The Young Offenders Institute are putting the working class rebellion back into rock 'n' roll music -and with it, the hunger, the wit and the melodies.

They grew up together in the Manchester suburb of Collyhurst, dodging work and the long arm of the law. They are still there today. Singer and rapper JP was the first to plot their escape route: The Young Offenders Institute. A filmmaker (Steve Price, Revelator Films) started following him and has been there ever since. A drummer joined and quit out of fear. A guitarist joined, moved to Manchester, quit, and won't be returning to Manchester. One by one, JP's friends joined up: first, brothers Chris Rigg (lead guitar/vocals) and John Rigg (bass); drummer Steve Basher and, finally, rhythm guitarist Alan Lamb, cementing the definitive line-up in June 2004.

Flying in the face of conventional music business wisdom (not for the first or last time), they played their first ever gig at a packed Cellar Vie during the In The City industry convention in September 2004. The entire music industry was there. Most of them walked out in disgust after two songs. Those who stayed behind witnessed a seminal moment in rock 'n' roll history. Local heroes Puressence were singing along, as were London cognoscenti punk bands Thee Unstrung and The Paddingtons. Producer Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve, Ash, Electronic - and he's more rock 'n' roll than any of these bands) was pogoing down the front and, days later, cancelled all other engagements to produce three tracks for them. Then he cancelled some more engagements while he recovered.

Steve Lamacq got hold of these recordings and, several Radio 1 plays later, declared on air "The Young Offenders Institute have come along to shake up what's become rather a smug indie mainstream". Terry Christian agrees - Acid Man was the only unsigned track to make it into the top 40 of 2004 on his influential BBC GMR show. As the buzz in Manchester grew, Tony Wilson launched his new F4 label, with one of the first releases set to be a one-off single by The Young Offenders Institute on May 30th.

Now, The Young Offenders Institute are ready and the world is ready for them.