SAVIOURS of British Rock? Ex-Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp certainly thinks he has the power to turn things around.

After spending several years in ‘exile’ in LA where he was ‘embarrassed to watch British rock bands being laughed off the Conan O’Brien Show’ he’s come back home to Manchester to show the Yanks that music didn’t die the day '68 Guns’ dropped out of the charts.

Where The Alarm specialised in chest-beating stadium rock tunes, Soul Company specialise in pretty much the same field, except Sharp’s years on the American solo circuit have injected some folksy Americana into the mix.

Accompanied by 10cc drummer Paul Burgess and Dr Feelgood guitarist, Moe Witham, they’re hardly going to be chasing Jack and Meg White off the stage without someone raising the alarm for an oxygen tank.

A much respectable attempt to re-ignite the flames of UK rock, but then for all our faults, 2003 witnessed Radiohead, Coldplay, Blur, Elbow, Muse and The Darkness (phew!) become even more high-profile than before.

Whilst US bands such as The Strokes and Limp Bizkit came up with sodden pastiches of their own sound.

So after all, maybe Sharp shouldn’t worrying himself with the thought of conquering the US, it’s hardly a mark of great taste.

Soul Company play The Roadhouse on Saturday, January 17. £4/£5.