Karima puts the rock in Blackpool

But the other Blackpool lass shaping up as a 2009 contender is Karima Francis, who pours the experiences of a difficult upbringing into emotive, nu-folk songs that make comparisons to Tracy Chapman inescapable.

Growing up in the seaside town aside, what these Blackpool girls have in common is that they've both been reducing live audiences to putty, before either has released a studio album.

"It's a bit surreal," says 21-year-old Francis, describing the heaps of hype surrounding her. "I don't really notice it's been going on because I've been on tour and it seems to have been getting a bit more hectic, but I think I'm dealing with it fine. I don't feel like the pressure has hit me or anything like that."

She may be from Blackpool originally, but the Manchester-based musician sees little to recommend her hometown music scene.

"It's so sad there's nothing going into Blackpool and so nothing coming out," says Francis, who comes to Cabaret Voltaire on Tuesday to preview her debut album, The Author, ahead of its release later this month.

"I try to give some advice to friends that are still there and doing music, 'Please just move to the city, somewhere you can actually do something with your music'.

"It's really sad there was no musical influence for me at all. The good thing is that it does have a college which does a music course which I did. It was pretty terrible but still got me to the next bit," she adds.

So she moved to Manchester, a city that's far better known for its music scene. "I moved there when I was 18," she explains.

"It wasn't a university course because I couldn't get into university because I couldn't read music, as much as I tried. I even used to go to this tutor – my mum used to have to pawn things and stuff so she could send me to him and I'd have to sit in this little room and honestly if I was epileptic I'd be dead by now because this light used to flicker so violently.

"He tried to teach me music theory and I just couldn't concentrate because this light was going on and off – I already suffer from a mild ADHD so it was really hard."

Francis endured a difficult childhood as the mixed-raced daughter of an alcoholic single mother (who is now sober). She grew up in poverty, got into trouble at school, and took years to come to terms with her sexuality.

She'd started out drumming in a heavy metal band when she was just 14, but it was only after she made the move to Manchester that her own songs came pouring out. Candidly, she explains, "It was a big risk for me because my mum was still drinking really heavily back then and I left her, although I was the only one looking after her.

"It was hard for me because every day was a worry – what was mum doing, was she all right? Every time she would ring me, she'd shake me up because she'd be drunk. But it was obviously the best thing I did, wasn't it?"

She needn't have any doubts. After swapping drumsticks for an acoustic guitar, it wasn't long before Francis was causing a stir at Manchester's open-mic nights.

Taken under the wing of industry veterans Karen Boardman and Tim Mullett of Crisis Management, she then silenced a room of record company bigwigs at 2006's In The City music business seminar, her storming performance ultimately landing her a publishing deal with Sony ATV in 2007, before later that year signing a recording contract with Kitchenware Records, home to Editors.

Ask her how she found her style, and Francis looks bemused. "I don't know how that's happened or how it developed.

"I think time develops everything and it's not come out of nowhere but it's like my escape and it's developing more as I'm experiencing things - I'm not sure how I'm doing this."

Her single Again has been A-listed on Radio 2 and later this month, interspersed with a clutch of solo dates, she will play her biggest gigs to date as James Morrison's tour support.

"When I wrote that single I wasn't confident about it at all – I wasn't going to play it to anyone," she confesses. "I was in the rehearsal room and I just said 'I wrote this song last night but I'm really embarrassed by it, shall I just start playing and you can all just play along? After, everyone said, 'It's got a really good hook' and I was like, 'Really?' I wasn't going to do it again but now it's coming out, I'm happy.

"I feared that song being the first single because it's the most pop song on the record and I'm scared that people will get the wrong impression. But the video we've done is about me and my mum's life and the alcoholic side of things and it's put an edge on it."

So how excited is she to be going out on tour? "Really excited," she smiles. "I'm starting the tour and have three band dates at the end as well and then I'm doing some dates with James Morrison and we're supporting him for the second half of his tour. That'll be good as I've toured with him twice before."

Midway through her own tour, Francis's debut album will be released – so what are her hopes for the record?

"I would hope just to gain a solid fan base because I've been writing the second record already and I've already got loads of songs I'd like for it," she says.

"I can't ask anyone to support me but I just hope people enjoy it for the next year or so, so maybe I can do another album because I don't want to stop gigging.

"I'm not going to say I hope to win this and that because that's just bonuses. I'm not going to hope for anything because it's too precious to me. I'm too sensitive."

Karima Francis, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, Tuesday, 7pm, 7.50, 0131-220 6176

LAST RESORT: Karima Francis quit her hometown and her troubled upbringing to create her musical career in Manchester

Is Phoenix rising from the ashes of his acting career?

Music matters

gary flockhart

HEARD the one about the Oscar-nominated actor who threw it all away to become a rapper? Odds on, you probably have by now.

Yes, there's been a constant flow of news stories since Joaquin Phoenix, portrayer of Emperor Commodus in Gladiator and country singer Johnny Cash in the biopic Walk the Line, announced his decision to quit the thespian business for the musical one last October.

It's easy to think he might have become bored with Hollywood, opting to try something else instead. After all, people change jobs all the time, don't they? And besides, he'd hardly be the first actor to launch a music career. On the other hand . . . rap? No, we smell a rat, and we did right from the start.

The latest column inches secured by wacky Phoenix came after he took to the stage at a Miami club last week to show the world his hip-hop chops. But instead of earning rave reviews for his rhyming skills, he won headlines for jumping into the crowd to have a go at a heckler.

As he did in his much-maligned appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last month, a seemingly spaced-out Phoenix sported the same look – shaggy beard, dodgy business suit, shades. On each occasion, the man once voted the world's sexiest looked too ridiculous to be playing it for real.

While checking out the YouTube clip, have a look for master-hoaxster Andy Kaufman on Letterman's show which aired in June 1980. In this enthralling segment, a down-on-his-luck looking Kaufman ends up begging audience members for money. Phoenix, you'll notice, uses a lot of the same moves employed by Kaufman 29 years earlier. A lot of them.

Co-conspirator that he may be, Letterman isn't opposed to having 'set-ups' for comedic effect. In the Kaufman sketch Letterman says "Andy Kaufman is here sort of . . ." and he uses a similar turn of phrase in regards to the Phoenix's interview saying, "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight."

So what's Phoenix up to? Well, there are one or two theories floating about.

Some say he's off his bean. Others reckon it's drugs. They remember how his brother, the talented River, died from an overdose outside Johnny Depp's Viper Room in 1993. They recall that it was the teenage Joaquin who called the emergency services that fateful Halloween night, the frantic recording of which was later broadcast all over the world. They fear that little brother, now in his mid-30s and claiming to have walked away from a glittering movie career of his own, is having some sort of nervous breakdown. But few buy that.

Nope, the far more popular counter theory, the one seasoned Hollywood observers subscribe to, is that Phoenix's fledgling career as a hobo rapper is an elaborate hoax. He could be pulling some kind of Kaufman performance art stunt, or maybe he will eventually be revealed to be part of some Borat-style satire on Hollywood and its skewed media culture.

Of course, if you're going to make some sort of mock-doc about what would happen to a seasoned actor who threw it all away to pursue a music career, you'd need a partner in crime. Enter Phoenix's brother-in-law, the actor Casey Affleck, who has been following his pal's every move lately, under the guise that he's filming a documentary about the new career.

Apparently journalists interviewing Phoenix about his "final" film, Two Lovers, co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow, were forced to sign a confidentiality clause relating to the Affleck project. One hack described press day as "more like This Is Spinal Tap performance art than a publicity tour".

So while everyone may be watching as Phoenix's supposed career change unfolds, it has to be said he's not convincing many it's for real.

Celebrity fans help float Gideon and the Shark

IF you judge a new band by the company they keep, then Joe Gideon and the Shark must be just about the coolest new band around.

Before releasing their debut album this month, the hotly-tipped London duo already reached impressive heights supporting Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds last year, and Michael Gira and Seasick Steve in January this year.

Being another boy-girl blues-punk duo, comparisons with The White Stripes are inevitable, but this pair really are brother and sister.

What they do have in common with Jack and Meg White's outfit, however, is an ability to put on a remarkable live show.

Joe Gideon takes care of guitar and lead vocal duties while little sister Viva, aka The Shark, attends to drums, keyboards, vocals and everything else – all at the same time.

"We were surrounded by music growing up," says Gideon. "Our dad managed bands so there were always musicians wandering around and he'd take us to a lot of gigs." The siblings' dad managed Toyah Wilcox back in the 80s, and Gideon remembers it as being "pretty mad having her wandering around with her crazy get up and orange hair."

Talking Heads were also an early influence. "My dad was a big fan of them so it was always playing in the house," says Gideon. "I also listened to Velvet Underground once I was a teenager – as most teenagers seem to do."

Formerly members of Bikini Atoll, the Gideons released two albums on Bella Union. Then, they formed a family band and spent summer 2006 getting drunk in a barn writing songs on their eight-track recorder.

It's been two years now and in this time they've been invited to play with great bands and musicians around Europe.

"We could have never even imagined supporting the bands we have," says Gideon. "Playing with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was incredible. They are a huge influence on what I'm writing now, so it was incredible to share a stage with them. Seasick Steve is creating some genuinely amazing music. It was great to support him as well," he adds.

The high-profile support with Cave and his band came about after one of the Bad Seeds heard Joe Gideon and the Shark playing live.

"He came up to us at the end and said he really liked it," says Gideon. "He said they were still looking to fill some support slots and would we be interested. We said yes, so he said he'd go and talk to the rest of the band.

"He told us it's always a unanimous decision so we weren't holding out much hope. But about a month later we got a quiet email inviting us to support them. It was brilliant."

Joe Gideon and the Shark, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, Monday, 7pm, 6, 0131-220 6176

SHARK ATTACK: Brother and sister, Joe and Viva Gideon

Win gig tickets and a signed promo CD

Tipped to give The White Stripes a run for their money, Joe Gideon and the Shark released debut album Harum Scarum last week - a bold, bluesy and brilliant record they'll be showcasing at Cabaret Voltaire on Monday night.

The Guide has teamed with the band to give two lucky readers the chance to win a signed promo copy of the album each, alongside a pair of tickets to next week's gig.

To enter simply e-mail your name, age and address to theguide@ edinburgh news.com with the word JOE in the subject line.

Entries to be received by noon tomorrow. Usual Evening News rules apply.

So, is there life in Mars Patrol?

AFTER kicking up a real storm since their move to London, The Mars Patrol return home for a gig at Cabaret Voltaire tomorrow.

The band, who in the past toured with KT Tunstall, Kula Shaker and The Feeling are now standing on their own feet – their last gig at London's Camden Barfly a complete sell out.

The Edinburgh outfit are just about to sign with a label in the US and, in the next few weeks, head to Nashville to begin recording.

Joining The Mars Patrol on the bill at The Cab will be fellow locals Kudos and The Set Up.

The Mars Patrol, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, tomorrow, 7pm, 7, 0131-220 6176