AN EVENING of alternative music in aid of homelessness charity Shelter is to be held in Oxford for the 11th time.

The annual Audioscope music event, held at the Jericho Tavern, will take place on Saturday, November 12.

Organiser Stuart Fow-kes, from East Oxford, was just 21 when he and his friend Simon Minter put on the first event, and has performed with one of his bands most years.

He will take to the stage with his new band Listing Ships at this year’s event.

He said: “When we first put on Audioscope, we had absolutely no idea that it would still be going 11 years later.

“I can clearly remember the way we talked about putting the first festival together, we were working in the same office and we were kind of bored and we said shall we put on a gig?”

The first gig, at the former Zodiac club in Cowley Road, attracted several hundred people and it became an annual event.

It has now raised £22,000 for Shelter, and taken alternative bands to Oxf-ord including Mercury-nominated band Maps, Wire, Four Tet and Michael Rother from Neu!

This year the line-up will see nine different acts taking to the stage, with West Virginian ‘desert rock’ band Karma to Burn headlining.

Local talent will come from Spring Offensive, The Cellar Family and Mr Fowkes’s band Listing Ships.

The line-up is completed by Fujiya & Miyagi, Alexander Tucker, The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club, Necro Deathmort and Action Beat.

Mr Fowkes said: “It's such a big success.

“The bill’s really interesting this year and really diverse.

“I'm really excited. Though we don’t have a big headliner like Wires last year, there will literally be something for everyone.”

The intimate confines of the Jericho Tavern keeps the capacity to 200, and Mr Fowkes is hoping to raise in the region of £1,000 for Shelter this year.

Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said: “We are extremely grateful to the Audioscope team for raising so much money for Shelter over the years.

“Thanks to their generosity and support, we have been able to make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of homeless and badly-housed people across the county.”

Tickets, priced at £12, are available from wegottickets.com/audioscope An album, Music For a Good Home, has been produced to accompany the festival and costs £10 from musicforagoodhome.com and from iTunes.