LOCAL band Sounder have just won the regional final of Battle of the Bands held at Portsmouth's Wedgewood Rooms on June 21.

They were joint winners with fellow Southampton band Toupe. Both will be playing at the UK final at London's Astoria on July 20. Sounder will be playing the Joiners Arms, Southampton on July 13 and the Eastleigh Festival on August 2.

BUSHBABY, a Bristol based band mixing elements of grunge, metal and fizzy punk-pop will grace the Joiners Arms in Southampton on 9 July. The band take their influences from artists such as Feeder, A, Bush, Creed and Terrorvision.

Recently described as producing 'dangerously infectious sophisticated top quality indie-rock', Bushbaby have already reached the accolades of the Metal Hammer magazine demo of the month and Total Radio's band of the week. Tickets for the Joiners show are £4, for further details telephone the venue on: 023 8022 5612.

CAPTAIN Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres is one of the best selling novels of recent years and was adapted into a movie starring Nicholas Cage. Southampton Classical Guitar Society have embraced the spirit of the book and other works by de Bernieres - an accomplished guitar and mandolin player himself.

A performance by Australian guitarist Craig Ogden and the UK's leading classical mandolin player Alison Stephens, with works inspired by the novel, will take place on 4 July at The Point, Eastleigh. The performance starts at 8pm. Tickets are priced at £9 (£6 concessions). Box office: 023 8065 2333.

A PROGRAMME of music from the first Elizabethan era will take place at Edmund Kell Unitarian Church, Southampton on 4 July. Entitled The Triumph of Oriana:

The Frescobaldi Consort, the performance on recorders, bass viol and harpsichord will include works by Byrd, Dowland, Holbourne and Simpson. Further details are available on: www.meltingpot.org.uk/consort. The performance starts at 7.30pm, Tickets: £6 (concessions: £4).