Mantra may be a new name on the Bradford music scene but they've been around for a while masquerading under different guises.

The four-piece indie rockers used to be known as Menagerie and even more briefly as Shifter before adopting their new moniker.

The band have recorded a four-track EP which they hope to release on CD in the New Year, and have a handful of live dates in West Yorkshire lined up in the next couple of months.

You can catch Mantra at the Royal in Heckmondwike tonight, the Blue Pig in Fagley on December 15, and Abraham's in Huddersfield on January 21. Other dates around Christmas and New Year have yet to be confirmed.

"We were going for about a year under the name Menagerie but we parted company with our guitarist so we changed our name when we got a new guitarist in," said bassist and vocalist Fred Brown.

The band still feature Jason Barrett on vocals and guitar and Zani on drums and are now joined by Richard Lynch on guitar. Although the other three all used to be in Menagerie, the addition of Richard's guitar sound has beefed up Mantra's style, according to Fred.

"It's fairly radio-friendly indie-pop rock type stuff," he said.

"We just met Richard when he was DJ-ing at a party and it has changed our sound.

"We used to do a lot more acoustic stuff but we've changed a bit. That's partly because of Richard's influences. He's quite young and he likes to be a bit noisy."

As Menagerie, the band released a cassette and CD called Mental Floss which is now no longer available.

The new CD is due out in January on their own label and features the tracks Winner, Billy Whiz, Black As Coal and Omni Horriblis.

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