Like most fem-pop these days, Red Vinyl Fur are not to be trifled with.

Singer and bassist Alison Donohue begins the tale. "We did a gig at the… "

"Don't say where it was!!" shrieks guitarist Kara Leckenby.

"In Stockport, it was quite ... I wouldn't say rough."

"It was a biker pub," qualifies singer and guitarist Mandy Torkington.

"We were four girlies going in, and we started to play and we got heckled by a guy, and eventually, unbeknownst to us, we carried on playing, and the bikers were beating him senseless."

"All I could see was this blue light coming through this darkened window," says Kara.

"The thing is," reasons Alison, "they really liked us and we thought we were going to go round like a lead balloon.

"And because this guy was heckling us, we were worried ... and then the police turned up in riot vans and everything. Some guy got beat up because we played!"

Kara shudders. "We just did one."

Rock chivalry

It seems that the rare occurrence of an all-girl rock act in masculine Manchester is enough to bring out the chivalry even in meatheads. Which may or may not be the point.

Red Vinyl Fur (rather than blue, because they're hardened United fans) formed in 1999 around Stockport, graduated to the Manchester circuit, and soon attracted US interest, leading to a mini-tour of California last year.

They say they were treated like royalty ("they were asking for our autographs and everything!" coos Alison), but claim to have found the worst toilet, where the doors are like stables.

Somewhere, lost down the back of the internet, is a picture.

The fact they are all girls, happily, far less interesting than the fact that they produce some of the most arresting indie-jangle in Manchester right now.

Comparisons

When they rock out they sound like Joy Division's brattish sisters. When they bring it down they sound like a saner Throwing Muses. But their layered, harmonised mood-pop sounds, more than anyone, like Red Vinyl Fur. Chief songwriter Kara doesn't hear any of the comparisons, but reasons, "at least it's not the Bangles."

"We were really poppy at first," admits Alison, "but it's turned around. Each song changes all the time."

There's definitely something brewing at the heart of Red Vinyl Fur, and spurred on by accolades like Xfm's heralding of them as one of the unsigned acts of 2001. This year there's the serious business of releasing records to get on with. Last year's lullaby demo Driving Rain is one good start, but first there's the serious business of recruiting a permanent drummer. And will any boys be allowed in?

"It's what we are now," explains Alison, "that's how we've gone, Red Vinyl Fur is four girls now, it's got to stay that way. We're not saying we'd rule out having a male drummer at all, but we've got a reputation as being all girls."

Red Vinyl Fur play Manchester Roadhouse on Tuesday.

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