THOSE in the know have always maintained that the Mersey sound is more than just that of The Beatles and their contemporaries of the 1960s.

Bands have come and gone over the decades, but the creative talent that allows them to flourish seems as raw and sprouting as ever.

And with the creativity that goes into the bands comes the infrastructure that allows them to perform and record. Eventually, it becomes like one of those silly puzzles: which came first, the band or the studio?

Whichever way round it is, Liverpool’s popular music scene has become a vital component in the city’s economy, generating jobs directly for performers and technicians, and spreading the city’s good name in a way that is hard to put a figure on.

Small wonder, then, that the city is rolling out the red carpet for Sound City later this month.

Four hundred bands, ranging from hopefuls and wannabes to established chart toppers, in three days is an event which can only do us a power of good, even those of us stuck in the 1960s and realising with growing horror that, in our nostalgia for those days, we are turning into clones of our parents.

But popular music has always been a game for the young and rebellious, and more power to their elbow.

It may not be the economic salvation of the city, but it is most certainly a step in the right direction. Sound City will be a welcome boost for the hospitality trade, then add on to that the bonanza of events like the Mathew Street Festival, in late summer, and the pattern becomes clear.

Add to that the income and goodwill generated by the classical players at the Philharmonic, and it all becomes something we should be really proud off.