When one of Britain's most talented songwriters praises your album, you know you're onto a good thing.

So when Spiritualized frontman Jason 'Spaceman' Pierce waxed lyrical about Detroit rock band The Dirtbombs, music lovers everywhere sat up and took notice.

"I'm obsessed by The Dirtbombs' last two albums," said Jason.

"They're so ambitious. You can tell they're trying not to repeat themselves. That's what the best rock music does, challenges itself. It's one of the best albums I've heard in recent years."

And the former Spaceman 3 singer isn't alone in getting all excited about the relentless march of this gang of slightly scuzzy rustbelt guitar wielders -- who have influenced fellow Motor City garage rock heroes The White Stripes and Von Bondies.

Everyone from Kerrang to Time Out have waxed lyrical about the adrenaline-fuelled five piece -- which boasts two drummers and two bassists. And on Sunday, Oxford gig-goers can check out the truth behind the hype for themselves, when The Dirtbombs hit the Zodiac.

The band, described as Detroit's rock and roll catastrophe, features garage rocker Mick Collins -- formerly of the Gories and Blacktop, Pat Pantano (of The Come-Ons), Ben Blackwell, Troy Gregory, and Ko Zydeco -- who is reported by no less an authority than the NME as being flatmate of Mick and also Meg White of the White Stripes.

Their third -- and best -- album, Dangerous Magical Noise is an appropriately titled slab of blistering edgy rock 'n' roll -- with a few winking nods to the spirits of punk, R&B, soul and even 70s glam rock.

Helped by Jim Diamond, owner and operator of Detroit's legendary Ghetto Recorders, the album was a superlative follow-up to their breakthrough Ultraglide In Black album and followed nearly two years of solid global touring.

Despite the raw sound, The Dirtbombs are something of garage rock veterans. The band came together in 1992 as a whimsical side-project by Mick, when the band he was in at the time broke up. Problems, delays and near-legendary line-up changes ensued, and for 14-months Mick spent his time in a completely different band. The Dirtbombs eventually dragged themselves into the studio in 1995 and started touring a year later.

So how do they describe their music?

"We don't!" says Mick, bluntly. "Rock 'n roll is rock 'n roll."

That accepted, how and why did they settle on a double drum and bass line-up?

"I looked around to see what everybody else was doing," said Mick. "I tried to do something as different from everybody else as possible and still be a rock band. My chief hope was that it would make the band extremely difficult to categorise."

Perhaps it was that reluctance to be pigeon-holed that prompted the band to make their debut an album of soul covers.

"I felt like it," Mick explains. "I had been wanting to cover some of those songs since I started playing music, and The Dirtbombs gave me my chance. It was only a matter of time before we got around to it. "Every record sounds different. It's part of the band's aesthetic. Yeah, yeah, we know, it's not 'cool' for a rock band to have an aesthetic, but The Dirtbombs were never meant to be a 'cool' band. Didn't you get the memo?"

So what will the next record sound like?

"We don't know," he answers. "Different from the last one!"

The Dirtbombs appear with mates The Greenhornes.

The show is open to ages 14 and over. Tickets are £6 in advance or £7 on the door.

Doors open at 7.30pm.