WHEN Brit Pop reached the peak of its powers in the late 1990s, Hereford was lucky enough to welcome Pulp, the Manic Street Preachers, James, Mogwai and the Happy Mondays to the city's leisure centre.

Despite the sporting arena's less than perfect acoustics, hundreds crammed into the venue to enjoy the experience of seeing and hearing their heroes close up.

But with the closure of the Crystal Rooms and bigger bands limiting themselves to only touring larger venues, Hereford remained off the routes for many travelling groups.

And, despite the efforts of those running The Jailhouse, the noughties proved a tricky time for live music fans to get their fix in the city.

It was partly out of this frustration that Hereford Live was created – and now, two years on, live music is making a welcome return to bars, pubs and clubs across the city.

Richard Lovell was one of the group's founders and has seen the movement go from strength to strength.

He said: "Going back some years we used to get bands come to Hereford on important tours, but that petered out.

"So our group got together to introduce venues and bands to each other in a bid to help both of them. There are a lot of musicians in the city who play original music so we want to help them."

During the last two years Hereford Live has hosted musicians from as far afield as Shrewsbury and South Wales, who have showcased their talents alongside more local bands and singers.

Venues for recent events have included The Barrels, The Victory and The Venue.

Since their formation the group have showcased over 60 bands playing a wide range of music including rock, punk, metal, acoustic and dance.

Some of the musicians and bands they have hosted over the last few months include Tom Seals, Puma Creek and Headsticks while Quarter Stone followed up their Hereford Live gigs with a BBC radio performance.

Claire Perkins, of heavy rock band 'A Hundred Suns', said that the volunteer group has been instrumental in helping her band reach out to fans.

She said: "They're brilliant at supporting musicians and getting people to show up to concerts. Their help with promotion is really good and we now have over 300 fans on Facebook despite only being together for less than a year."

Osh Jones, from Red Room Therapy, has travelled from South Wales to play gigs organised by Hereford Live and said that the group's volunteers are important in keeping a music culture in the city.

He added: "In Wales music is very natural and is part of our culture, while in Hereford the music scene still needs nurturing. Hereford Live is doing a great job of doing that."

Hereford Live's next event is an evening at The Barrels on December 9, featuring the Linerunners and The Lonesome Stampede.

For more information check the Hereford Live Facebook page.

Mr Lovell hopes that his band of volunteers can help more groups get the exposure they deserve He added: "We are very enthusiastic about music and we want to get the message out there that there are very talented people in Herefordshire and they deserve a chance.

"If we can help them along the way then that's brilliant."