Ian McNabb

Ian McNabb plays The Voodoo Rooms on Friday 27 November, with the show starting at 7:30pm. It's a solo bill, so the night is built around his songwriting and his Liverpool wit.

If the name doesn't ring a bell, you'll likely know the band he started. McNabb formed The Icicle Works in 1981 with Chris Sharrock on drums and Chris Layhe on bass and vocals, and they became part of the Liverpool renaissance of the eighties alongside Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and The La's. They scored a top 20 UK hit with 'Love Is A Wonderful Colour' and top 40 placings with 'Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)' before splitting in 1988.

From there, McNabb moved into a prolific solo career. He signed to This Way Up and released Truth and Beauty in 1993, followed by Head Like a Rock in 1994, which earned a Mercury Prize nomination. Merseybeast came in 1996, and Q heralded it as one of the best records released in the magazine's lifetime. He later published an autobiography with the same title, Merseybeast, and has put out many self-financed albums on his own Fairfield Records imprint, often working with the band Cold Shoulder.

He's open about where he comes from, too. He cites Neil Young, Badfinger, The Who, T Rex and The Beach Boys as influences, and you can hear those threads running through the work. Tickets are £23.00, and the show starts at 7:30pm at The Voodoo Rooms, 19a West Register Street, Edinburgh EH2 2AA.