound like the work of a bunch of symphonic mischief makers.

Known to his mum as plain old Marc Rigelsford, Magic Arm moved to Manchester to study photography, but has ended up establishing himself as one of the city’s most imaginative musicians. Mixing the cut and paste techniques of Beck or The Beta Band with a delightfully sunny, psychedelic outlook, Marc aims to make straightforward pop songs – they just never come out that way. His debut album Make Lists Do Something puts the Magic Arm spin on all manner of musical styles, from old blues standards to an inspired cover of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’.

Having now recruited a live band to help him bring these songs to life on stage, Magic Arm (once described as the “master of the loop pedal”) has spent the last year establishing himself as one of Manchester’s most exciting artists, supporting the likes of Beirut, Grizzly Bear and Camera Obscura in the process. You can check out his musical moves in the video below and see for yourself why so many people are talking about Magic Arm. Want to find out more? Head over to his website here, take a look at his MySpace and follow his record label Switchflicker on Twitter here for the latest news on what he’s up to.

For information on all of Umbro’s Tailored In Manchester bands, take a look at Umbro.com

It’s time to unveil our latest Tailored In Manchester band, and it’s fair to say that they’re the craziest gang we’ve had yet. The Real Dolls describe themselves as a party band, and that’s a pretty accurate description of the day-glo hip-hop pop explosion they create, but it doesn’t really do justice to the energy and enthusiasm they put into their live shows.

All the members of The Real Dolls have played in other bands around Manchester, and have come together to create something genuinely collaborative. A mix of beat makers, producers, dancers and conventional songwriters, they create a real mish-mash of styles and sounds, making them one of the most genuinely innovative bands around Manchester at the moment.

That’s why we invited them down for our Tailored In Manchester project, which is where we showcase the best young artists around our city and give them the chance to tell the world what they’re all about. if you like the look of The Real Dolls, check out the video we’ve made with them below. You can also see more photos from their day at Dale Street over on our Flickr page. Want to hear more? Then head to their website here, follow them on Twitter, or listen to their MySpace, where you’ll find some of their tunes and information on where you can see them live. Trust us, they’re worth seeing!

As part of our commitment to highlighting the best that Manchester has to offer, Umbro has regularly picked out our favourite bands from the area and given them a platform to show off their music and tell you a little about themselves. With that in mind, we’re pretty chuffed that two of the bands we’ve picked out have been up to some pretty cool stuff: first of all The Heartbreaks, a bunch of sharply-dressed mod-rock types who modelled our House Of Fraser range for us.

Having toured all over the UK over recent months, featured on Steve Lamacq’s 6Music show and been tipped for success from all quarters, The Heartbreaks have just released a single, ‘Liar, My Dear’. To celebrate, they recently played a gig here in Manchester at The Ruby Lounge, and up in Lancaster at Yorkshire House. Some of Umbro’s team headed up to watch them play at the weekend (capturing the photo at the top of the page) and were very impressed with what they heard.

The band have also made a great video for the new single, which you can check out here:

‘Liar, My Dear’ – The Heartbreaks from Tambourine Management on Vimeo.

Also getting in on the video act are another band that we’ve mentioned previously, Ten Bears. The Manchester indie five-piece were the first band to be picked out for our Tailored In Manchester feature last year, in which we invite the best local acts down to our studio to talk about what makes them tick. Since then, the band have been going from strength to strength, and are set to release their new single ‘Braces’ on April 19th. As you can see in the video below, the band have certainly pulled out all the stops for this single, they must enjoy getting covered in paint!

Here’s Ten Bears’ Tailored In Manchester video in case you haven’t seen it:

Be sure to check out the other Tailored In Manchester videos while you’re at it – Orphan Boy, Young British Artists and Run Toto Run have all got plenty planned for 2010, so it’s the ideal time to find out all about them.