So you may have noticed us banging on (and on) about our launch party on 10th March. Ooops! It's only because it's going to be GREAT! Still, on your travels around the interweb, you may not have bumped into any of our launch gigging artists, so perhaps it's time we enlightened you.

AMATEUR TRANSPLANTS

If you think you've heard of them but can't quite figure out why, it's probably because of this* - their 'London Underground Song' - which has had well over a million hits on You Tube.

Amateur Transplants are Adam Kay and Suman Biswas. They write funny songs about all sorts of things, but being doctors, they've written an awful lot of nerdy ones about medical exams, drugs, nasty diseases and so on... it's much funnier than it sounds. Here, you should probably just watch this:

Ultimately better than the Bonnie Tyler original, we think you'll agree.

Last year, for our May podcast, we caught up with Adam and Suman at the Redgrave Theatre in Bristol, where they played us a couple of songs:

Amateur Transplants live session

That was nice of them, wasn't it?

Anyway, you should come to see Amateur Transplants if you like: laughing, parody songs, smut.

Oh, and here's what some other people had to say about them:

“Superbly politically incorrect. Gloriously funny.” - The Scotsman

"Extremely funny. Never less than utterly clever" - The Telegraph

"This made me very, very happy" - Stephen Fry

*You probably shouldn't watch this if you are easily offended by swearing. There's quite a lot of it.

DR MARTIN AUSTWICK

How to describe Martin Austwick? He's a man. A physicist. A soundman. And a one-man band. Who, incidentally, now has some other people in his band. We first met Martin at last year's virtual festival, in his guise as The Sound of the Ladies. He's since played in Einstein's Garden at Green Man Festival and contributed a gorgeous acoustic version of his song "The Grand Tour" to our podcast. He's also excellent at closing umbrellas when they get stuck.

Martin will be joined by Jim Footner and Will Elsdale to play songs about science from his forthcoming album Songs from the Scientific Cabaret, due for release on the day of the launch.

You should come to see Martin if you like: acousticness, clever lyrics, beards

"A genuine musical maverick" - Subba-Cultcha

"He should be more famous" - Josie Long

"Becoming somewhat of a superhero in the underground acoustic scene" – God is in the TV zine

STEVE MOULD

Steve is our host for this year's live launch. It doesn't do him justice to say he does science stand-up, but he does do jokes that involve science, and they are funny. You might recognise him from Blue Peter (yes, THAT Blue Peter), where he's the resident science expert. He also appears regularly at Festival of the Spoken Nerd and is one half of the comedy double act Mould & Arrowsmith (guess which half...), about which people have said:

"Beyond nerdy, yet playful and ingeniously funny… far more entertaining than they have any right to be." - The List

"Riotously funny" - Fringe review

You should come to see Steve if you like: nerd jokes, fire (aha, bet you're curious now huh?), Blue Peter

OTHER REASONS TO COME TO THE LAUNCH PARTY

1. It's (probably) the only place you'll be able to get your hands on a physical rather than digital copy of the forthcoming Geek Pop EP release - AND you'll get it ahead of the official release date on 11th March

2. We hope to be able to set up a (small) fund for commissioning new science-inspired music from the profits.

3. Wilton's. This place is one of London's finest music venues.

4. Because all the cool square kids will be there.

5. If you combine the first halves of two of our acts, you get Steve Martin. (If you combine the second halves you get Martin Mould, which is potentially funnier).

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, HOW DO I GET TICKETS THEN?

Go here. Tickets are a tenner.

This year's launch gig is sponsored by the communications and education consultancy Graphic Science, who run innovative and engaging projects and events involving science.

Folks! Tickets are now on sale for our 2011 launch featuring Amateur Transplants, Dr Martin Austwick and Steve Mould. There will be music! There will be science! It's going to be ace! Full guide to artists here >>>

Thursday 10th March, 7.30pm

Wilton's Music Hall, Graces Alley, London (nearest tube: Aldgate East)

Buy TICKETS (£10) from WeGotTickets

Download a flyer here. Facebook event here.

And massive thanks to our sponsors Graphic Science.

Right, so, to celebrate the launch of the Geek Pop '10 festival we're planning a virtual treasure hunt on Friday at 3pm. It's in collaboration with Newcastle Science Festival and 7digital, who are contributing to the treasure trove. All you need to do is turn up promptly at 3, at the Newcastle Science Festival homepage, to get your first clue. The rest are hidden around the Newcastle site and our own virtual festival site - live from 12pm on Friday.

But more importantly, here's what you could win (said in a Brucie sort of way):

One first prize winner will win: Giant bubble-making kit | Geek Pop Square t-shirt, CD and pin badge | Hula hoop | 7digital music voucher for five downloads

Two second prize winners will win: Balloon modelling kit | Geek Pop CD and pin badge | Hula hoop | 7digital music voucher for five downloads

Five third prize winners will win: Hula hoop | 7digital music voucher for five downloads | Geek Pop pin badge

The next 20 people to finish will each get 7digital music vouchers and Geek Pop pin badges.

Be there *and* be square.

Our live launch event sponsor Computer Geeks offers local IT support, as well as remote PC tune-ups anywhere in the world (despite being based in Bristol - clever eh?). They can even organise a tune-up while you're out of the house, working, jogging, trainspotting or whatever you like to do.

In partnership with Geek Pop, Computer Geeks is offering a 20% discount on its PC tune-up service. Fans can claim the discount simply by quoting "GEEK POP" when calling to order - you'll pay £39 instead of the usual £49. You do the maths. (Well done, yes, that's £10 off).

Details of Computer Geeks tune-up service:

Dramatically increases performance (as good as new) and makes sure that virus and spyware infections are protected against for the future.

Audit and update/replace Antivirus, Spyware and Firewall software | Perform all Windows (or related) system updates including service packs, and fix Windows update if necessary | Clean all registry, temporary files + application references before, during and after the Tune-Up | Uninstall any malware | Correct any application errors | Full spyware scan | Full virus scan | Tuning of programs loading on startup | Defrag if necessary | Aesthetic enhancements / desktop cleanup

www.cgeeks.co.uk

+44(0)117 325 0370 (Don't forget to quote "GEEK POP"!)

+44(0)845 862 1637

And feel free to share this offer with your friends:

If you've been keeping up, you'll know that we're planning a series of live events across the UK for Geek Pop launch week in 2010. One of these will take place in Bristol - home of Geek Pop HQ, hooray!

We can now confirm the sponsors of this event as Computer Geeks, who basically perform miracles with machines (they understand computers so you don't have to), and the Bristol & Bath branch of the British Science Association. Thanks also to Bob Foster of Science Cafe for helping to organise the event.

The venue for the Bristol launch is now confirmed and the line-up is rapidly evolving - more details on this soon or sign up for our newsletter for fortnightly updates from October/November.  For now though, something to whet your appetite: there will, quite possibly, be tea and cakes, and most certainly a geek chic dress code.  You'll also get special privileges for turning up in a Geek Pop Square t-shirt.  We're not saying what they are though (mainly because we haven't thought of them yet, but we will).

If you belong to an organisation interested in sponsoring one of the other geektastic launch week events in Cambridge or London, you can email crew@geekpop.co.uk for more information.

Happy New Year to all the geeks out there and many thanks for all your support.  And thanks especially to the lovely people at 7digital, who are now sponsoring the Tesla Tent at Geek Pop '09.  Which means... you'll be able to get your hands (ears, actually) on some great free music downloads when the festival goes live in March.  (In addition to geek music downloads from the festival itself, which of course, are free, free, FREEEEE!)  Spiffing.