THEY?RE back ? so be prepared to be blown away by a blistering two set special by those cuddly hard blues rockers The Hamsters when they appear at The Wharf, Tavistock on Friday, June 17. The Hamsters will be playing the music of Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top in their acclaimed tribute to the music performed by such rock legends. The band released a new one-hour studio album in April, titled ?Open All Hours? and have also recently released a two-hour concert film on VHS and DVD titled ?To Infirmity, and Beyond!? ?We performed a series of open-air shows last Summer as special guests to Status Quo,? said Slim, Hamsters? lead guitarist. BBC Radio 2?s Bob Harris has been playing tracks from their new album on his Saturday night show on Radio 2. The Hamsters come from the hinterlands of the Thames River Delta. Now in their nineteenth year together, recently performing their 3,500th concert and with a national mailing list exceeding 20,000, the Hamsters are established as the UK?s premier blues-rock attraction. This has been achieved purely by hard work with the band handling all their own affairs, thereby disproving the popular misconception that it can?t be done without major-label ?muscle?. Although primarily performing their own material, they are widely regarded as leading interpreters of the music of Jimi Hendrix and more recently ZZ Top. Originally forming for their own amusement (and taking their name from the Sex Pistols, who once used it as a pseudonym to outwit hostile councils), the Hamsters enjoy the irony of being an aggressive band with a cuddly name. Although serious about what they do, they don?t take themselves too seriously. The band?s album ?The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts? was rated Album Of The Month in Germany?s leading musicians? magazine ?Guitar and Bass?. The Hamsters are: Slim ? guitar, singer; Rev Otis ? drums, singer and Zsa Zsa, bass, singer. Wharf box office: 01822 611166.