Tired of hearing the same old songs? By Mike Richmond.

Hull is a city full of musical talent. Look at a flyer for the Adelphi any day of the week and you'll see three or four bands, the majority of them from the local area, with one thing in common. They are all playing entirely original sets. As a musician, you face a choice early on, when you learn to play your instrument. Those who have (or would like to think they have) creative tendencies try to write their own material. Others who are happy just to play their instruments gravitate towards playing covers of other peoples' songs.

At the next level, the aspiring musician tires of playing in his bedroom and decides that the way forward is to perform to a crowd. It's at this point where disillusionment can set in. It's easy enough to get hold of a few other musicians, learn a few Oasis songs and put together a tidy sounding cover band and get yourself a few gigs. And there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Many big name bands serve their apprenticeships playing covers, learning to gel as a unit and find a sound they are happy with. The problems come when you have chosen the other route, when you are an aspiring writer or performer who wants to create their own sound, who wants to try to make a career in music by creating something new.

The opportunities for original performers are few and far between. Why is this? The cynical attitude is to say "because they're not very good" but I defy anybody to listen to, say, Emma Rugg and suggest she is any worse a writer or performer than Aimee Mann or Jewel or Joni Mitchell because - to be blunt - they'd be wrong. Some of the artists this city have produced are worthy of selling out stadiums, and the eternal frustration from my point of view as an avid gig-goer is that they aren't doing that. Off the top of my head, over the few years I've been attending gigs at the Adelphi and elsewhere I can recall being blown away acts such as by Waltzer, Superscape, Liquid, The Edible 5 Foot Smiths, Emma Rugg, 3am, Carnival, Livener...

The only thing most of these bands have in common is that they are no longer together. Most of them seem to reached a point where they can sell out the Adelphi and then they hit a glass ceiling. There's few other venues to play, and when they do, they find it hard to draw a crowd. It's as if the people of Hull are afraid to take a risk on seeing a band they do not know. Big names can sell out the stadium. Homegrown talent can sometimes struggle to fill the Adelphi. When you tell acquaintances you're in a band, the first thing they ask is "what do you play".

When you say you play your own material, they take a step back, as if to say "What do you mean? Why should I come to see you play, when I won't know the songs?". How would these people react if they'd seen Oasis in 1991 or the Darkness in 2001? Would they have said these bands were rubbish because they didn't play any songs that they recognised? Continued below..

Tired of hearing the same old songs? continued By Mike Richmond.

It's all to do with today's disposable culture. Pop acts are churned out on an ever rotating production line. Every week it seems that there's a new group of models singing another Elton John song hitting number one in the charts, and every week another one drops off the radar. Where are the next Beatles or U2s or Pink Floyds going to come from if this is the way the industry is going? When is the next musical revolution going to come? The next Sex Pistols,

Stone Roses, Oasis? I'd like to think there is still going to be some longevity in the future - some kind of brand (or should that be band?) loyalty. But the only way to change things is to vote with your feet and actually stand up and do something about it.

So where do we go from here? Why can't Hull be like Manchester or Liverpool. Why can't we start a production line of talent and make Hull the music capital of the UK? Why can't the current crop of bands start a new revolution and put us on the map where we belong. Surely the Beautiful South isn't all this great city is capable of producing? Well it's down to us. We need to start supporting these acts. We need to change our mindset.

We'll happily pay £30 to see the Stereophonics or Oasis - why not take a risk just once and spend £3 to see what may be the next great thing. And if you like it, tell our friends, buy a CD or a T Shirt, and go to see them the next time they play, and the next. I know from experience how many people come up after a performance and tell the band they enjoyed what they heard. Take it one step further and go to see them again. With your friends. And their friends. And their friends.

The only way we'll ever pull ourselves out of the doldrums is if we all pull together. The performers, the audiences, the people who buy local artists' CDs from Virgin megastore or HMV. If you are sick of what you hear on the radio, and if you too are inspired to hear new talent, don't just sit there and complain - get on your feet, go and see a band. Any band. Next time you are going for a pint, go to the Adelphi, or the Welly, or the White Room. Go and see Emma Rugg, or Pave, or Circa 74, or 59 Violets, or Freaks Union, or the Edible 5 Foot Smiths, or Turismo, or Mr. Mojo or any one of the other fantastic bands playing in and around Hull - spend a couple of quid and take a risk. You never know what you might discover.

- Mike Richmond plays guitar and writes for the band still life.

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