GUITAR band Jobe are starting the year full of hope after securing a management deal with the manager of former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown.

Late last year the Ribble Valley lads' bright, anthemic guitar demos captured the attention and imagination of Steve Lowe and forced him to head North to hear more.

Steve said: "I get loads of elaborate demos sent to me every week but you tend to find the bigger the package, the worse the music is. But with Jobe all they sent were these CDs in cryptic packages. I loved the songs and in the end it meant I had to go out and track them down."

And "track them down" he did, to their Beehive practice rooms in Manchester -- where top Manc bands The Stone Roses and James both worked -- they played a short six-song showcase, which instantly convinced him to take them on.

Steve said: "What I like about them is they're a great North West band who aren't trying to be like anyone else. With bands like Elbow and Haven coming out of Manchester at the moment, the unsigned bands nearly always try and copy that style. But Jobe are doing very much their own thing."

The band -- singer Dan Theobalds, guitarist Rob Williams, bassist Andy Hudson and his brother Chris on drums -- are obviously delighted with the deal.

Rob said: "It's great to have got Steve on board, and not only because of his track record. We were all into the Stone Roses while we were growing up, so if we had been able to hand pick our own manager, he would have been our first choice."

Having aimed their music at specific targets, Rob said the songs are the very heartbeat of the band.

He said: "We felt the music spoke for itself, so we kept things very minimal. You can spend loads on demos with photos, covers and websites but we don't concentrate on that. We focus on the songs, the music and practising. There are people who are brilliant on computers who can make the whole thing look great but on our budget we'd have just ended up looking like muppets."

Although things are now on the up for the band, they haven't always enjoyed an easy ride.

Eighteen months ago, a different sort of management/record deal turned sour, leaving the band reeling from the experience.

But refusing to go down without a fight, they booked themselves into the now-defunct Suite 16 studio in Rochdale.

There, working with Jonathan Barrett -- who helped the Milltown Brothers on their early material--they rediscovered their enthusiasm and produced the first recordings they were really happy with.

Describing the sessions as the turning point, the lads -- who have been friends since their days together at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School -- packed their bags and swapped the rural setting of the Ribble Valley for the bright lights of Manchester.

Sharing a home in Prestwich, they put aside other career ideas and personal differences and concentrated all their energies on the band. Night-long practice sessions, critical appraisal and a constant flow of city centre gigs have seen the band develop musically beyond all recognition.

Rob said: "Moving to Manchester has brought us on in leaps and bounds.

"They love their music here but they're also very critical of the bands, so you have to raise you game every time you play. But if you can do it in Manchester you can do it any where. And that's the most important thing for us because we have proved we can do it do it here and now we'd be happy to go play in any city."

Ultra confident with their own live show and having shared the stage with the likes of Terris and Mull Historical Society, they see each gig as new challenge.

Dan added: "When we played with those bands we really did live with them, but if we go to a venue and there's a couple of hundred people in who don't know us it's great because we think, come on then let's go and get them and win them over."

Jobe play two headline shows in Manchester next month.