Fresh from their storming appearance at the Spring & Airbrake in March, the Brighton-based group have enjoyed a word-of-mouth success since their inception in 2001 and 2008 looks to be their defining year.

Their style ranges from the sweeping, often epic, guitar pop sound to the visceral and angular.

Critics have likened their sound to a variety of groups, from The Cure and Pixies and they've most often been compared to Joy Division.

Their debut single Fear of Drowning was issued in limited numbers of their own Golden Chariot label.

Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records saw the band live and in September 2001 signed them to his label.

The Decline of British Sea Power, the band's debut album, was released in June 2003 to critical acclaim.

A single from the album, Carrion, became the band's first Top 40 single.

The album only charted in the lower reaches of the UK Album Chart but turned out to be a word of mouth success, shipping well over 60,000 copies over the following two years and allowing them to play sell-out UK tours to venues of over 1,000 people.

The follow-up, Open Season, was released in early April 2005, and also enjoyed wide critical praise.

It showcased a more accessible, produced sound and charted at Number 13 in the UK Albums Chart. Lead single It Ended on an Oily Stage charted at Number 18 in the UK Singles Chart a week earlier.

2008 saw the release of Do You Like Rock Music? an album on which British Sea Power's long game comes to a compelling conclusion.

Good is arrayed against evil; rock music against non-rock music. Subject matter includes floods on Canvey Island, economic migration, Slavia Prague FC, heartache and the Apocalypse – plus the Great Skua and the wrestler born Shirley Crabtree and known as Big Daddy. The Great Skua is a big piratical sea bird. Here it provides the title for a gorgeous sweep of instrumental music – one strand in an album that moves from the six-minute rock fantasia of Lights Out For Darker Skies to the beauteous alt-rock pastoral-soul of No Need To Cry.

The band has a reputation for elaborate and well-thought out live shows and won the 2004 Time Out London Live Band of the Year award.

Tickets for their Mandela Show on Tuesday, September 30, go on sale this Friday, May 16, priced £15, from Katy Daly's, Zavvi and all usual Ticketmaster outlets. For credit card bookings and information, telephone 0870 243 4455 or book online at www.geturticket.com