TWISTED Wheel will headline Heartbreakers in Southampton on July 6.

Born in the backwaters of Saddleworth in 2008, the young band, fronted by the feral, precocious Jonny Brown, roared into the race of indie rock with such anthems as Oh what have you done, She’s a Weapon, Lucy The Castle and You stole the Sun.

Their irrepressible energy and ability to deliver inspired rock’n’roll gained them the support slots with Oasis, Kasabian, Paul Weller, The Courteeners, The Happy Mondays and Ian Brown, as well as sell-outs on their first UK tour

The unlikely combination of elegance and raw inspiration and the familiar coupled with the random make Twisted Wheel an undeniably popular act that delivers the goods in a way few bands can.

The band has grown up and Brown’s song structures and lyrics are on another level, beyond haggard experience now, worn in with wisdom and wit.

As he says: “The song Smash It Up epitomised me.

“I set out to do things and was on the road comfortably and then I turned off and smashed it to bits.

“I get stuck into things with a passion and then I have to destroy it when the passion’s gone.

“Mess everything up so that I’m free again to reinvent, create.

“And album, Snakes and Ladders, is frankly about the band blowing the ladders of opportunity they were given – and the snakes which led to them falling off the board. ”

Twisted Wheel has indeed rocked and rolled, been smashed up, fallen off the wagon, gone solo, kicked to the kerb – before finding its groove and getting back on it, full speed ahead.

The Oldham four-piece sees the return of Twisted Wheel’s original drummer Adam Clarke, new members Richard Allsopp on guitar, Harry Lavin on bass and Jonny Brown on guitar and vocals.

It may have been bad, bent and broken but it’s back, a band with integrity, fun and authority.