LET'S Go Baboon are joining York's roster of gig promoters after moving north from London.

Stuart and Claire Gibb mount their second show tonight, presenting M J Hibbett And The The Validators at The Basement, City Screen, on the back of bringing BBC 6Music favourites Danny & The Champions Of The World there last November.

Let’s Go Baboon founder Stuart was once a regular gig booker at the 12 Bar Club, Brixton Windmill and the now defunct Luminaire in London, and he has decided to start again now that he has bedded down in York. " After a four-year rest, and a big relocation, I felt it was the right band, right place, right time, as I'd known Danny for years and it proved to be a roaring success," he says.

"I'd taken some time out when my kids came along, and moving to York was part of that. I was never sure if Baboon would ever come back, but after a few years of settling in the city I got fired up by the eclectic, innovative mix of shops and promoters. Places like The Inkwell and promoters Please Please You made me realise early on that York isn’t the poor cousin to Leeds, as my Wetherby upbringing had me believe.”

Stuart spent his teenage years in Wetherby, inspired by his friends who formed Hood and Boyracer. It was also a time of fanzines, from which Let’s Go Baboon ultimately emerged. "I had a fanzine called Baboon. It seems ludicrous now, but I had an exclusive interview with [legendary American band] Pavement because I wrote to them and they wrote back. I had this huge interview but was selling the fanzine for just 40p,” he says.

Roll forward to November 2013, and the Baboon was back. "When I was offered the chance to put Danny & the Champs on in York, it just seemed right. Danny’s incredibly talented, but someone I also class as a friend, as he’s done a few Baboon gigs in the past. It felt like the best way to launch Let’s Go Baboon in York, and now I’m excited to be doing more – the first ever York visit by MJ Hibbett, followed by an edgy collaboration with Please Please You.”

Tonight's headliners, MJ Hibbett And The Validators, became favourites of BBC 6 Music presenter Steve Lamacq after their early viral hit, Hey Hey 16k, and have since played live on his show and received an Album of the Day accolade on the digital station. Joining them on the 8pm bill will be Leeds band Maggie 8, with their fusion of pop, folk, Hindustani classical and Bollywood, plus York singer-songwriter Holly Taymar.

On April 26, Let's Go Baboon and Joe Coates's Please Please You organisation will co-promote Shield Patterns and Kites Of San Quentin at 8pm in their first collaboration at The Basement .

"Shield Patterns, the newly formed project of Claire Brentnall and Richard Knox, have shown a sophistication beyond their age with first single The Rule gathering attention for its blend of minimalism, fragility and warmth," says Stuart. "After retiring to the wilderness and isolation of the North Wales countryside to record their debut album, the duo return with new single Dust Hung Heavy and a UK tour." The album is scheduled for June.

For tickets, visit thebasementyork.co.uk