"Bradford, 'ow's it goin'? I'm lookin' forward to coming to Bradford, culinary centre of some amazing food - the Asian food obviously - there's some amazing restaurants in Bradford."

This barrage of praise heaped on the city is conducted before I have fully introduced myself.

Jon McClure, aka The Reverend of Sheffield's Reverend and the Makers, has just been put on the line by a young-sounding lady at his management firm trying desperately to keep the day of phone interviews running smoothly and on time.

Within five minutes of our chat it is easy to see how this might be a bit of a problem.

Jon does not own the typical current rock star' gene - he's passionately opinionated and sees it as his mission to raise awareness and verve on a number of political and social issues.

His band are currently in the ascendancy, with two Top 20 singles and the Top Ten album, The State Of Things, and this fully-fledged Yorkshireman seems to be enjoying the soapbox from which he can preach his own kitchen-sink brand of realities.

"Last year was probably the best year I have ever had", the lanky frontman tells me.

"I have just been biding my time, I wasn't in a mad rush to get the album out and I think that's paid off."

Of course being from Sheffield is probably all you need to get signed to a major record label in this post-Arctic Monkeys phenomena world.

And The Rev has more of a claim than most for a ticket to ride the coat-tails of the Monkeys, seeing that Arctic frontman Alex Turner has not only shared bands with Jon before, but also cites him as a major influence on his own writing.

McClure has been spreading his wisdom' for quite some time with his poetry and previous two bands, Judan Suki and 1984.

Yet the political fury which previously fuelled him, he believes, has toned down a little.

"Before, everything I was doing was really political and I think it alienated people a bit - a bit too political," he said.

"But maybe it was a sign of the times - the fact that the war was kicking off - but I have chilled down a bit now."

This is not to say, however, that his lyrics do not still serve to kick people out of their apathy and actually care about what is going on around them.

"It's one of them things. Some of the songs on the album are political but you have got to speak out.

"Since September 11, things have got a lot more screwed up, but can you name one new artist who is actually saying anything?

"Sure a lot of the older ones are, but I'm the only new one who has come along and said anything about it. Don't you think that's really sad?"

Yet exactly what that message is sometimes becomes unclear - his sentences trip over each other as he froths with excitement to tell us teenage pregnancies aren't the best thing ever and invading Iraq was not a good idea.

Often the tales of working-class life in South Yorkshire come slightly across as an X-rated Coronation Street - only with a sub-electro, Ian Brown-esque backing that compels the listener to get up and dance at any given moment - a theme sure to go down well in this restless city next month.

  • Reverend and the Makers play Bradford University on Sunday, February 24.