AS YOU read this article somebody, somewhere, will be rubbing their hands after selling a Leeds Festival ticket on eBay.

Bids of up to £370 a ticket are being posted each minute on the online market. So the Harley have set their sights on philanthropic goals – to create a cheap, quality festival for those who don't have hundreds of pounds to burn (or soak, as has been the case with last weekend's V and Green Man festivals).

The aptly-named 2Poor2Pitch starts next Friday and does what it says on the tin. No pitching is necessary and, while punters might not see Rage Against the Machine, the £14 ticket covers some of Sheffield's premier unsigned acts in addition to up-coming nationwide bands.

2Poor2Pitch's musical agenda is eclectic – spanning electro hip/hop funk, bluesy indie, rocky indie, alternative folk and experimental pop rock. Among the bands on the bill this weekend are Pistola Kicks, Skeletons, Alvarez King, Avangaad, Playground Mafia, Little Ze, Lemon Tear Gas, Paddy Orange, Jody Wildgoose and Tudors – all Sheffield bands.

In addition to these Detroit Social Scene, Working for a Nuclear Free City and Future of the Left will grace the stage. Hosting the night are Sheffield's historic recording studios Club 60, Drowned in Sound and, of course, Your Harley.

Club 60's night, which includes sets from Skeletons, Pistola Kicks, Jody Wildgoose and Paddy Orange, was organised by Paul Blakeman, who says: "We wanted to give something to the outside world, with involved with a lot of music in Sheffield and there's plenty more to come.

"We're bringing that to the attention of everyone, this is our 'hello' to the world."

Club 60 can boast some of the weekend's highlights. Rotherham/Sheffield band Skeletons plays its bluesy indie. Sharing the bill with them is Alvarez Kings, whose You Me, Them Us is a dancefloor indie anthem, with irresistible punchiness and instant grooves.

The band has, according to Simon Thompson, been hunted by numerous record labels, "There are labels pushing the band to sign but the band is holding out."

All South Yorkshire stock, the Alvarez Kings' have been dedicated to writing punchy pop since the now twenty-somethings were in their teens: "We've always just written music that we're interested in and that's always been that style of music, regardless of what's going on around us. It's just luck that that music is up to date."

Speaking of the band's aesthetic, Simon points to their respective parents' fondness of the Beatles as a major influence in Alvarez Kings' sound. "That probably played a big part in it – and we were all growing up when the Strokes were becoming popular."

In contrast to the Alvarez Kings' visceral floor-fillers, Manchester's Working for a Nuclear Free City play ethereal, wall-of-sound music with swooning loops of guitar that build intense sonic atmospheres.

An angelic backing behind the haunting vocals creates a prophetic-like sound. Swirls, samples and building climaxes add a psychedelic quality to WFANFC, but, despite this Gary McClure (guitars) says: "There's never been an intention to be an ethereal band – maybe we use too much reverb."

Since forming in 2003 WFANFC have played a "few hundred" gigs, marking out a refined, big live sound as a result. "We don't get as drunk now – we used to get absolutely smashed but we grew out of it," laughs McClure.

While WFANFC create sonic landscape paintings, Pistola Kicks are rock hard, with lively indie and anthem-like songs. The band were selected by Umbro for its soundtrack during commercial breaks in internationally-broadcast football matches.

Joe Moran (guitars/vocals) says: "We like to keep playing music in suspense, taking it to edgy extremes."

Soon the band travels to London to play at the Shepherds Bush Empire in front of 5,000 people for a TV production company that is launching a new Jools Holland-like music programme.

Closer to home, the band looks forward to this weekend: "We like playing at the Harley, it's going to be quite an informal gig."

But where Pistola Kicks combine the sounds of four members, bill-mate Jody Wildgoose is Sheffield's mysterious solo artist – the hermit of avant garde pop. From the age of 11 Jody Wildgoose has been writing music and playing in bands. "When I was 11 I was with a band called Various Vegetables and we have a good following. We got into recording and I went to school for a bit but when the band got more serious I ended up leaving. This wasn't made easy by the authority."

Various Vegetables finished when Wildgoose was 16 but three years later he re-emerged with a four-track. Inspired by the works of alt-rock mentalists Ween, Wildgoose started laying down drum, guitar and bass tracks. But later that year he was run over, which "stopped him in his tracks" musically.

When he re-emerged he was snapped up by Sketchbooks, an independent label with whom Wildgoose released his debut, Lovely White Teeth, and the critically-acclaimed Afterlife. Afterlife's packed with smashing pop, drop-beat drums and mentalist phrasing. It's fresh, gripping - embracing psychedelic surround sound with grungy riffs.

Wildgoose wrote and recorded the majority of the music himself, "except the cello and I got my friend Brian on piano, because i can't play posh piano."

This weekend's gig is one of few opportunities to catch Wildgoose, whom was described by Mojo magazine as "Sheffield-based lo-fi maverick (who] strikes gold."

2Poor2Pitch starts next Friday (August 29) at the Harley. For a full line-up see listings.


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