2006 was the year I met Ms Volume, and the soundtrack was a CD she convinced me I’d like. It was called ‘This is Hazelville’ by Captain, duly purchased on a lovely day out in York from Tracks Records (don’t go looking for it). She was right. It was big, clever, immaculately produced, shiny pop music – up there with The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout but also with a grittier edge to it and louder guitars – and with the mighty Trevor Horn at the controls. All killer, no filler, sheer Pop perfection.

The album went Top 30, they had some minor hit singles and we saw a couple of superb gigs by them that felt very special. A second LP was recorded for EMI but after one promising single (Keep an Open Mind) EMI went through a ‘restructure’ shedding loads of artists in the process. The LP ‘Distraction’ remains unreleased..presumably in a vault somewhere.

Since then, I guess real life intervened – there have been births, and sadly the death of ace guitarist Mario Athanasiou. It’s in tribute to him that the band now have a new LP ready to release and you can pre-order now » Continue Reading.