"WE'RE A DIY label," says Darren O'Connor, manager of Sheffield Phonographic Corporation.

"We do our own promotion, our own distribution, our website, mail-outs and our A & R."

But O'Connor is really a one-man band. One minute he's putting CD cases together, the next he's scouting a new band.

"I suppose I think I've got a good ear for pop – I can always pick up on something that will be memorable," he said.

Since the label started five years ago it has released 13 singles and seven albums. "We tend to sell out of everything we release – on our own small scale we are very successful. We released the first Long Blondes single but our biggest-selling release was Monkey Swallows the Universe."

This Monday SPC is showcasing three of its bands, Smokers Die Younger, The Bon Bon Club and Standard Fare with support from Navvy, on Sheffield label Angular Records.

Smokers Die Younger

"We're all legal, but we're not dead," says bass player Ian Turley as he defines the band's composition – pointing out that the drummer, Chris Trout, is "about 70."

Smokers Die Younger is a six-piece pop/indie/electro outfit from Sheffield. Their songs vary from what the band describes as "the most indie song ever" to twisted, screeching, electro-tinged spiky guitar. There's a heavy emphasis on defined bass lines and full-on synthesised bleeps (Youth Map).

But lately SDY's sound has changed, as singer, guitarist James Goldthorpe says: "We've dispensed with the screeching – there's less of it on our new stuff. I don't want to say it's less aggressive than the older stuff but – it's just a different mode of attack. It's just as varied as the earlier stuff but different."

"It's less like a kid having a paddy but more like a teenager."

Much of the change in sound is attributable to changes in line-up: "We now have six band members instead of four. Katherine has joined to play violin and there's Amy on autoharp. Songs come together more organically now. We use what's lying around, like radiators being hit with hammers," says Goldthorpe.

This month the band released their single, Sketchpads – an EP featuring the recently-crafted Sketchpads, a light-hearted homage to the four-track ("we had four tracks and that was enough") and a reworked version of the band's Yer Actual by Ross Orton, musician and producer renowned for his work on the Mercury Prize-nominated Arular by political electro hip hop artist MIA. The song's video includes the band running after a chicken.

Sketchpads was launched in Norway, where SDY have just done a brief tour. "We're big in Norway," says Rhys Edwards, "We were on a programme on prime time TV in Norway and Sweden – we got to the gig and there were loads of people singing."

"It was like being in the Beatles," adds Ian, with a deadpan expression.

The band represents seven Sheffield bands between its six members. "We're like a supergroup." Like the Traveling Wilburys? "Yes," James laughs.

"We all borrow each other's members," laughs Rhys.

The cross-fertilisation of SDY is typical of South Yorkshire bands – "Everyone knows everyone in Sheffield," says Turley, who lives with his girlfriend , Claire, who is in Sheffield bands Slow Down Tallahasse, The Bon Bon Club and Navvy. "All the best bands in Sheffield live in my house," he says, to which Rhys asks: "Has your cat started its solo project yet?"

Outside South Yorkshire the band's reputation is gathering momentum, playing European gigs and appearing on a compilation curated by German fashion designer Karl Lagerfield, who also used one of SDY's songs for a fashion show.

But Turley says: "It's pretty ironic that Karl Lagerfeld chose one of our tracks as his favourites – can you imagine if Karl Lagerfeld saw the state of us?

The Bon Bon Club

There's something eerily fitting about The Bon Bon Club's name. The Bon Bon Club is pink, powdery and light on the outside, revealing a dark, menacing undertone.

The band's latest release is an EP of twisted covers, including Pulp's Love is Blind, the Cure's Lullaby and Death From Above 1979's Romantic Rights.

The band – featuring two members of the Long Blondes - strips the songs down to the bare minimum, creating dark, contemplative interpretations. Death From Above's super fast and heavy Romantic Rights is slowed down, with female vocals presenting, perhaps, the other side of the story.

Standard Fare

"A lot of women seem to like us," says Emma Cooper, bassist and singer in Buxton band Standard Fare: "My influence makes it a bit more poppy and accessible and I'm not that into heavy music. I'm quite into making music that's cheerful."

Based in Sheffield, Standard Fare's music covers themes including relationships with soft vocals and light guitar.

Navvy
Where Standard Fare might delicately enter a room, Navvy storm in like the Tasmanian Devil. Bold, brash, fast and aggressive, Navvy take no sonic prisoners.

Navvy was formed after Keith Jones' (bass/vocals) former band Texas Pete split up: "I found myself with a guitar I couldn't do much with. I'd dropped out of art school and my creative side had been frustrated ever since – so I started tinkering about with this guitar."

Jones says: "I'm the least talented musician in the band, so my being the songwriter is a bit odd, but it does explain the oddness of the songs. They're all complete flukes, I never know from one day to the next if I'll ever be able to write another one!"

Smokers Die Younger, The Bon Bon Club, Standard Fare and Navvy play the Harley on Monday (July 28).