The Research - Oxford, England, UK

There's a cruel conventional wisdom that states that support bands are invariably picked to try and make the main act look much better in comparison. After you've stood through Mr. Herbert and his tales of woe on his acoustic guitar and detuned harmonica, you'd cheer Joesph Stalin playing the spoons. Thankfully, The Research didn't play this rather cynical game, instead offering their slot to the delightfully bilingual Mono Taxi, who set about creating a lovely start to the evening with their spangly guitar pop tunes that cribbed equally from The Primitives and theAudience. We'll go on a ride with them anytime! (I'm so, so sorry for that last sentence)

The Research themselves are what, back in the day (the day being October 14th 1996, for those of you keeping track at home), we'd call an indie-pop trio. And perhaps we still do. Anyway, a trio usually comprises three members, and the band sticks to tradition on that point, with Russell on keyboards and vocals, Georgia on bass guitar, and Sarah on drums. Although there is some sharing of vocal duties, which we'll mention soon - so don't get impatient - just continue, fearless reader!

The band appears to fall into the category of the new indie-pop starlets like Lucky Soul, Kicker, and The Pipettes, but actually, I think they stem from a long and proud tradition of kitchen-sink British bands of the mid-1990s, most of whom were on the Fierce Panda label. Lots of keyboard action coupled with a cynical but romantic on relationships and life.

But! Enough categorising, I hear you say! Well, the taxomy of British bands is important, but perhaps a subject that can be left for another time. I have to say that I think that downstairs at the Zodiac didn't do The Research too many favours; "I Love You But..."'s gentle, resigned air on record was all but destroyed by the rather distorted sound bouncing all over the room. As if he recognised this, Russell cuts the intro from their biggest hit "C'mon Chameleon," preferring to launch straight in and run through it as fast as possible.

There's plenty of keyboard-bashing antics, plus slightly-awkward-but-still-fairly-amusing banter between the band, but the best moment occurs when they play their new single, "Lonely Hearts Still Beat The Same." A perfect gift for Valentine's Day, and a snip!!!! at only £3 when it comes out in the shops. It's sung by Georgia instead of Russell, and after a slightly shaky start, it opens up into a Northern Soul-esque gem. Let's hope for more of the same on their soon-to-be-a-smash-in-cool-circles new album, Breaking Up, out towards the end of February.

They may stick out a few demos on the Internet and end up selling hundreds of thousands of copies of their debut album. But somehow, I don't think that they really expect, or even want to have that sort of success (cue The Research hastily e-mailing me saying that yes, in fact they do want millions of sales. And cash. And a never-ending stream of Cadbury's Dairy Milk pumped direct from Bourneville straight into their fabulous mansion somewhere in the Cotswolds. Oh, and toast. They're an odd sort, aren't they?). They're quite happy building up their fanbase, and continuing to produce charming songs. What more could you really ask for?