Former Maldune and Three Million guitarist and singer Alex Cowley makes his musical comeback this week.

Having been away from the live circuit for a while, Alex Cowley and the Backbeats will be taking their bow in Ramsey on Saturday night.

Featuring a handful of ex-Three Million bandmates including Gary Smith and Chris Honour, the Backbeats will be playing a set of Alex’s original songs with a few choice covers thrown in to boot.

They will be joined by former Maldune bass player Steve Nash, singing a solo set of his own originals, and rock-dance beasts Dusty Plankton, featuring singer Christian Clague, guitarist Nell Kneale, Martyn Cain on bass and Jonny Peacock on drums for the night, which takes place at the Cooil Bar, Ramsey, on Saturday evening, from 8pm.

Tickets are £5 in and more details are available from the Alex Cowley and the Backbeats Facebook page.

Elsewhere around the island, this week sees the start of a whole new set of monthly concerts aimed at attracting a new audience to listen to local bands.

Not a bad thing all round, eh?

The Voodoo Bandits are gearing up for a headline gig at the first ’Made in Mann’ concerts, held at the Promenade suite, Villa Marina, tomorrow night (Friday).

The hard-working, ever-gigging surf pop group, led by singer and guitarist Ben Donaldson and also featuring Charlotte Wilby on bass and twins Corey Vaughan and Nathan Vaughan on lead guitar and drums respectively will be supported by a class line up, including A Stones Throw and The Getaways, making for a pretty decent night of music all round.

The gig is free to get into, kicks off from 7.30pm and is open to everyone over the age of 16.

The Made In Mann concerts have been organised by Villa Marina and the Isle of Man Arts Council, and feature bands who have been helped in someway by council funding in the past.

The next gig takes place month, featuring the bouncing folk popsters Biskee Brisht, with Sunset Jet appearing in December.

Hopefully these will be the start of more gigs of a similar nature in the future and plenty more local bands will get the opportunity to head up their own nights at the Villa in the months to come.

Also, Saturday is the second Independent Record Store Day, which is being marked by Sound Records, in Douglas.

Jack will be filling the shop with plenty of rare and hard-to-get vinyl releases, so make sure you get in the queue early to grab the deals.

The good news is that Sound Records are hosting a gig at the Embassy Room, above the British Hotel, North Harbour, featuring everyone’s psyche-eclectic noise merchants Baad Acid, with support from El Catraz. Bad news is that the gig sold out ages ago. Unlucky.