DESPITE the popular belief that band names must be pre-fixed by 'The' in order to succeed, one man is blasting that theory into music hyperspace.

Mark Wilson is an acoustic performer based in St Helens, who after a successful period with the support of a talented four-piece backing band, under the modest guise of The Mark Wilson Band, has now decided to brave the big bad world and go it alone.

With folk and blues influences that include Nick Drake, John Martyn and Bert Jansch, Mark brings a combination of skill and eclecticism to the guitar, combining dextrous finger picking with brooding compositions. He has impressed audiences across the North West to rapturous applause and was recently asked to play at the famous Wickerman Festival in Dumfries, Scotland.

Having already recorded two impressive demo albums, 'The End of the Beginning' and 'The Beginning of the End', Mark is set to record his debut album at Parr Street studios in Liverpool in the coming months, incorporating the best tracks from his two demos plus new material.

Anything but ordinary, Mark's stunning repertoire makes innovative use of tape looping, finger picking and slap technique, enveloping himself in his own playing while continuing to play lead over the swelling sound.

Tracks like 'Born Again' and 'Rainbow' infuse delicate, rippling rhythms, with a raw honesty of the ups and downs of life unfolding through the eyes of one man. Songs that sound almost like a lullaby, hold lyrics that declare, "I know how it feels to be misunderstood, like this generation..." while the enthralling rhythm in 'Better Days' beats like a relentless ticking clock, only to be quashed by lyrics of hope that hold a childlike innocence and optimism.

They are beautiful songs with a deep running dark edge to them, depicting visions of failure, loneliness and melancholy, but driven forward with a chillingly simplistic beauty. When the time came when you had to tell your kids that Father Christmas didn't exist, you'd want Mark to break it to them.

On more upbeat songs such as 'Losing Myself' and the swaggering blues fever of 'Alone', Mark plucks at the strings with a tension that could cut diamond. Simple circular beats are laced with intricate guitar movements weaving in and out of the soft, warm vocals. With stunning guitar work, beautiful arrangements and smooth vocals, there's a heartbreaking honesty in these songs that makes you want to crack open a bottle of bourbon and give the poor bloke a shoulder to cry on.

And if it sounds good on record, it's nothing compared with the thrill of watching him play in the flesh. Live favourite 'Memories' leaves you breathless with its thunderous railroad riffs that would have 'Duelling Banjos' running for cover. When this song kicks in, you know there's trouble in them there hills.

It's songs like this that hint at what Mark Wilson is really capable of. A recent review commented; "There is a monster being created somewhere in St Helens and I guess we are all going to come across it". (Paul Mullen, S-Press Magazine)

It's fair to say that the beast has now been unleashed. Let the music kick in and the pickin' begin...