WITH sun-drenched melodies, soaring vocals and feel-good harmonies, they radiate West Coast warmth and easy-living.

Which is exactly what you’d expect from a band from, er...Oxfordshire.

The thing about The Dreaming Spires is that while their name sums up images of university chapels, punting students and clipped quad lawns, their sound is straight out of Southern California.

Think Gram Parsons, The Byrds and Flaming Lips – but played by a bunch of mates from rural Steventon.

“A lot of American bands are successfully aping English indie-bands, but we are the doing the opposite,” says singer and guitarist Robin Bennett, main picture. “We’ve always wanted to sound like the Flying Burrito Brothers.”

The creation of Robin, his brother Joe, inset, their former Goldrush bandmate Nick ‘Growler’ Fowler, and drummer Loz Colbert from indie legends Ride, Dreaming Spires have a unique sound which has evolved from years of playing in bands.

“The name actually comes from the lyrics to the Small Faces song Itchycoo Park,” says Robin. “But, as much as we love American music, we are still proud of where we are from – and are a real Oxford band.”

For Robin, this love of Americana all started with a discovery in his old school music room. “I remember finding a box of vinyl under the piano which was full of stuff by people like Neil Young, and Crosby, Stills & Nash,” he recalls. “Those records made a big impression on me.”

He and Joe, started with playing rock covers, before founding Goldrush, which was signed to Virgin and spent long periods on the road in America. They also supported Ride’s Mark Gardener on tour in the States, and, for many years, were members of Danny and the Champions.

Oh, and they also staged their own festivals: Truck Festival, which, until being wound up this summer, ran for 14 years at Hill Farm, Steventon; Wood, an eco-friendly gathering in the Chilterns; OX4, centred on Oxford’s Cowley Road; and Truck America, near the site of the legendary Woodstock Festival in upstate New York.

“The Dreaming Spires is the realisation of an ambition,” says Robin. “Joe and I have always played in bands, but have also spent a lot of time playing alongside other people, and, in parallel, running festivals. So we hadn’t done as much music of our own as we wanted to. I ended up with a big pile of songs which I wanted to get out there.

“It took a while to develop it into something coherent, but rather than then thinking of it as the end of another chapter, it has become a step to something bigger.”

The Dreaming Spires play the Oxford Mail’s first ever showcase of local talent on November 5.

Fireworks Night Goes Pop will see the lads play alongside songer-songwriter Matt Winkworth and his Winkworth Originals, and the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band – masters of high-energy, Prohibition-era jump-jive, jazz and blues.

The show will see Robin and his band showcasing material from forthcoming album Singing Sin City and this summer’s single Everything All The Time – a song which says everything about the Bennett’s approach to music.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he says. “It will show different sides to Oxford’s music scene in one of the city’s most historic live venues.

“And, as for The Dreaming Spires… we’ll be on fire!”