Cult Portsmouth band Cranes reform for hometown gig at The Wedgewood Rooms to mark 30 years of Forever album

They play The Wedgewood Rooms on October 6 before a sold-out date at Earth in London later in the month. It is the first time the band will have played live since going on hiatus following the end of touring for their self-titled 2008 album.​

Frontwoman Alison Shaw says: "It’s been amazing playing with Jim back on drums. A lot of the sound and momentum in our early songs comes from his drumming and sound. He had a beautiful Gretsch kit in the 1990s with an oversized bass drum, it was quite unique…

"When we first started rehearsing this year he used a borrowed kit, but then miraculously our sound engineer Stu found an almost identical Gretsch kit for sale on eBay. So they drove up north to buy it and now he has an almost identical sound!

"In 1992 we were so lucky to be invited onto the Cure’s Wish tour. We opened for them at 51 shows in America and 50 shows in Europe. All of the songs for Forever were written immediately before or during or immediately after the tour with the Cure, with recording sessions in London being fitted in between the two legs of the tour. We played many of the songs before they were released for the very first time at shows on the Cure tour. And then, after the album was released we did two long tours of UK and Europe with Slowdive. We all became great friends. It’s been really great to rediscover the songs.“

The band has also recently released a compilation of Peel Sessions from 1989-90.

Tickets £15. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk .