The Met’s regular night showcasing emerging artists is back for 2026.

January’s event features the genre-blending rock of Manchester’s Little Strange, and the soulful, finger-picking songwriting of Blackburn’s Tommy Ball.

Being described as a guitar band from Manchester usually conjures up notions of a baggy yesteryear, filled with weathered swagger and tiresome haircuts. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth for Little Strange.

Outsiders by nature, the band is uniquely formed of members from Cumbria, Essex, Lancashire, and Merseyside, respectively. All of whom gravitated towards the chaos of Cottonopolis as four like-minded individuals with a shared goal: make the music you love, and don’t look back. Armed with the same attitude as the city’s cultural-founding-fathers, Little Strange’s sound can be distinguished as, well… strange. An amalgamation of rock, blues, americana, and much more, the band combine a melting pot of influences to keep the ear milk flowing.

Re-establishing themselves as a four-piece in 2023, Little Strange’s never-say-die attitude is a true testament of character. Receiving support from the likes of BBC Radio 1, Absolute Radio, Classic Rock Magazine, Far Out Magazine, the group continue to grow from strength to strength. Setting the tone through their stylistic refinements, their debut album, Bad Days, points towards new and exciting ground for the band.

Leave any preconceptions at the door, Little Strange will never be “just another guitar band from Manchester”.

Tommy Ball combines power with compassion quite beautifully.

A keen ear for melody and harmony, he creates authentic songs that you can’t stop humming to yourself a few days after listening to him. The inspirations taken from all eras of music lends itself to a collective, meaningful experience throughout his own music.

Compared to Jeff Buckley for his vocal range and finger-picking guitar playing style, as well as Paul Weller, Bryan Ferry and Sting for his softer soulful voice and energetic songwriting, Tommy likes to play with all these comparisons (and many more) by alternating between different styles throughout his music. You can’t place your finger on an exact comparison, you have to find your own comparison, which makes his music his own.

A musician hailing from Blackburn, Lancashire performing personal, creative and meaningful music to hopefully inspire anyone who’s willing to listen.