Serpico, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street

AFTER parading their talents around the UK on tour with Elliot Minor and Kill Hannah, it's a return to home soil tonight for five-piece melodic punk/metal band Serpico, who, despite being on the brink of something big, are still to take off in their native Edinburgh.

Introducing . . Capital band Serpico

"It's just one of those things," sighs singer Mikey Serpico. "We've always been more popular everywhere else, and that's something we're hoping to turn around. We'd really love to be getting more of a hometown support."
With glowing reviews for debut album Neon Wasteland pouring in from the likes of Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, and airplay on stations like XFM, the lads hope their local fanbase will have swelled enough to make tonight's gig at Cabaret Voltaire a sell-out.
"I'd absolutely love it if Edinburgh was behind us in the same way as other cities," says Mikey, who feels the reason they've not become so big in their own backyard is because they hit the road so soon after forming.

"We got offered these really big support tours almost straight away," he says. "While that obviously helped raise our profile elsewhere, it meant we never had that period of becoming a really big local band."

That Serpico hit the ground running so soon was largely thanks to acclaimed LA producer Rhys Fulber, who was so impressed with the young band he travelled to the UK to record their debut EP at the Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire, in 2006.

Three days later, the boys emerged with the Serpico EP, which went on to sell more than 2,000 copies on the back of a rave review in the influential Kerrang! magazine and airplay on Iron Maiden legend Bruce Dickinson's Rock Show – no mean feat for an unsigned band.

Last year saw Serpico re-enter the studio with Fulber to record debut album Neon Wasteland. The instruments were recorded at Chapel Studios, again with engineer Will Bartle, and then Mikey hopped across the pond to lay down vocals at a plush LA studio owned by Matt Serletic (Matchbox20, Aerosmith).

"It was cool getting to work with Rhys the first time around because at the time we were completely unknown, having just played a handful of gigs," he explains. "We just sent a random e-mail to his management company asking if he'd like to work with us, and we were stunned when he agreed to do it.

"So, having recorded the EP with Rhys, and being delighted with the results, it was great to get to work with him again on the album.

"After recording at Chapel Studios, I got to go to LA for a few weeks to do the vocals. That was a real hardship," he laughs.

Looking ahead to tonight's gig at the Cab and Mikey is keen to sell the band to those not so familiar with their music. "We combine the best bits of metal and punk, and wrap them up with catchy melodies," he enthuses. "It's very accessible music without being overly saccharin.

"It's our first proper headline show in Edinburgh for ages and, I guess if anyone's heard us a bit, or thinks they might like us, then we'd love them to come along and check us out."

Serpico, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, tonight, 7.30pm, £7.50, 0131-220 6176