Shoot the Duke reform for farewell shows at The Wedgewood Rooms and Victorious Festival

Formed in 2014 by frontman Tom Bryan and guitarist Neil Cripps and trading in a distinctive mix of indie, blues and rock, the Portsmouth band eventually became a four-piece and built a loyal following for their high-octane live shows.

But by early 2019 they felt they’d reached the end of the road and called time.

As they went off on other musical adventures Neil and Tom remained friends. As Tom says: ‘We kind of missed each other during lockdown, and came to the decision that we never got to do a final hurrah.

‘We didn't really want our little life lesson that was Shoot The Duke to end in a dive bar in London.

‘We wanted to do one at home and relive the angst of our early 20s.’

At the start of this year Tom posted an old video on Facebook of the band covering the Gorillaz song Clint Eastwood, sparking talk of a reunion, catching the eye of Beats & Swing promoter Luke Fuller.

‘Luke messaged me saying, if you do [reunite], you've got a slot at Victorious.

‘I texted Neil about it and said, I know we've spoken about it very briefly, do you fancy it? And that's kind of how it came about, so we've got Luke to thank for it, really.’

So now they have their own headline show at The Wedgewood Rooms on Friday, and good as his word, they are on The Beats & Swing stage on the Saturday at Victorious Festival.

‘We were going to do more shows than that and start writing again, but Neil has become a full-time member of [Portsmouth indie band] Crystal Tides, and doing both would land him a divorce!

‘At Victorious we've actually got Crystal Tides on straight after, so we're just going to leave Neil on stage...

‘We decided we’d just to do these two and call it a day.’

For the live shows Tom and Neil have reunited with former bassist James Collins and drafted in drummer Liam Nesbitt from their friends, Neverman.

‘We've been rehearsing for about three months, so we've got a good strong set ready to go – oven ready! It's all going to be fine, we have full confidence in our abilities...

‘It's gone really well. It's been quite weird how we all remembered how we used to play the songs, and the little things we did, it all came back so quickly, we just leant straight back into how we used to play, specially as we hadn't played that sort of music in years. It was total muscle memory.

‘And Liam jumped straight in on drums and has been absolutely brilliant.’

While Neil has been playing with Crystal Tides, Tom has mostly been playing solo since Shoot The Duke split. The old songs have remained unplayed live ever since the split.

‘When we split up I wanted to distance myself from that style of music, as it wasn't what I was listening to or what I wanted to make any more.

‘And it feels weird playing them without Neil. If I'm going to play those songs it has to be with him. On my own there's so much missing – it feels empty.’

Although this draws a belated line under Shoot The Duke, there’s something new in the pipeline.

‘Me and and the other two others in Shoot The Duke – James and Liam – are going to start a new band out of it.

‘It's going to be very much more of an electronic-type sound.

‘I've got a few songs written and we start rehearsals week after next, so I hope we should be out later this year or early next year – whenever it's right.’

Tickets for tomorrow’s gig at The Wedgewood Rooms are £7. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.