The last of the Halloween greasepaint has been scrubbed from the costume that you need to return to the shop...

The final whiff of bonfire smoke and the cordite of smouldering fireworks have been blown away on autumnal gusts...

And those once a year “I’m so much more pagan than thou” types have ceased posting their burning martyr updates to their fellow Buffy fans on the various anti-social networks to which they belong.

So we can finally put such things behind us and get on with the task at hand... supporting live music.

There are not so many opportunities to do so this week as I would like to be able to report, but it seems to be a week of quality not quantity so pick a show and get behind the live music scene.

The cream of the acoustic crop is in town tonight at Songs of Praise at The Victoria as local lad made good, Gaz Brookfield aided and abetted by his violining sidekick, Ben Wain, spearhead the best of the regional and national circuit.

Hard work is really paying off for Gaz and supports to the likes of The Levellers and New Model Army are finally pushing him into the spotlight of the acoustic – new folk – crusty – festival circuit...call it what you will, so catch him before he is whisked away to bigger things.

Support comes from the looping acoustica and Buckley-esque tones of Alex Taylor, Joe McCorriston, all the way down from Morecambe, and wise words and romantic ballads from the enigmatic Stead to start things off.

Something a bit more rooted in rock ‘n’ roll is to be found at The Beehive as Josie and The Outlaw dig up some old school-grooves and rockabilly backbeats to kick the weekend off early.

More contemporary sounds can be found at Riffs Bar on Friday as The Secret Chord brings in some amazing bands from around the south for your delectation.

Kernow’s finest, Even Nine make a welcome return to headline the night, a slicker, more energetic band you couldn’t wish for, delivering music that is stuck between a rock and a ....well, wonderfully melodic and totally infectious place, as the saying goes.

Alt-rockers A Way With Words provide the local interest and Dorset four-piece Patchwork Native kick the night off.

At The Rolleston, meanwhile, there will be original music blended from the building blocks of mod style lines, power-pop drive and psychedelic wigouts courtesy of The Sitting Tenants. Super!

Saturday night is the traditional slot for the big tributes, not normally my thing but you could do a lot worse than Still Marillion, a tribute to one of my favourite neo-prog bands from back in the day. If you want to re-live the Fish era years, that heady blend of poetics and passion, technical ability and emotive songlines, this is the show for you.

Support comes from original progressive rockers Spiral Key.

Riffs Bar is offering a night of Burlesque accompanied by music from Ghost Trail and at The Rolleston it’s The Worried Men.

Although the event page for this show describes the band as “Chance of Rain 11C” they would be better described as the last word in fired-up, white hot, electric r ‘n’ b.

Jamie Thyer leads a band that are in the same mold as The Hamsters, not as well known as the likes of Gary Moore, George Thorogood or ZZ Top, but every bit as good.

Sunday afternoon at The Beehive is a elemental blend of dark ballads, protest songs, slow airs, jigs and reels, courtesy of Tattie Jam who reinterpret songs from the Scottish folk tradition and give it all a fun and contemporary twist.

Final offering of the week is to be found at The Roaring Donkey on Wednesday as Plummie Racket picks up his acoustic guitar to entertain with his gritty tales of urban life.

All about... Last Night’s Victory

Two of the most important things in music are the ability to fashion a sound that acts as its own calling card rather than just representing the best of what has gone before and the ability to push that music to the right promotional outlets.

So when a random encounter at a recent gig resulted in me leaving clutching a copy of the latest Last Night’s Victory EP, I guess you could say that both of those factors had fallen neatly into place.

What is so refreshing about the band is their ability to blend synth and guitars with equal necessity, both instruments neither the dominant force, nor an after thought, but a wonderful co-operation that places the band at the very front of the contemporary experimental wave.

Like Skrillex and Pendulum before them, they have the ability to fire off a totally testosterone fuelled rock work out only to drop down into pure dance grooves whilst using the accessibility of pop to fuse it all together.

It’s a neat trick if you can do it, sadly not so many bands pull it off as well as these boys which is going to make their race to the next level easier, in my eyes they are the obvious front runner.

Songs such as Made To Be will appeal to fans of urban dance experimentation such as King Krule, but the flipside sound is the anthemic pop of The Warmest of Smiles which exchanges the colder back street dance vibe for out and out feel good music.

It is on songs such as Justify that they enter the rave-rock zone and look to oust the likes of Enter Shikari from the dominance that they have held for far too long.

Gang vocals, rock riffs and well structured dynamic changes blend with synth washes and strange other worldly electro-frippery all driven relentlessly home by heavy backbeats.

With the once immovable barriers of tribal musical lines well and truly crushed under foot, this is a band that will have massive cross genre appeal and rightly so. And the lesson learned?

Always carry a copy of your band’s CD with you, you never know who you are going to bump to help promote your band... even if it is only me!