The (Alpha)beat goes on...

Hailing from Denmark's answer to Motown - the small town of Silkeborg is best known for its proliferation of car dealerships - the band have already released three hit singles and a platinum album on home soil, scooping up awards and establishing themselves as a must-see act on the European festival circuit.
And now, with their oddball 'wonky pop' as they call it, they're quickly making a name for themselves over here too.
"We enjoy standing out," says guitarist Anders B.
Good job really.
Take the Anders B thing. It's not style, it's a necessity.
Three of them are called Anders. Anders SG is the male singer, Anders B is the guitarist, Anders Reinholdt plays bass. This can prove confusing.
Three of them are not called Anders. Stine Bramsen takes on female vocals, Rasmus Nagel plays keyboard, and Troels Hansen plays drums.
For a band whose collective early influences include Yazoo, AC/DC, The Beatles and Men Without Hats (Safety Dance, from what Troels claims is "an underrated 80s album", is referenced in one of Alphabeat's songs), you might not expect the sound Alphabeat make - but this is a band who thrive on the element of surprise.
And at a time when we're all used to reading drawn-out descriptions of music sounding 'like a kettle being thrown across a room and hitting a cow on the left leg', Alphabeat's proposition is simple - it's 100% sunshine-fuelled, feelgood music whose chief aim is to prompt the moving of feet. 
"It's all pop," says Anders B, the band's chief songwriter. "We're into melody. We're influenced by things, of course, but you'd never guess what just by listening to our music."
They're playing the Carling Academy next week, and it's just been announced they're supporting The Wombats when they play the ECHO Arena next month.
Clearly the odd-pop Danes can't get enough of our fair city.
The band formed five years ago back in Silkeborg when most of the members had just finished school (although Anders SG had already been expelled for mooning at a bus full of teachers). 
"We were at the same school and we were bored," says Anders B. "But we'd had a great music class together and we decided to start a band."
Alphabeat gradually took shape, and the band outgrew Silkeborg.
"There's only one venue, where we played quite a lot," he says. "That was great - you could buy beer, hang out with your friends and maybe meet some girls. And ride your moped. But after a while, we knew we had to move to the city."
After relocating to Copenhagen Anders wrote a song called Fascination, in his bedroom, and realised he'd struck gold. A Footloose-esque and fancy free soundtrack to the best Bratpack flick you've never seen, it has been their breakthrough single and a festival favourite.
And the band's name? It's a compound of 'alphabet' and 'street'. There's a beat pun thrown into the name too, of course, but if it was good enough for Lennon and McCartney its good enough for this lot.
Catch them now, they are sunshine after the rain. Alphabeat are throwing the fun back into music. And it really is about time.
Alphabeat play Carling Academy Liverpool on October 20. Tickets are now sold out. They are also supporting the Wombats at the ECHO Arena on November 22. Tickets available from:
www.gigsandtours.com, 0871 22 00 260.