What's coming to the South in the New Year.

The Killers will headline the hottest tour of the year when the ShockWaves NME Awards Tour 2005 kicks off next month including a stint at the Guildhall in Southampton in February.

The Futureheads, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs will complete the explosive line-up for what promises to be one of the biggest rock n' roll extravaganzas of the year.

The annual four-way rock-off has become a legendary starting block for bands on the cusp of greatness.

Last year Franz Ferdinand were bottom of the bill, and went on to become the band of the year. Previous years have seen Coldplay, Starsailor, The Thrills and The Coral cutting their rock teeth on the NME Tour.

This year promises to be the most exciting yet.

Throughout January and February the bands will tear across the UK in the run-up to the ShockWaves NME Awards on February 17 in London.

To book tickets log on to www.nme.com or contact the NME ticketline on 0870 1663 663.

TRAVELLING songbird Willy Mason will be hopping over the pond to play live at Joiners in February as part of a 12-date UK tour.

The 19-year-old troubadour from Massachusetts returns to the UK to promote the release of his debut single Oxygen and first album Where The Humans Eat - both out on February 28.

Described as a effigy of Bob Dylan and Elliott Smith, Willy decamped to New York after leaving high school where he performed at various open-mic nights as well as opening up for acts like Ben Kweller, Roseanne Cash, Bright Eyes and Greg Brown.

Catch him live at the Joiners on February 23.

ATHLETE bring their collection of ambient indie sounds to Portsmouth's Pyramid on January 16 as part of a low-key British tour in support of their second album Tourist, which is released later that month.

It follows on from 2003's Mercury Prize nominated album Vehicles and Animals, which shifted 250,000 copies. The first single to be released of the album, Wires, hits the shops on January 17. The single has already been a Record of the Week on Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show. The band will embark on a bigger tour of the UK in March though with no scheduled dates in or around Southampton January's stint at the Pyramid will be the only chance fans have to see them here.

BAND Aid 20's version of Do They Know Its Christmas? might be the official Yuletide number one this year, but there's another festive song a group of musicians in Southampton have written with just as poignant a message. Living in a Capitalist World by It's No Joke Productions has already been played on Internet radio stations in the States.

The song is the brainchild of a group of like minded musicians and songwriters from the city concerned about the problems effecting today's world.

"Hopefully this song will bring those issues a little closer to people's hearts this Christmas," said Ben Richards of It's No Joke Productions.

To hear the song log on to www.crippleprofit.com