Jon McClure's new band Mongrel are giving away their debut album for free in the Independent.

The Reverend And The Makers frontman believes it is the first time a band had given away their debut for free in a newspaper.

Jon added: "As soon as the opportunity arose I was straight in there, because you know a lot of people are 'it's not about the money man' - but it obviously is for the majority of people. But sincerely it's not about money, especially not on the Mongrel project."

He also believes that giving away their inauguaral effort for free will help spread the ideas and messages of the band, which also features Arctic Monkeys members Andy Nicholson and Matt Helders, as well Drew McConnell of Babyshambles fame and Poisonous Poets rapper Lowkey -

"There's an element of it that's musical experimentation and getting across political sentiments and spotlighting sectors of British music which are often ignored by the media," he said.

He added the union with the Independent was important for the band as they were careful to only collaborate with a paper who shared their ideologies.

"It's stance on the environment and on British foreign policy and various other things are kind of like my own," said Jon. "It squares with my ethics to do it with the Independent."

The CD will be available in the Independent on March 7.

Wed 4 Mar