WELSH band The Caves recruited Newport man Richard Jackson to produce their debut single Wow Machine.

Jackson was one of the 60ft Dolls, one of the bands that were allegedly making Newport the new Seattle.

He's since gone on to produce umpteen records by Welsh bands and released his own highly-acclaimed solo album.

His latest production, Wow Machine, by The Caves was released recently through Main Spring Records.

If you want to find the best indie band in Wales, this is a good start. It's got strong song-writing, passionate hooks, emotive tunes similar to the Strokes but with a distinctly Welsh edge.

The Caves hail from Swansea and they number three. Singer/guitarist Dai Godwin is the deliberate, intense one who used to deliver Readers' Wives porn around South Wales from the back of a van! Bassist/vocalist Darren Beale, has hair always in his eyes, fingers usually working on a fresh rollie.

And drummer/ vocalist Simon Parsons - the missing link between Jarvis Cocker and Keith Moon - has a quip for every occasion.

Everyone writes songs. Everyone writes lyrics. That's the way it works with The Caves.

Watching them, you're reminded of a young Supergrass in the sheer youthful elation they pour into every song, in the way that each member is a crucial third of the whole.

"The Caves is a form of escapism, definitely," admits Simon. "because we live in one of the drabbest places on the planet. But it's mad. You come here and there's no rules. There's no scenes, no subculture. It's vigilante music! Taking the law of the gig into your own hands."

They met in the pub because that's where everyone meets in Swansea, they say, and they were guerrilla gigging before the term existed.

"It's more a case of needs-must. Dya fancy playing? Yeah. Where? Well there's a party - wanna go?"

Their first proper gig took place last September, in front of a hundred friends and baffled onlookers in the band's local snooker hall.

"You know Twin Peaks?" explains Dai. "The room with the red velvet curtains, where there's the dwarf that talks backwards - it was that kind of vibe."

The next gig took place on top of a roof in Dai's back garden. And gradually, bit by bit, rumours started filtering back to London: about this band of prodigies playing grandly optimistic, gritted-teeth amphetamine punk songs deep in the UK's wild west.

The first few A&Rs that travelled down to catch The Caves play in their Swansea rehearsal space, The Asylum, left ashen-faced - perhaps it was the way the band had to barricade themselves into the studio to stop the local scallies from breaking in and stripping the place bare.

All the same, it wasn't long until major label deals started flopping on the table.

The Caves, however, turned them all down, choosing to sign to new indie Main Spring.

This month the band take part in Radio 1's In New Music We Trust tour. They're playing three shows as support to Hope Of The States and The Dead 60s finishing at Glamorgan University, Pontypridd tonight. Dial 01758 710011 for tickets at £11. Surf to www.thecaves.co.uk for more info.