GUY Fawkes night is upon us, so not only a time for fireworks, partying and cowering pets, but also time for those online wits to roll out the old adage about him being “the last person to enter Parliament with honest intentions”.

So if your idea of honest intentions is a religious mercenary being hired by the English aristocracy to commit mass genocide then yes, spot on. So much for the political minds and rhetoric of generation X-Box. Right, off the soapbox and into the mosh pit.

Avon might not exactly be a household name but they should be considering that its members have graced the ranks of Yawning Man, Airbus, Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age… yes, you heard, the drummer from the first Kyuss and QOTSA albums will be in town.

Avon play music which encompasses desert blues, raw psychedelia and warped alt-rock, as do support band Rewire The Time Machine, and with the strange, surreal and heavy Phoxjaw opening the night this is one for all forward-thinking rock fans.

Alternately you can catch Jim Reynolds at The Beehive. Jim is certainly one of their more regular fixtures in the diary and once you have heard his mercurial blends bringing the long lost sounds of ragtime, blues and music hall to life, it is easy to hear why.

Riffs Bar gets into the act on Friday with a bit of a special gig. Tin Spirits, the current musical vehicle for former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory, will be heading off to Tokyo soon to do some shows. As a bit of a warm up they have a gig there before they head off. Originals and covers with a penchant for heading off towards proggy horizons.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous… if you’ll excuse the phrase... but the name Junky Gibbons has become synonymous for uncompromising music and industrial levels of strangeness, and just when you thought that they had disappeared into the mythology of local music lore, it appears that they have surfaced for a gig at The Locomotive. They are joined by the new kids on the street punk and Oi block, The Dirty Outlaws, and two-piece punk ranters, 2 Sick Monkeys.

At The Beehive, something less “in your face” comes courtesy of Prita Grealy as she steers her musical ship into UK waters. This Australian chanteuse blends soul, folk and hip-hop via live looping, fantastic melody and a flawless vocal delivery. Fans of Norah Jones and the mighty KT (Tunstall) need to catch this.

The Victoria offers funk, soul, pop and disco floor fillers courtesy of Felix and The Funk, and at The Rolleston Ruzz Guitar’s Blues Review deliver soul injected blues and blistering R’n’B.

Saturday, as is the tradition, is where the big name tribute bands compete for your hard earned cash. One of the best loved Deep Purple tribute bands on the circuit, Strange Kind of Purple, have recently got back together for a handful of gigs, one of which can be found at The Victoria tonight, but if your tastes lie in a more mainstream place then Dire Streets celebrate the music of the second best band to come out of Deptford at Riffs Bar (Squeeze is the band you are trying to think of.) I often level the tongue in cheek accusation that on any given night in town, someone somewhere is playing that Kings of Leon song. Well, at Level 3 you can catch a whole set of it from Sex on Fire to… well, all of those other ones that most people have never heard of.

Heavy rock and metal covers come courtesy of Broken Image at The Rolleston, indie and modern rock cuts can be found at The Locomotive thanks to Angel Up Front and Zing are offering something of everything at The Castle.

On Wednesdays, the Songs of Praise unplugged sessions continue to establish their residency at their new home of The Rolleston this time with melancholic and emotive piano led folk from Ells and The Southern Wild.

And just a reminder that Ells recently shaved her hair off to raise money for MacMillan so why not return the favour by supporting her band and their musical endeavors?