The Ark Preston – a Preston-based monthly music magazine documenting unsigned and undiscovered music in Preston is launching its brand new website today.

The Ark Preston dot com launches at 8pm this evening after 12 months of printed publication and being a branch of the Ark – a national project to increase the profile on unsigned music.

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The Ark Preston began after an idea was expressed from Jon McClure (Reverend and the Makers) that more grass roots-supported music media was needed. A few cities got involved and started reporting on their local scenes, the only rules being that no genre was exempt and no one was discriminated from coverage.

All the content came under one website, but Preston was the only city in the UK to print a monthly publication and has done so for the last 12 months. However, content slowly began to deteriorate on the national website and Preston was one of the few sections still uploading content. Now the founders have decided to break away and form their own website.

It will feature artist interviews; gig reviews; album EP and single reviews; band profiles, as well music news in Preston. The Ark will also be running competitions for gig and festival tickets, with an extra focus on multimedia content gig listings.

Ark Preston editor Gareth Butterworth said: “This is a great milestone for the Ark Preston. We’re breaking away from the shackles of any national manipulation which wasn’t as prolific or productive as we wanted it to be.

“It’s a boring cliché that this city hears all the time, but this is just what Preston needs. There are genially some top musicians in this area and I won’t be alone in saying once one takes off the rest will shortly follow”.

The new focus will still be on local musicians of all genres, as well as broadening the scope of the publication into covering acts from the surrounding area. The printed edition of the magazine will now be published every three months with exclusive print-only content, with the new issue surfacing in September.

The magazine has announced the line up of its next event to coincide with the launch. Mazes, signed to Fat- Cat records, will headline the gig at Mad Ferret on Friday 12th August. Main support will come from Rae Morris, and also on the bill is Brown Brogues from Manchester and Preston’s Newspaper Joe.

Butterworth added: “The Ark Preston will continue to run its own events, bringing in an out of town bands with a hype and letting local acts support on the night to what a big crowd.

“In terms of the site, I want it to be hub for music in Preston. Anyone into music should go to the site for events, news and the latest releases in Preston. It doesn’t have to be a site for those interested in the local musicians, even though that is our primary scope.”