IT’S some time around the mid-80s in a modest sized venue in North London, my teens are coming to an end and I’m watching a band deliver what may have been the greatest musical experience of my formative years.

They look like punk cowboys, they have employed so much hairspray that later generations of environmentalists will personally connect them to the depletion of the ozone layer and they deal in nothing less than euphoric street anthems.

They were The Alarm, they were awesome and they changed my life. If U2 were the would-be politicos, The Waterboys the dreamers and Big Country the wind-swept poets of this new Celtic rock scene, these where the street corner hustlers and social commentators. But eventually, like all youthful relationships we drifted apart.

So it is so great to see that the man who delivered those seminal riffs is at The Groves Company Inn tonight. Dave Sharp now travels a more folky, Americana route but you can still hear that country-punk flame burning at the heart of his music and his live shows are the stuff of legend. Support comes from Ali Finneran.

The Victoria delivers another Thursday of wilfully weird and wonderfully eclectic music. Sex Jazz are nothing if not unique... animal fixated, freak out, groove driven noodlings of the highest order... .a bit like Zappa reinventing Spring Watch as musical theatre!

If you think *punking Octochoke have a naughty name (though the name has been obscured here as it is a family newspaper), I can’t even mention their song titles but if a confrontational and sideways look at modern society from a nu-punk duo is your thing, then few do it better. Opening the night is the more ambient collection of folk, rock, electronica and randomness that is Grasslands.

Rock, especially in its harder format, is what Friday is all about. At The Groves Company Inn Snatch It Back will be delivering a swath of driven, psychedelic blues rock and, due to the musical family tree that threads back from the band, a few Groundhogs classics are usually on the cards.

At the more extreme end of things, Southwest Hardcore have a night at Level III doing pretty much what they say on the tin, the finest Hardcore bands brought to a local audience. Catch Full Contact and a brace of Birmingham stalwarts, Conspire and Abandonment plus there are the usual goodies to be won in the raffle.

Sitting somewhere between those two, the Victoria has a night that will appeal to the pop punk set. As The Sun Sleeps are the perfect balance of melody and might, pop accessibility and rock grooves, bounce and boogie and Penelope Tree blend that same pop-punk sound with some further reaching rock references. If Streetfight Silence wanders more alt-rock routes, their energy and exuberance still make them the perfect band to kick things off with.

With the exception of Mike Barham’s West Country mix of frantic folk pop and tall tales at The Groves Company Inn, Saturday is also takes a very rock inspired theme.

Down and Dirty get ... well, down and dirty at The Castle for a night of not only the usual range of rock covers but some more selective numbers garnered from alt-country, bluesy, punk and progressive rock realms and Rorke’s Drift also follow a rock template at The Groves Company Inn.

A Way With Words have been a leading light in the local, and indeed national, alt-rock scene over the last few years blending dynamic and accessible melodies into both buoyant, anthemic shapes and darker, more emotive musical creations. Well, this Saturday they bow out with a final show at The Victoria, so I’m sure many of you will want to head along to catch them one last time and help them go out with a bang.

Joining them will be Years Young, True Heights and BGTO. Thanks guys it’s been great having you around.

And those who moan about alternative night clubs not being as good as they were back in their day might wish to note that Level III is having an old school reunion night, a 90s night... though sadly at today’s drink prices... well you can’t have everything... where would you put it?

And on Sunday, The Victoria is host to Save Swindon Bank Holiday Show an occasional party with a mission to keep music happening and people drinking in venues to ensure their survival. Cutting edge DJ sets courtesy of Chaney and Ellessdee.