SONGS about murderous toads and bin men may not be standard fare for a rock band - but Natterjack are not your average band.

The Millom outfit make a point of doing whatever they feel like, and as a result, their music is an uncategorisable mix of funk and rock that has set pulses racing at a series of headline shows so far.

And almost two years in, they are about to reach a wider audience with the release of their debut EP, Spawned.

Bassist Harry Miller says: "Our EP is mixed now and is ready to go, so this summer we'll be putting ourselves out there and spreading the word.

"The first 18 months have been a bit of a slow start - we would have liked to have gigged a lot more - however, all the gigs we have played have been well received and we've been given a lot of very positive feedback, especially from other musicians.

"We take pride in playing a tight set, and try to enjoy ourselves as much as possible. A Natterjack show is mostly the four of us having fun."

Neil Miller fronts the band, with Grant Aspinall on drums, and new guitarist Ben Smith joining earlier this spring to round out the four-man line-up.

The tracks have been written for some time, even before Natterjack was formed, but with a line-up alteration between recording and release, the focus is on getting things moving in the right direction before setting the EP out into the world.

Harry continues: "Grant has a great back catalogue of lyrics from previous groups, and I had a few tracks half written already.

"On top of that Neil wrote some lyrics too and we got to the point where we had enough tracks to record pretty naturally.

"We recorded everything within a day, and we just made sure we were gig ready, and tight.

"In the last month or so, Ben joined us after we parted ways with our original guitarist Paul “Dongie” Johns. He's taken on the mantle really well, picking up all our material and putting his own mark on things in only a handful of practices.

"Before you have something you can put in people's hands and say “this is us”.

"It's very hard to promote yourself - especially when your sound is a little 'out there'."

Natterjack entered the local scene straight into festival slots at events such as their hometown event The Dirty Dozen, and Barrow's EquiRocks.

While live shows haven't been as forthcoming as they'd have liked, their highly unique sound has impressed the local audiences that have caught one of their shows so far.

With the EP behind them, Harry hopes it will start opening some doors for the band soon.

He adds: "We've all been in bands previously, to varying degrees, but the main difference with Natterjack, is playing all original music without worrying about style. All influences and ideas are welcome, and if all else fails, we make it groove. We make odd music, and it's always got a strong groove.

"Pinning down the style is a bit tricky, but the best we can think of is progressive funk rock.

"We're a weird band, we play songs about murderous toads and bin men, so, you'd think this would be a bit much for the average punter, but we drive a hard rhythm section, and that's enough to make anyone move their feet.

"Our hopes with the EP are largely to put the word out. We're on the look out for as many gigs as possible, so we just want people to get in touch."

To find out more about Natterjack's new EP, Spawned, or to contact the band, visit www.facebook.com/natterjackmusic