Byline: By Rick Fulton

LIVING up to their name, unsigned Scots band Punch & The Apostles have delivered a knockout blow to Scotland's current musical successes.

When asked what the seven-piece gypsy rabble-rousers think of KT Tunstall, The Fratellis and The View, lead singer Paul Napier sneered: "I wouldn't call it music, I'd call it fashion."

Having seem them at a battle of the bands night in Glasgow's ABC (they won but didn't stick around to be congratulated) Punch & The Apostles are Scotland's most exciting new band.

They love being different.

Of the Oasis and Franz Ferdinand clones littering the music scene, Paul said: "We have utter contempt for those kind of bands. We see ourselves as very different.

"People may like our music or they might be offended by it, confused by it or upset by it."

Bass player Rory Hayejahans added: "We have no interest in 4/4 chord songs. We have all these instruments so it's a shame not to use them."

Whether you hear them or read about them, the Glasgow-based group will polarise opinion.

They consist of Paul (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Rory (bass), Doug Macgregor (drums), Ross Flemming (accordion, percussion), Chas T Frazer (trumpet), Craig Nelson (alto sax) and Paul's sister Juliana (violin, tenor sax).

Their debut single, Asylum, is out on Monday on Lucky Number 9, a small local label and they will launch it tomorrow night at Glasgow's Nice 'n Sleazy.

The single was produced by Mark Freegard, who has worked with Manic Street Preachers, Marilyn Manson, The Breeders, Del Amitri and The Who's Pete Townshend.

Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chief's management are keen to sign them.

And no wonder. With influences including The Birthday Party and Tom Waits, their music has touches of Eastern European folk, punk, blues and is peppered with images of chaotic vaudeville.

Paul, who has something of the young Manics' singer James Dean Bradfield about him, recorded an acoustic album called Stuttering Hand at 19 before forming the band with Doug and Rory last year. Rory, who'd dropped out of uni was working at The Halt Bar in Glasgow when he met Paul, then studying for a degree in philosophy. …