Jon Byrne’s rise to prominence has, surprisingly, been a long and arduous one. He was raised in the tough industrial U.K. town of Barrow-in-Furness. This experience allowed Jon to write about the rough side of the social spectrum; he says he writes from the soul and insists his songs tell it ‘how it is.’

With sharp looking suits, even sharper lyrics, beautifully woven melodies and performances that shake the stage with enough energy to force the needle off the Richter Scale, Jon Byrne, will be releases his new album Built By Angels to coincide with his U.K. tour. He comes to Liverpool on Saturday 18th May.

Working with Clash legend, Mick Jones, is up there as his career highlight along with recording with Devlin Love from Alabama 3 and being given the Glastonbury Leftfield best ‘new artist’ award for his solo performance at the festival.

Jon explains, “Certain people, the strange, the humorous goings on and the dark side of the street mainly in my home town have always inspired me but also life, family, comedy and films. Living with my Mam in the late eighties I observed her struggle to find money and coping with the stress of men letting her down. At an early age I observed my Mother’s heartbreaks and began to look at things in a more realistic way, consequently such songs like Money is Better than Love and Beautiful Love were then born. My dad is a playwright so from a young age I sat watching him type in a room filled with cigarette smoke. He lost his step son and his wife in the space of a few years and I remember worrying for his mental state and where his life would end up so the song Halfway to Ruin was written which I still regard as my best song.”

Tickets for Jon Byrne’s night at Studio 2 on Parr Street are priced at £5.