COLIN WILSON The NME's annual showcase of up-and-coming talent is set to hit 12 UK cities this spring in the NME New Music Tour 2005, starting in Norwich on Wednesday. Maximo Park, The Cribs and The Checks feature this year.

COLIN WILSON

The NME's annual showcase of up-and-coming talent is set to hit 12 UK cities this spring in the NME New Music Tour 2005 in association with Rizla. The tour, which famously gave a leg up to the Ordinary Boys and the Zutons last year, will bring together no fewer than eight of the hottest new bands around today across a 12-date tour.

With a revolving line-up the tour will feature some of the most inspiring new bands around and this is a chance to catch the next wave of stars in intimate venues before they're packing stadiums!

The first date of the NME New Music Tour hits the Waterfront, Norwich, on Wednesday, May 18, and the line-up features Maximo Park, The Cribs and The Checks.

Newcastle's angular new wavers Maximo Park blend experimental power chords and have been described as Franz Ferdinand meets the Strokes.

Their mission to bring urgent, driving, propulsive pop music to the people picked up pace earlier this year with the release of their live anthem Apply Some Pressure which hit the UK top 20.

Their latest single Graffiti is set to sweep all before it and can be found on the soon-to-be-released debut album A Certain Trigger which is released through Warp Records on Monday.

Wakefield's The Cribs have been on the lips of all those in the know for the best part of a year now. The three brothers can count some important fans amongst their number, including The Ordinary Boys, Kaiser Chiefs and The Libertines, with whom the pop fuzz trio have shared the stage in 2005.

With debut chart single, Hey Scenesters bringing them to overground attention and the imminent release of their second album for Wichita, The New Fellas – super-cool indie home of Bloc Party and Bright Eyes among others – it seems The Cribs' time is upon us.

New Zealand's hard-rocking newcomers The Checks have, up until now, been wowing fans in their home country. They cite the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, T-Rex, the Small Faces and Creedence Clearwater Revival as influences, but also love the more up-to-date sensations the White Stripes and the Strokes.

Doors 7.30pm. Tickets at £8 in advance are available in Norwich from UEA Union, Waterfront, Soundclash and HMV. Credit card bookings 01603 508050 or www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk

t Event has teamed up with the NME New Music Tour 2005 in association with Rizla to give away three pairs of tickets to see Maximo Park, the Cribs and the Checks at the Waterfront, Norwich. on Wednesday night.

All you have to do is answer this simple question and email your answer, including a daytime telephone number, to arrive by Monday May 16 to colin.wilson@archant.co.uk.

How many UK cities will the NME New Music Tour 2005 visit?

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