Monsters from Mars

There's a giant vampire octopus lurking in your swimming pool. It's taking it's command from a UFO that's hiding inside a Hawaiian volcano. Somewhere up in space a fleet of octopuses are on their way, and the only person that can stop them is a teenage surfer who's oblivious to it all... and who's primary concern is getting tickets to a Dead Kennedys concert.

I don't know about you, but I'd pay to go see that movie - and it's exactly the kind of Ed Wood style madness that you'll get from listening to California's Monsters From Mars. Their instrumental garage surf tunes re-imagine the roots of the respective 1950s genres, and then take them into overdrive.

However, retro hip shakin' music isn't the only thing to love about this band: they subvert contemporary hits (such as Britney Spears' 'Toxic') into surf masterpieces, claim to be the defenders of Atlantis, and even have a refreshingly made-up back history that involves Phil Spector, the Mile High Club, and a drum kit made out of rocks and trees.

There are no signs of any European shows for the time being - the band seem happy to be playing the beaches of San Diego - but let's hope that they'll steadily build up a cannon of warped-pop masterpieces, and then unleash their X-ray lazers all over the world.

MONSTERS FROM MARS MYSPACE