Four Star Mary’s press release boasts that they are the most popular band in America that no-one had heard of, and it’s not far wrong. Because their songs are used by the fictitious band Dingos Ate My Baby on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So now you know who’ve you’ve been grooving along to. It’s surprising then that Four Star Mary haven’t already been sucked into the corporate machine, to be sucked dry and spat out when their novelty has worn off.

They’ve admirably steered clear of that route and are just about to release their second EP, ‘Thrown to the Wolves’, on their own label and via the internet. Musically they tread a similarly post-grunge path to other American college rock bands like Hootie and the Blowfish and Counting Crows - hardly groundbreaking stuff, which isn’t surprising given their mainstream American appeal - but at least they have the decency to write the odd proper pop song. Joining them on their UK tour are local darkly-inclined rockers Suriki, whose last national tour was in support of Marillion. Don’t judge them by those standards though, their elegantly morose style of rock, which draws on the three Rs - Radiohead, Rush and REM - has long since made them one of Oxford’s most likely candidates for outside success. With a re-release of their debut single, ‘Turnpike’, imminent, hopefully they’ll finally get the attention they deserve.