VOLUNTEERS have been urged to offer their homes as venues for live music shows as part of an international scheme taking root in York.

Sofar Sounds is an international initiative to let people experience live music it in intimate venues, rather than bars or clubs.

Rafe Offer, co-founder of the scheme, said: “Sofar is an underground movement to help take music back, to help make it intimate in small spaces.

“Myself and a couple of friends got tired of going to hear bands in bars where people were talking and texting and focusing more on drinking than on the music itself, so we just said le’s go do it in a house.”

The scheme is already active in 50 cities around the world, from San Jose and San Francisco to Perth, Paris, Leeds and Newcastle, and has just held its first gig in York.

For more information, go to sofarsounds.com