"Everything you have ever heard but a bit better and a bit more English." That's the confident claim made by Brighton's The Auteur on their thriving online community – and only a band with the songs and live show to back up such a statement could pull it off. Fortunately, the band have both - and are quickly generating a real buzz around their electro-tinged powerpop, creating waves within a scene dominated by American artists. Having formed in October 2007, Alex Rumble (vocals, guitar), Julian Bowen (drums, samples), Kerry Williams (bass, vocals) and Kevin Deverick (guitar) spent 2008 honing their sound, building a fanbase and perfecting a dynamic live set. Keen not to rush into a debut release, they sold out of numerous pressings of their four-track '2007 Demos' disk – the title of which failed to do justice to Bowen's superbly polished production. After embarking on three full UK tours, the band signed to Manchester-based indie LAB Records in June 2008, at the end of their eleven-date stint alongside two of the label's staple artists – MiMi Soya and Lost On Campus. By the end of the year they had played sold out shows with some of the fastest rising bands in the country – Attack! Attack! and Lights & Sounds – and single B-side 'To Cut A Short Story Shorter' debuted on their MySpace profile with a staggering 7,000 plays in the first 24 hours it was online. The Auteur release their debut single 'Hey Watch This!' on 6th April 2009. The track is taken from their five-song EP, currently scheduled for a June release. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.