A soul covers band consisting of seasoned local musicians ... it doesn't sound particularly unusual, does it?  But the Agency are different, completely different.

Anyone who has experienced this band in full magisterial flight will never forget the raw excitement and thrilling atmosphere as the Agency hit their stride and feed off a responsive audience.  They are, quite simply, awesome.

The secret lies in the brass. These are no part-time backup musicians, but each a supreme player in his own right, with bags of experience in a range of musical areas but also plenty of boyish enthusiasm. Put simply, they live the music, love to improvise but, above all, excel at a naturally-occurring power and precision. They punch hard, they are funky, and they have fun.

Or maybe the secret lies in the rhythm section? Certainly, Richard's jazz-influenced bass-playing is of a standard which can only come from instinctive genius. People regularly opine that Richard is one of the best bassists they have ever heard, and you don't find that in many pub bands. When he locks into a groove with the amiably inventive percussion / drums partnership of Nick and Melvin (both looking and acting like something out of a silent movie), you have the bedrock which means that even the most atrophied audience will break into a dancing frenzy.

Or could it be that the secret lies in the crazy slaphead partnership of not one, but two lead singer / lead guitarists? Few bands have the luxury of alternating between two equally superb vocalists who ooze character and also vie with each other to provide the choppy rhythms and funky lead guitar lines. Step forward, Andy Wilkinson and, of course, the redoubtable Mr Soul.

The truth is, the secret lies with none of them and all of them, because, like any soul stew, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. It's a recipe whose secret ingredients combine to make something indefinably tasty and irresistibly more-ish. Try it, you'll be amazed.