YOU can tell there's an election coming - the Tories are jumping on the bandwagon again - this time literally! The Evening Telegraph of January 25, depicted Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans as having some kind of serious connection to the music industry.

The music industry starts at grass roots, not in some dusty Parliamentary committee room! I have been a singer with Rossendale band The Mighty Asylum (above), for nine years and we have played every significant venue and every major gathering of unsigned bands in Lancashire for at least the last five years. Not once have I seen Mr Evans' face, heard his name or felt the wealth of his musical knowledge.

How ironic that Nigel's nonsense should appear in your 'Pulse' section. If his finger was on the pulse, then maybe he would address the fact that most new bands in the North West, and indeed throughout the country, have to rely on playing two sets for an average of £40 a night in order to be heard.

STEVIE McCLUSKIE, The Mighty Asylum.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.