Alex Lloyd on a music night that helps promotes York's newer bands.

THERE'S something special about a night that has contributed to the creation of some of York's most promising new bands.

The Circles, Headspace and Monkey Business are three local acts who took their first steps at monthly City Screen session, Supa Fi.

The night was born in January, when DJ Duke Dylanja came up with the concept of offering homegrown musicians and performers a platform to showcase and test out their ideas, while he gets to spin records.

"It was inspired from musicians and DJs around York finding that there was not an outlet to be creative," he says.

"It's very organic in its approach. It could be a couple of people experimenting together. We have had some great bands that have been developed from that."

Tonight, one of York's most exciting live acts, Scassa Monakee, will be taking to the Basement Bar stage for an exclusive Supa Fi set.

The band, who have their own MC, were finalists in the Fibbers and Evening Press Battle of the Bands last month, and winners of the University of York Battle of the Bands in 2003.

Their all-live electronic sound, which fuses drum and bass, tech-funk, two-step, dancehall and soul, has won them gigs all over the country. They've even supported E-Z Rollers.

Duke Dylanja is confident Scassa Monakee will make tonight one to remember.

"It should be great. I think they are really getting the credit they are due," he says.

The DJ, who is a resident at Mr Green's Onion Club and used to run Get Funky with his brother, will be hitting the decks before the band come on to get the crowd warmed up.

He says: "I play an eclectic mix that goes with the band, but generally it is funk, good quality funk. I throw in a bit of R&B, reggae, drum and bass - whatever fits with the vibe."

This laid-back but exciting attitude draws a varied crowd down to the night, which takes place on the last Friday of each month.

"We have hardcore regulars but it is generally a mixed crowd," he says. "We get people from 18 and early 20s through to late 40s and 50s. It just appeals to people who like good music. Just come down and have a good time."

If you've already got plans for tonight, you can catch The Circles, and their fusion of Sixties and Seventies soul music with underground dance, at next month's Supa Fi on August 27.

There will also be a Supa Fi stage at the York Peace Festival, in Rowntree Park, on Saturday, September 11.

Supa Fi, Basement Bar, City Screen, Coney Street, tonight (30th), 7.30pm, 01904 541144.

Tickets: £3.50, or £3 concessions & members, in advance/£4 on the door.

Updated: 08:43 Friday, July 30, 2004