Helen McCookerybook & Asbo Derek

Helen McCookerybook and Asbo Derek share a bill at The Prince Albert on Friday 18 December, with the night starting at 19:30. It's a double bill that brings together two very different ways of working: McCookerybook as a solo guitarist and vocalist, and Asbo Derek as a full band.

McCookerybook's songs look at the social impact of new technology and relationships, and she lists Linda Lewis, Nick Drake and Jake Thackray among her influences. She's been part of the Brighton scene for a long time, starting out as a bass player in a punk band in the late seventies. From there she went on to The Chefs and Helen and the Horns, both of which were regulars on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, and she's collaborated with Gina Birch, Vic Godard, Lester Square and Robert Rotifer. Hearing her solo, with just guitar and voice, puts the focus on the songwriting and the lyrics.

Asbo Derek is a band that Vic Godard describes as 'double-garage cabaret'—which he explains as a form of affordable art featuring rough-honed, satirical and noisy music with the spirit of punk and a kazoo thrown in. It's a loud, satirical approach that sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from McCookerybook's solo work, so the two acts should balance each other out over the course of the evening.

Tickets are £12, and the night kicks off at 19:30 at The Prince Albert, 48 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ED.