Late last year two performers walked into our open acoustic night at The Princess Alice. Lee Close formerly of The Alice Door and Lisa Shepherd had got together to form the beginnings of what we were to discover to be a very exceptional band. The sound produced from these to can only be described as unique, the tunes were well structured and coupled with Lisa's hauntingly beautiful vocals we knew right then that they were going to be something special.

Early in 2010 Jase Walker - formerly of The Alice Door and Rise of the Phoenix joined Mannequin Attic on bass guitar and shortly afterwards Daisy Fenner completed the line-up on drums. Since then the band has gone from strength to strength and have secured several high profile gigs including The Slide Festival in Middlesbrough, a Burlesque Night in Stockton and coming up on 22nd May they are playing the Riot Fest in Sunderland supporting The Japanese Voyeurs and Sam Forrest from Nine Black Alps.

Mannequin Attic cannot be likened to anything that is out there in the mainstream at present, they state on their MySpace page that they draw their influences from rock to jazz and from punk to blues all I can say is that the sound produced from this four piece is addictive and stays with you long after they have left the stage. You can imagine them performing at a low key intimate concert whilst they would be equally at home on a larger stage. Now thats a versatility that you don't often com across with bands out there at present. As a two piece Mannequin Attic were (and still are) a refreshingly different and exceptional act but as a four piece they have stepped out of the mainstream and produced something incredibly original and well worth taking the time to listen to. Seriously, if Mannequin Attic continue to develop at the same rate and standard as they have done in the first part of 2010 we would predict that they will certainly become one of the most sought after bands locally if not on a national scale.

Check them out at their MySpace page.