WELSH pop band The Hot Puppies close their current UK tour with a show in the Barfly this weekend.

They're originally from Aberystwyth but these days they base themselves in Cardiff.

Since moving they've signed to Welsh label Fierce Panda through whom they release a new single next month.

The Girl Who Was too Beautiful is released on Monday, May 1. It was inspired by problem page queen and gruff-voiced TV presenter Mariella Frostrup and Hitchcock's film Vertigo.

The A side is backed with two songs Just Like A Roman Candle and The Crooked Moon.

They might well be the songs that take The Hot Puppies beyond local curio to national pet.

Their last single Terry allowed The Hot Puppies to become the very first band to release a single on the brand new label Fandango and sold out its limited edition run.

They've come to be one of the more intriguing Welsh pop bands capturing the sounds of the pier and the life of the public house. Becky Newman is a great singer and her mate Beth Gibson creates some fantastic whirling sounds on her keyboards.

Luke Taylor, Ben Faircloth on bass and Rupert Wood on drums make a decent gallop and take in some twangy surf sounds on the way.

Single, Green Eyeliner, was one of their first releases and was put out on Bath based label Purr Records in 2004.

It was a dark and romantic story about a married man going to the pub on his own with the intention of leaving on his own. But Newman tempts him from the bar.

The Hot Puppies play Barfly, Cardiff on Saturday, April 8. For more info surf to www.thehotpuppies.com.