AN indie rock band who hired a dale village hall to put the finishing touches to a new album will take to the stage in Barnard Castle this week.
Unkle Bob released Invisible on October 7 after recording sessions were held at Foel Studios, Llanfair Caereinion, in Wales, and in the village hall, Boldron, where the group’s drummer Rob (Ron) Yeadon grew up.
The album is the first in 12 years to feature the five original members of Unkle Bob, who formed the band in 2004 after meeting as students in Glasgow.
They released two albums – Sugar and Spite (2006) and Shockwaves (2010) – became a hit in the US with tracks featuring in TV dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy and CSI Miami, and toured with the likes of The Proclaimers and James before calling it a day in 2011.
However, Mr Yeadon said he and his fellow band members – Rick Webster, Stuart Cartwright, Geoff Widdowson and Chloe Peacock – had stayed in touch during the intervening years while going off to do their own musical projects.
Freed from the rigours of touring and having to produce more records, they decided to get back together to play music for themselves.
An online Kickstarter campaign raised enough money to cover the costs of recording and Mr Yeadon said they were pleased with the end result.
“There was no pressure to write hits – it was just for enjoyment,” he said.
He added that there were no plans to tour extensively to promote Invisible.
“We've had time away. We all live in different places and we all have families now and we are not promoting it [The Witham gig] as an album launch,” he said.
Unkle Bob will play The Witham on Friday, October 14. Tickets are £12/£10.
The support band on the night will be About The Humans, which features Mr Yeadon's brother Andrew.
For more details and tickets, go to www.thewitham .org.uk or call the box office on 01833 631107. The show starts at 8.30pm.
